A friend of mine pointed me toward an estate sale of a former USC professor last week and I found a couple of interesting relics that begged me to bring them home. This home in Westwood, CA had the most amazing and eclectic collection of just about anything you could think of, from a player piano to mountains of catering gear to film equipment. I wasn’t able to go to the first day of the sale, but a couple of lucky people were able to buy a set of Super Baltars, an early Mitchell BNCR, and some other wonderful Mitchell and Arriflex equipment. By the time the second day rolled around, much of the really good stuff had gone home with other folks, but there were still some treasures to be found. Hidden under a desk was what I’m pretty sure is a Technicolor friction head. The badge indicates that it began life as a Mitchell FC (Fox Camera) friction head, but it has the correct rectangular locating hole for the stop pin on the bottom of the camera, the lever to raise and lower the tie-down screw, and the paint, dirty as it is, looks like the correct color for Technicolor equipment.
Hidden under a sad, broken ARRI S was an O’Connor 100 in decent condition. I skipped the ARRI, but took the O’Connor. While I continued poking through camera equipment, my daughter found this collection of excellent research material. Wandering back out of the camera shed, I spotted an ARRI tripod, which suffers from a little rust, but is otherwise in excellent condition. I also scooped up a box of Mitchell power cables with switches and connectors, I always need more of those. As we made our way to check out, I also saw an adorable green wooden spreader that I needed to rescue as well. All in all a good morning’s work.
