Collection Diary 08-13-05

MAIL CALL!

Wow. My 'incoming' stack to be photographed, edited, documented, and filed is up over 200 Star Wars pieces again. Starting today (my new mid-year resolution) I'm going to keep the diary up daily with mail and new store finds and begin catching up on some of the backlog stuff online.

Today's mail brought two parcels from the UK, one from Hong Kong, a very special custom piece, and a Burger King promotional piece.
The EPIII ROTS deck of cards starts off today's entry. This standard deck of cards was manufactured by 'Character' and incldues rules for six classic card games.

I was outbid this month on Sigma bookends, a Sigma music box, and a set of droid Sigma salt and pepper shakers. I wasn't on a Sigma kick, it was just a very prominent group showing up on eBay now that midline collectors are selling off their classic goods due the last-time-ever(??) artifical price increases. I was able to win this Sigma Darth Vader silvered bank. All of the photography I've had contributed for this piece has always given it a gunmetal gray look. I'm pelased with the way my new official file photo turned out.

Bill Cable ... what a guy! This Emperor's Royal Guard is my second custom Droids piece from Bill. The previous piece was a Droids Chewbacca which was in my February 27, 2004 diary entry. (See? Diary references really ARE helpful in finding things!) The ERG is limited to TEN pieces in the entire run so if you want one of the few remaining pieces, you can find Bill Cable's contact information at his website: Creature Cantina.)

Speaking of custom pieces... this is a resin Darth Vader ashtray from Hong Kong. There are three in the set, each sold separately. The first one arrived shattered. (I'm working on getting it replaced as it was by far the nicest of the three.) The second one is burried in the 'incoming' stack. As they come in / are rediscovered I'll link them together in the diary entries. They were bid on originally for a story here about the creativity of customizers overseas.

$8.00 including shipping. That's how much this eight foot plastic Burger King banner cost me from eBay. Another closed today for under $6.00 plus postage. I have no idea why they're going so cheap, so if you're a banner collector, go get one quickly! People will probably start holding them again until the value goes back up.