SithLord wrote:
Brian Muir told me the original ANH mold of the sculpt was destroyed just after production in the UK. Without it, ILM clearly would have to remold the screen helmet. This will certainly force us to re-evaluate how we consider lineage in terms of not only the mask itself but the mold it came from and when that mold was taken from the original screen mask or helmet.
Just a point of clarification on the original ANH mold. Brian had pointed out to me that the mold off the clay head would probably have been discarded, which is what I referred to in this previous post. However, the mold for the plaster head which was given the final touches would have, according to Brian, been kept after the production. What it's fate was is anyone's guess, but it doesn't seem, to me at least, like it was used apart from the initial three pulls, because we know that the screen helmet went to the USA and that seemed to be the basis for a new mold from which the SL and DJ were derived. If the mold from the plaster master stayed in the UK, one would think it would have been used for ESB but it seems, again, a mold was taken off the screen helmet at some point likely before it went to the USA.
One would expect to see castings later on without any evidence of tabs on the mask if there was that original mold in use after production, but no such castings have been found to my knowledge. Nor has there been any account of such a mold in the Lucasfilm archives, at least to my knowledge.
Can't wait to see the first pics... 
