Harold Lloyd Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies. He made nearly 200 films, both silent as well as talkies, between the early 1900s and 1950s. Lloyd is best remembered for his films that contained “thrill sequences” of chase scenes and unimaginable daredevil accomplishments, most of which he did himself.

Unfortunately, not every scene in the business will go as smoothly as planned. What many people don’t know is that Harold Lloyd had an accident with a prop bomb during the filming of Haunted Spooks. The script he was working on called for him to light a cigarette from a fake bomb on set; however, the fake bomb resembled a real bomb so much that an authentic bomb was accidentally put in its place. He ended up losing his right thumb and index finger as a result of the explosion and was from then on disguised on film with a special prosthetic glove. 

You may wonder why you haven’t heard of Lloyd with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The reason is simple: Lloyd’s films were not as commercially successful, at first, as Chaplin’s or Keaton’s. In fact, Lloyd released twelve feature films in the ’20s while Chaplin only released three, grossing $15.7 million to Chaplin’s $10.5 million. 

To obtain your very own piece of this silent sensation’s history, visit Morphy auctions. A Harold Lloyd mechanical bank will be open for bidding from September 11 to September 13, 2008. The bank is made of tin by Saalheimer & Strauss, circa 1920.