Wall Mounted Silurian Pelt

While browsing eBay I came upon this oddity, a section of 'skin' from a Silurian costume from Warriors of the Deep. Supposedly from Ichtar himself!  Currently it's nearly £120 with a short time to go, which shows what people will pay for a fragment of a thirty year old costume, and not even one from a good story.

Many costumes from the old show have deteriorated into poor condition, particular the monster costumes; those with latex and other things that crack and disintegrate. Cloth seems to hold up a bit better, but my memories of seeing things in exhibitions is that they are generally quite roughly made. Timelord robes I recall seeing are clearly curtain and upholstery material, so very thick and quite coarse.  The camera is surprisingly forgiving.

I was a bit sorry to see the auction above because it seemed a shame that the once compete suit had been broken up into shreds to be sold individually as I recall seeing it many years ago.  But wait, the auction claims the owner to have bought the suit at a Bonhams auction in 1991, I saw the Silurian in 1993.  Phew, hopefully he has escaped dismemberment.

I saw my Silurian about 1993 when the Museum of the Moving Image came to Bristol.  Still quite a trek from where I was living in South Wales but worth it. I was quite young but my dad sneaked a camera in, otherwise I would only have vague memories today.  The Silurian like other costumes rather loses something without a person inside animating it; shapeless arms awkwardly hanging down and the stiff pose slightly leaning backwards.  As black as the arms look in this photo, I think the fire started by a faulty K9 at Llangollen happened some years after this was taken.