| Chief Chirpa Coin Stage 1 Hardcopy | |
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This is a hardcopy of the POTF Chief Chirpa coin. It was made by applying separate layers of epoxy and Dynacast directly to the surface of the original sculpting of the coin. As you can probably tell, the hardcopy is substantially larger than the production coins. This is because the Kenner coins were sculpted at approximately 6 times the size at which they were eventually produced, in order to allow the sculptor some leeway in detailing his work. Although you can't really tell it from the image, the hardcopy has negative detail, meaning that the character images are incised into the surface rather than raised above it. This is because the sculptings were done as positives. Since the hardcopies were simply casts made off the sculptings, all of them have negative detail. These "stage 1" hardcopies were used in the creation of flexible softcopies, which were produced by simply pouring silicon over the surface of the hardcopy, allowing it to cure and pulling it off. Consequently, the softcopies have reversed detail in comparison with the hardcopies and their detail is positive.
Nearly all of the hardcopies and softcopies featured on the Archive are the results of two very significant prototype finds. The first, made in 1997 by Chris Fawcett, yielded the first softcopies known to the collecting community. Although collectors were for some time confused about their role in the coin production process, things were cleared up substantially in 1999, when a dilligent New York collector unearthed another stash of pre-tooling coin prototypes. Included in the find were more than 100 pieces. Some were softcopies just like those turned up by Fawcett, but the bulk of the find consisted of negative coin hardcopies. Virtually all of these items--both softcopies and hardcopies--are one-of-a-kind pieces. Fortunately, along with them came considerable information regarding how the coins were made, including details that made the softcopies' purpose apparent for the first time. We have been very fortunate to have gathered so much information regarding the development and production of the POTF coins. To learn more about coin hardcopies and softcopies, as well as how the coin line in general was created, please check out the Special Feature article entitled A Coin is Born.
The final image shows the hardcopy and softcopy reuinted in Mattias' wonderful Chief Chirpa collection. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore, John J. Alvarez |
| Photo: | Mattias Rendahl |
| From the collection of: | Mattias Rendahl |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Power of the Force |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Coin |
