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Ancient Alchemy®
San Diego, California, USA
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My personal collection of props used in the movie,
Practical Magic (1998)!
Prop Acquisition:
Movie props are available for purchase from many venues! Frequently, right after filming of a movie, props and costumes will be auctioned immediately on ebay or other auction sites. Sometimes props later change hands and become part of different personal collections over years till an owner wants to sell or trade. So it's not uncommon to find props becoming re-available to acquire, long after a movie came out, or was a box office hit!
When a movie begins production, the set/prop director has access to prop houses.....veritable warehouses of every item you can imagine to create a set with. They can check-out prop items in accordance with their vision for the film, and fitting the time period, etc. Some props have been used for other movies. Some may be visible for only a fraction of a second as the camera pans a room or setting, or perhaps not seen at all "on camera", but still an authentic prop. If a movie goes on to be quite popular, prop houses will often release props to sell post-filming, rather than have it returned to circulation to become available for other film set-use, because prop-value is raised due to the movie's box office popularity.
"Screen-used" props are ofthe highest value, easily recognizable as something you saw used in a movie---like the spellbook used in Practical Magic, owned by this lucky lady -->: http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/otiginal-practical-magic-spellbook.html. (I read on forum follow-up that this sold at the post-filming ebay auction for a reported nearly-$1300) She also owns the umbrella Sally used to jump off the roof at the end of the movie. The value of these type props is obviously higher.....but for many, just having any prop from a movie they cherish is valuable for sentimental, familiar reasons or whatnot....and that is the kind of collector I am.
All genuine props should be accompanied by a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) from a reputable prop house it originated from, that looks something like the following. Some major prop houses in the past have closed & liquidated all their inventory, and buyers or other prop houses snap-up items to re-sell or add to their own collections..... All of the items in my collection have COA's and are issued from one of the largest, most reputable prop houses in the US.
When I began collecting Practical Magic props, I re-watched the movie, trying to catch sight of some of my props. Some I think I see, but are part of cluttered cupboard settings, or more "general background", or I suspect are part of broader scenes like the attic bedroom (where Jimmy morphs out of Gillian's body). In that room are a bevy of knickknacks that line the walls, nooks & crannies.
Most-cherished to me, are props that relate to things about the movie that are core in my own life, things I do, or items I collect anyway---candles, soap dishes (being a soapmaker!), wooden trinket boxes, potion-making bottles, herb ware, tea dishware. I like collecting things I can USE in my own life, not just leave in a glass display cabinet. So that's been what I'm most attracted to collecting...a tea cup for butterfly weed tea, and a cake plate for brownies, or shot glass for tequila! Fun coversation pieces! It's kinda cool to have items scattered about my own house that were part of the movie! Here are some below. Most I've saved, some I've sold. At present, I'm not willing to sell any more. They will become heirlooms to my children and grandaughters.
The first Practical Magic prop I acquired, and my favorite of all, was this candlestick! Candles are such an intrinsic part of the movie, in many scenes.... Every time I light it, I feel a spark of magic! It's part of many candle groupings throughout my house. (I'm pretty sure I qualify as a candle fanatic!)
This metal owl is a tealight candle holder inside and feels like it weighs ten lbs, it's sooo heavy! Would make a good weapon in an emergency! When lit, the light shines through his eyes and I often remove the lid on top and set my cup there to keep my tea warm! He's a useful lil' dude! I love his aged metal finish. He wisely sits by me at my computer and and stares at me with his *burning* gaze.....
This heavy glass bubble-filled paperweight is an item I keep on my desk. It looks perfectly magical, because, well,... it IS!
What better way to take tea, than in my own magical garden with a teacup & saucer from Practical Magic?
A lovely Victorian soap dish! I like to keep it filled with a soap made with lavender and rosemary!
"Plant rosemary at your garden gate, grow lavender for luck!"
Victorian copper herb pots were quite useful back-in-the-day, for gathering herbs and making mashes or teas, and that was what this was sold to me as...an herb pot. As a Practical Magic prop, I'm sure it was for the aunts' bountiful garden gatherings. I use it as a candle pot though, for beeswax candles...hmmm...I love the soft honey scent of beeswax!
This necklace was part of costumery from Practical Magic. I *think* I recognize it from one of the scenes with Sally in her bontanical store, Verbena.
This charming jewelry trinket box was one of my more expensive acquisitions. I can just imagine it sitting on one of the aunts' dressers, filled with ornate Victorian jewelry, a hatpin or two, can't you?
I gave this candle sconce to a dear friend of mine who wanted it, Sabrina (The Ink Witch), just a short time before she died sadly and unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage. Many of you may remember her beautiful spirit and her beautiful ink art! I still haven't gotten over her loss.
The perfect serving dish for breakfast brownies! This pretty etched cake plate is perfectly in-keeping with serving ware of the Victorian era.
I'm an avid bottle-collector anyway, but couldn't resist a potion bottle from the Practical Magic Conservatory!
This is a fun vase, and on the bottom of it are written set notes, placing it in the "living area, set 7, scene 14".
Technically I'm not, but somewhere within me, I'm sure courses Italian blood, because I LOVE basil. I grow it, dry it, and use it on just about everything! So of course, I was invariably attracted to this beautiful cobalt blue Victorian herb shaker from Practical Magic...for what else? My constant eating companion, dried basil!
I adore wooden boxes, have collected them just about all my life, I find it very difficult to pass a box without opening it to see what's *IN* it! Consequently, every box I own or give has some small treasure in it! A stone, a shell, a key, a pressed flower, crystal or ornament. When I saw this Practical Magic box, elaborately hand-etched with a Victorian woman motif, and it appears burned for shadow effect, I imagined it was tucked in some cranny in the attic bedroom. Makes a perfect-sized letter box! What treasures or secrets did the Practical Magic women store in it?
This lovely handpainted teapot is a staple of my garden tea breaks with my Practical Magic teacup & saucer.
Cats have always been important family members in our household, so this kitty candleholder fits right in! We have two kitties: a black & white tuxedo and one white/gray. And their personalities are magical!
Another Victorian copper herb pot....but I use it to hold pens & pencils.
A wooden inlaid trinket box I keep favorite rings in!
A Victorian copper herb basket used for herb gathering, I keep dried botanicals/potpourri in it, sprinkled with a few drops of essential oils, to softly scent the house in lavender, rosewood, sweet orange, & cinnamon.
This is my pancake plate! I haven't mastered saguaro cactus pancakes like Gary Hallet; ...I rather prefer thin round blueberry ones! And at Halloween, pumpkin pancakes!
Jewelry? More treasures? Surely this trinket dish was in Sally's room or the attic bedroom!
This is a Victorian era fireside match holder, but I use it to hold my candle snuffer, a witch hat snuffer!
This Victorian era ceramic herb pot features a graceful calla lily design. I'm thinking of putting cut hand-written messages from cards and letters my kids give me in there, ...a sort of love pot! The best magic of all!
This odd little wooden candlestick has an interesting purple-ish color to it. Matches nothing, but is unique unto itself.
A tequila shot glass! I mean c'mon.....you just KNOW tequila is going to taste better out of a Practical Magic set shot glass!
This is one of my favorite props. Why? To me it looks like three upside down witch hats! No one else ever seems to *see* that but me. Yet I'm sure that's why the set decorator chose it! Most think it looks like icicles or stalagtites.
More Practical Magic candlesticks...these are brass, typical Victorian era.
This stoneware herb bowl gets used for SO many things! Serving dish, dip dish, mixing bowl, candle arrangement bowl.....You can NEVER have enough bowls....especially when they're from Practical Magic!
This item gets used a lot! Because I make soups a lot! A copper & brass ladle from the Practical Magic kitchen! The kitchen of my dreams! Your's too?
So even though I don't have a gorgeous gothic Victorian home like the Practical Magic house as many of us might wish for, I DO have bits of Practical Magic in every room of my own house! And I'm just sure these items absorbed and give off some of the magic that the movie continues to give off!
I hope you've enjoyed looking at this collection!
~Carol