'Star Wars' Collecting 101 - How To Begin This Hobby
Image Source: Wookieepedia
Since 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Steve Sansweet as the holder of the biggest Star Wars collection in the world. Gus Lopez is one of the most renowned collectors of Star Wars props and cast and crew items, speaking at various conventions and writing books about Star Wars collectibles.
Star Wars as a hobby is usually associated either with cosplaying or collecting.
But how to get into this hobby and more importantly, how to keep a healthy relationship with it?
Here are six tips that might help you get into Star Wars collecting and keep at it for the long term.
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1. Find Your Death Star
This may sound obvious, but it is probably the most important aspect. Building and maintaining a collection takes a lot of time (and usually also money), and you will only be willing to invest this time (and money) when the things you collect can hold your interest in the long run.
So, if you like to read Star Wars books or comics anyway, why not also collect them? If you are into art, why not collect Star Wars prints and posters? If you are crafty, why not build and collect Star Wars ship models or knit little Star Wars dolls? There probably isn't a niche too small, to not make a collection out of it.
Image Source: FanthaTracks
And if your interests shift over time, that's no problem too. You can always start collecting something new. As every Star Wars fan knows, there is more than one Death Star
2. “A Fine Addition To My Collection”
A second way of getting (or rather sliding) into Star Wars collecting is not consciously doing so until it's too late. This is somehow similar to the first tip, where you invest (time and/or money) in things that interest you, but here it is not to build a collection in the first place. Until you realize one day that you have bought, constructed, or bartered a compilation of these "interest items", that is worthy of the term collection.
Years ago, your author wanted to get into the former Expanded Universe and started to read every book, novella, short story, and comic he could get ahold of until he realized that in the process of doing so, he had amassed hundreds of books and thousands of comics with the Star Wars logo on them, without ever planning of creating a collection.
3. “That's What Brothers Do”
The sheer amount of collecting possibilities and items may be overwhelming at first, especially when you have settled on a less mainstream facet than action figures or books. But no matter how seemingly niche your area of interest is, chances are that there is at least one other who is already collecting the same as you and is willing to help you with deciding what to get and what not, where to find resources, and maybe even to barter with you. This person might not live next door or in the same town or country as you, but he or she is out there, and you might meet him or her at a convention, stumble upon his or her blog, photos, or social media posts, and maybe build a lifelong friendship out of these.
4. Patience, Young Padawan
Building a (large) collection takes time, as does expanding your knowledge about your spot of collecting. With every new item and piece of information, you will also get a sense of what is still out there to collect.
Collecting Star Wars cinematic soundtracks sounds easy, right? There is the music to the nine saga films, Roughe One, Solo, and The Clone Wars feature film, so your collection should be complete if you own these 12 albums, right?
Wrong! Not only could you collect these albums on vinyl, CD, tape, minidisc, and probably several other media, but over the years, there were numerous different versions of these soundtracks with various track numbers, covers, liner notes, and so on. And these are just the film soundtracks.
You will most probably learn about their existence and where to get them over time, either by reading articles, talking to other collectors, and sometimes maybe by pure coincidence. But don't rush it, part of the fun is to grow your knowledge as you grow your collection.
Image Source: Entertainment Weekly
There is a second aspect to this too: you might stumble upon an item that you desperately want to add to your collection, but you are unable to acquire it, as it is too hard to find or simply too expensive. The tip here is again to have patience, as hard as it may sound at that moment. The Force works in mysterious ways, and sooner or later, you will find this item again (and maybe at a more reasonable price).
5. “Be Careful Not To Choke On Your Aspirations”
Getting a printed autograph of Mark Hamill is relatively easy (and cheap). Getting Mark Hamil to sign a personalized autograph for you is more difficult (and expensive). But what if your top priority is to get a personalized autograph by George Lucas, otherwise you regard your collection as simply worthless. Well. you might accidentally run into Mr. Lucas at a local coffee shop and get him to sign something for you, or you might send him something to sign, add the return postage, and he is kind enough to send it back to you with his signature, but chances are that even over time this will never happen. Also, your collection will probably never be as big or as impressive as those of Steve Sansweet or Gus Lopez, no matter how hard you try. But that's totally ok. There will always be someone, who has an item that you desperately want but could never acquire, but that's ok too. You can reach for the stars, but you also have to accept that you might not be able to touch them. If you are too dogged, you might lose interest at all and give up collecting as a whole.
6. “He's Worth A Lot To Me"
When you start collecting, you are probably not doing this to get rich out of it. It is ok to sell an item if you don't want it or if you have more than one of it anyway, and you might even get a nice price for it, but getting stuff just to sell it (at a disproportional price) isn't the spirit of a true collector (unless you absolutely have to).
Image Source: starwars.com
On the other hand, the emotional value an item can have for you can differ vastly from its nominal worth. When you are looking for a rare variant cover of a comic, you might be willing to pay a price for it that is beyond any rational reasoning, but that is your decision to make if that is what it's worth for you.
Just remember that there are a lot of scammers out there (scum and villainy), who make money merely by getting things they have no interest in, just to sell them to someone desperate enough to pay their out-of-proportion prices. Sometimes it is better to follow tip four and wait until you find this item at a cheaper price or follow tip five and settle on something different.
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