Opinions on restoration of a prop

[Tedw9]

A couple of summers ago my wife and I went to a large town wide yardsale. The first yardsale we stopped at a guy had some nice ceramic skulls for sale. While I was looking them over, he told me they were movie props from the Stephen King movie Graveyard Shift. He told me his name and told us what he had done on the set which was verified on IMDB. I purchased the skulls and he said he had a tombstone he would bring back the next day if I was interested. Sadly, it was a 2+ hour drive each way for us so we couldn’t make it back the following day. But I still walked away with 2 killer skull props.

This past summer, same yardsale, same guy and he has the tombstone with him. I happily purchase the tombstone and make plans to meet up with him next summer to buy a few more items he has left.

The tombstone is nice, its blue styrofoam glued together and cut out and covered in some sort of cement. The name on the stone is the directors name, Ralph Singleton. He’s had it for many years, so it shows some chipping on front. Not bad, but enough so the blue shows through. We have it on display in our living room with a theater poster framed above it. My wife thinks I should fill in the spots where its chipped so the blue doesn’t show, so it looks more natural. Though the chipping doesn’t bother me......much. I’m afraid if I restore it that I may take away some of the collectibility and value of it. Not that I’d ever sell it, but I want to keep the value in it also.

And did I mention I screen matched it too? Yup, put it at a whole new level of cool for me. Never thought I’d own something like this.

So I decided to come here and ask you collectors what your thoughts are. Do I restore it and fill in the chips or do I leave it as is and just enjoy it? Thoughts and opinions are welcome.

[brian9229]

My OCD would possibly flip out, but the collector in me would probably leave it as is. If the damage had occurred during the time it was used in production, I'd definitely leave it. I might consider fixing it though, if I, or time, had caused the damage. I also think it would depend a lot on the prop, and the film it's from. As well as what that film means to me. You do display it, so it may not be that bad an idea. Nice prop by the way

[Underworld54]

Definitely leave it as is.

[Bodyslide]

I would leave it in it's original shape.

[Rzzzz]

Its like polishing an old coin. Thats the worst thing you can do. Someday you may want to sell it and the longer you wait the more it will be worth, especially something like that (from a Stephen King movie). Hard core collectors/sellers who are will willing to shell out the big bucks prefer to do the restorations themselves, if they do them at all....

[Petra_Kalbrain]

If you truly intend to never sell it, and are 100% invested in that sentimemt, then restore it VERY CAREFULLY and slowly. No rush to make it “perfect.” Retaining value technically isn’t as important if you feel that way about keeping it.

Myself? If I cared that much about it to never consider selling it, I’d do some touch ups.

[Tedw9]

Thank you all for the feedback! It looks almost split, which is how I still am about it.

And although I never intend to sell it, I agree with what Rzzzz said about polishing a coin. But then again, like Petra suggested, if I were to do it, it would be something I would undertake very slowly. I think I’d have to be confident in my ability to do it justice because anything less would be unacceptable to me. (My wife has more confidence in me than I do. She’s my biggest fan.) Id rather keep it as is than do something that I wasn’t completely happy with to it.

[Davidian]

Why don’t you make a cast (or a copy) of it and fix that up then put this one away.