This week, the news came in that the story of perhaps the greatest eBay bargain ever was coming to its natural conclusion. This was the incredible story of Morace Park who bought a battered cinema reel tin on the site for $5.
(We always recommend caution when buying on eBay given the high proportion of fakes offered, but you don't need to be all that cautious if you're bidding $5.)
The tin revealed a roll of film entitled 'Charlie Chaplin in Zepped'. The movie shows scenes of a Zeppelin raid over London whilst Chaplin acts in his trademark comic style.
Having been unable to find any record or mention of the film during his subsequent research, Mr Park began a worldwide investigation to find out if he had discovered the last copy of a forgotten Charlie Chaplin film.
Indeed this was the case, and now the film, which we included in our Top Five list of Chaplin memorabilia, is to go under the hammer at Bonhams. Apparently it was never released, and held only one test screening - either because the footage of a Zeppelin raid was too upsetting, or Chaplin blocked its release due to a disintegrating relationship with his film company.
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