This past Saturday, the club had its first SoCal member-hosted meetup in quite awhile at the home of Phidias Barrios, where his amazing collection "La Biblioteca" resides. Phidias and his family have always been the personification of hospitality, and this get-together was no different. With a full bar and BBQ spread, no collector went hungry or thirsty. To top it off, the proceedings took place on the driveway under the canopy of a gigantic tent, saving us (and the vintage wares) from the intensifying San Fernando Valley sun.
We had several newcomers attending their first meetup, including Brian Angel, Tom Corrigan, Darren Thomas, and Nico Lombardo -- all of whom took part in the indoctrination err...flag signing ceremony.
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| Clockwise: Brian, Darren, Tom, and Nico signing the club flag. |
While there were some very nice items laid out, the majority of the get-together was geared more towards hobby conversation. It was great for old friends catching up and getting to know the new members. I came home with a couple of personally significant items because of the ridiculous generosity of Phidias and Mark H. Back at the very first CAVSWCC meeting at Skye Paine's in November 2008, I sold Phidias my Lili Ledy B-Wing Pilot, and I'd had regrets about it in the years that followed. Phidias let me know that it had gone into his storage soon after and had been there ever since -- and that he'd find it for me and bring it to the next get-together. I didn't expect to have it back free of charge!
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| Early Bird Mark Huber eyes the long lost Lili Ledy B-Wing Pilot |
Mark -- who has been assembling an awesomely creative vintage
Sandtrooper focus over the past few years -- brought a 20th Century-Fox
Star Wars
Campaign Book that has a two page spread of the iconic Sandtrooper and
Dewback. Another item right up my collecting alley (and an increasingly
tough one to find at a reasonable price), Mark kindly offered it to me
as a gift. I seriously can't thank either of you enough!
Brian Angel continued the charitable activity with a donation of a really nice ROTJ 65B Back Chewbacca with Coin Offer for Skye's Chewseum.
Some more photos of the meetup are below, including shots of Phidias's jaw-dropping collection.
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| Vintage Cardbacks and Long Island Iced Teas...A perfect pairing. |
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| Some of Brian's wares. |
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| From Left to Right: Tom, Ryan and Mark E. enjoying the shade of the Barrios Big Top. |
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| Trio of cabinets displaying some of Phidias's prototype and pre-production collection. |
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| Additional prototypes |
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| Prototype Angels |
The source of the collection's name is Phidias's extensive run of Bib Fortuna items, ranging from figural prototypes and packaging items to various vintage and modern items.
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| Vintage Bib Fortuna Prototypes & Misc. |
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| Vintage Bib Fortuna Continued |
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| Modern Bib Misc. |
All in all, it was an awesome day. Thanks again to Phidias and his family for taking us all in and to all of those that attended. We'll be getting the ball rolling for another meetup following Celebration Orlando. Until then...
