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Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark: An original Fertility Idol, 1981, image 1
Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark: An original Fertility Idol, 1981, image 2
Vintage Film Posters & Memorabilia 1960s - Present
Lot 141

Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark: An original Fertility Idol,
1981,

3 July 2013, 13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £8,750 inc. premium

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Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark: An original Fertility Idol,

1981,
in bronze-effect composition material with 'verdigris' finish, together with statement of provenance from Kit West, Special Mechanical Effects Supervisor, 7½ inches (19cm) high

Footnotes

The statement confirms that this is one of the original idols used for the filming of the opening sequence set in the Chachapoyan Temple of Warriors.

This fictional solid gold Chachapoyan fertility idol represented Pachamama, the Chachapoyan goddess of fertility and was hidden by the tribe's priests in a temple in the Peruvian jungle. In 1935, an archaeologist named Forrestal had disappeared whilst searching for the idol and a year later, archaeologist and treasure hunter Indiana Jones followed in his footsteps. Jones locates the Temple of Warriors and discovers Forrestal's remains impaled on the wooden spikes of a booby trap.

The idol itself is placed on an altar, and is of a precise weight with which to hold a booby-trap mechanism in place. Jones knows this and tries to replace the idol with a bag of sand, but this fails as he miscalculates the weight of the idol. This sets off a sequence of traps, including falling walls, shooting darts and, most memorably, a huge rolling boulder designed to seal the temple entrance and trap any intruders within. Jones manages to escape from the Temple, only to be met by a rival archaeologist and is forced to hand over the prized idol.

Additional information

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