Tomb Raider - Cradle of Life, Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft Butterfly Knife

original movie prop

This hard resin butterfly knife was custom-made for use by Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in Jan de Bont's 2003 film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life.  In the film, Lara can be seen playing with the hero metal version of the knife while coordinating her next mission over the phone, and then later using this safe resin version as a throwing knife to kill the henchman, Chen Lo, who had just shot at her back.

Notably, Angelina Jolie is a long-time knife collector and enthusaist, who's demonstrated her skills with a butterfly knife on talk shows, shown off her own knife collection, and given knives as crew gifts and as gifts to some of her children who've taken an interest.  A bit of coincidental trivia is that veteran Hong Kong actor Simon Yam, who was stabbed as Chen Lo in this film, was actually stabbed onstage in real life at a public event (fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured).

This knife is in overall excellent condition, with some minor scuffing to the silver paint on the blade.  The effect makes the blade look slightly dirty or rusty though, rather than detracting from its realism.  The paint job on the handle is honestly very impressive, with multiple translucent layers giving the illusion of an aged, deeply lacquered wood, with a slightly golden sheen shifting at different angles.  A lot of time and effort was clearly spent painting this knife to look as authentic close-up on camera as possible, making it a standout among all the different stunt knives made for the film.  Aside from the minor paint scuffing on the blade, there's no sign of paint deterioration or other issues.

This knife was part of Lot #458 in Propstore of London's December 2020 Live Auction; the original listing this was purchased from can be seen here:

https://propstoreauction.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/244/lot/66716/