Howdy! I'm Dan, aka StarwarsDan, from the US. Been bumping around the Rebelscum website for a while, heard a lot of good things about SWFUK and finally got curious! So here I am.
I did not pick this nickname. It found me. When I went off to college in the late 1990s, one of the first things I did was scope out the local comicbook and toy shops. The owner of one South Philadelphia shop had so many customers named Dan, he had a hard time keeping track of what everyone wanted. So he started referring to all the Dan's by their interest. There was BatmanDan, SpidermanDan, a few others I can't recall any longer, and yours truly. Well I don't know what happened to that place, if it's still there (I hope it is!), or the other various Dan's, but in my case, the name stuck.
I missed out on star wars when it came out. I have vague memories of seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater during original release. I was a very sheltered child with arty hippie parents, and we just did not do mainstream pop culture that much. I began collecting star wars seriously in 1990. I still have some receipts from the first couple of years of some of my prize pieces.
But I found it at a good time to collect- kids of the 70s and 80s were starting to get rid of their stuff, you could still buy action figures at yardsales for 10 cents, carded figs, sealed and boxed toys could be had at very reasonable prices (in hindsight), and my antiquing, pack-rat-hoarder (I mean that in a good way) mother took us kids to all of the flea markets, rummage sales, estate auctions, and even trash picks (dare I say it?) you could shake a stick at!
By the time I got out of high school I was a professional vendor on the local toy show circuit in Pennsylvania, NY, and New Jersey, where I grew up. I was 16 I believe when I did my only Star Trek convention as a vendor with a booth in the sales room. I put all of that away in the late 90s when I went off to college, stopped collecting and sold a few things off. The bug never quite left however. I rented a small glass showcase in a local consignment antique gallery where I kept a handful of items as a sideline hobby over the years.
Eventually the publishers of Judith Miller priceguides came in and liked my stuff, so some of my star wars collection as well as other toys and collectibles can be seen in their guides from 2003 through 2008. Unfortunately they no longer send people around that particular market scouting for items for the guides, and the market is on the verge of closure. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted!
I recently moved from Philadelphia back to NJ and I guess as I get older, collecting star wars again became a part of going back to my roots. 20 years later I am still completely fascinated by every aspect of it. Starting over with my collection seriously after a 12-year break.
I've opened a little shop on the Etsy platform to retail star wars and other vintage toys and collectibles, under the same name, starwarsdan, just like I always used to do at the antiques mall in Philly and the flea markets and toy shows before that.
In my professional life, I am an decorative painter, refinisher and antique furniture conservator, although sometimes that borders dismally on good old-fashioned used furniture sales.
In my other professional life, I am a poet. My most recently published piece can be found in Painted Bride Quarterly. My father and grandfather before me were both widely published authors. I talk too much and type fast, so I apologize in advance if my posts and responses are "wordy".
and that's all the news that's fit to print [in this particular post] :wink:
