Memorabilia goes missing
THE owner of the largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia has accused a friend of stealing many items.
Steve Sansweet, who runs Rancho Obi-Wan, a museum in California that houses more than 400,000 collectibles, said the theft took place over several months.
“We’re missing about 120 to 130 items worth some $200,000,” he said.
He said most of the items were vintage US and foreign carded action figures, many of them rare.
Mr Sansweet, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who worked for 15 years as head of fan relations at Lucasfilm before retiring in 2011, identified the suspect as being a wellknown collector and R2-D2 builder from Georgia.
“I’ve known him for 20 years,” Mr Sansweet said.
“He shared our hospitality, he stayed with us, he ate our food, he had the run of the museum as few people had because we trusted him, and he turns around and does something like this.”