Steve Sansweet’s Rancho Obi-Wan museum contains more than 300,000 pieces of Star Wars memorabilia.
There is a lot of Star Wars stuff floating around out there. There’s not much quest why; the franchise has always lent itself well to toys and memorabilia. In turn, there’s no lack for fans who are more than willing to seek out all the toys, collectibles and (if we’re being honest) random junk that’s been stamped with the Star Wars brand over the years. Now, these collectors have a king, and his name is Steve.
Steve Sansweet to be exact, and his Star Wars museum, Rancho Obi-Wan, recently had the honor of being inducted into the Guinness World Records 2014 Edition for hosting the world’s largest Star Wars memorabilia collection. An ongoing inventory of the museum has, thus far, counted around 91,000 pieces. That said, Sansweet estimates that number represent “less than one-third” of his total collection which he estimates to contain around 300,000 memorabilia items.
Sansweet’s collection includes everything from toys, models, posters and life size exhibits to an entire room dedicated to pinball and arcade machines. The arcade room is apparently a particular draw for visiting Star Wars fans. “If I turned that room on before the tour ended I’d lose everybody before the end of the tour,” said Sansweet. In addition to collecting Star Wars memorabilia, Sansweet has also authored sixteen books on the film franchise and previously worked as director of specialty marketing at Lucasfilm. At this point, we’re pretty sure that if Guinness could quantify fandom that he’d hold the record for that too.
Source: Rancho Obi-Wan
Published: Sep 14, 2013 01:35 pm