All of us at Rancho Obi-Wan have been thinking of our Gala supporters this weekend. It would have been our 8th annual Gala fundraiser on Saturday and we missed seeing you all here. We look forward to celebrating with you next year. Thank you all, take care of yourselves, see you soon.
Happy Birthday Steve!
A very happy birthday to our leader, friend, ambassador and mentor. I found a few fun photos of Steve from the last few years. Steve loves Star Wars. He loves you, the fans. He loves sharing Star Wars with you. Thank you Steve!
-Anne
The passing of Charles Lippincott
For Star Wars Corp., Charley was VP of Advertising, Publicity, Promotion & Merchandising and was largely responsible for the Marvel Star Wars comic books and, with 20th Century Fox, the Kenner Products contract that revolutionized toys and helped make George Lucas an independent filmmaker. Charley was generous with his time and gave a long interview to Rancho’s Steve Sansweet for the groundbreaking 1992 book, Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible. The Force will be with him…always!
May the 4th be with you!
Every day is Star Wars day at Rancho Obi-Wan! We hope you all find joy in immersing yourselves in Star Wars.
Guinness World Records has created a special treat for you today with a 17 minute walk-though of the museum with Steve Sansweet.
And at 2pm PST today Steve Sansweet will show off his “art figure” collection on the Scum & Villainy 24 hour live stream.
From Steve, Anne, and all the docents and volunteers at Rancho Obi-Wan, have a fantastic day!
Prop Store presents a fundraiser for Rancho Obi-Wan: The Death Star Auction
Many, many thanks to all those that bid on the Death Star Auction. All 30 Death Stars are going to new loving homes. We hope they will be conversation pieces for generations of Star Wars fans. Thank you to PropStore.com for hosting the auction, thank you to our dedicated staff for their hard work on the project, thank you to everyone for reading many more newsletters than we normally send, thank you to all our friends on social media for sharing the information, thank you to the artists for contributing their passion, time and creative skills, but most of all, thank you to our own Steve Sansweet for his dedication to fandom and continuing to use his collection for good.
From an illuminated Dagobah garden to an exploded Darth Vader mask, from a Fabergé-style egg to a dianoga’s lair, and from R2-D2 to Scarif’s Citadel Tower from Star Wars: Rogue One, artists have turned 30 10-inch high resin replicas of the Death Star into ingenious and in some cases automated works of art in a fundraiser for Rancho Obi-Wan.
The auction is being run by Prop Store, the well-known London and Los Angeles based seller of pop culture memorabilia. The online sale runs from Feb. 10 to Feb. 21, 2020 and will support Rancho’s mission of using its collection to inspire others to be imaginative, creative, learn new crafts and gain knowledge.
Steve says: “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the Death Star replicas that Star Wars artists and fans have contributed to our auction following in the tradition of artists’ reworking of Darth Vader, Stormtrooper and other helmets. We also want to thank our friends at Prop Store for donating their time and bandwidth to run the auction.”
See our YouTube channel for videos of all Death Stars
With many thanks to the artists:
- Mike Bianco
- Matt Busch
- Ben Cheese
- Cryssy Cheung
- Jason W. Christman
- Kaela Croft
- Brian DeGuire with Michael Sheridan
- Eric Ehrlich
- Jon Farmer
- Gerard Garcia Jr.
- Kurt Gaulke
- Mick, Matt and Kathy Glebe
- Scott Harben
- Joe Hogan and Tina Quiri
- Dan Norgan
- Brian Miller
- Cameron Miller
- Lawrence Noble
- Michael O’Shields/Geek Burning
- Kris Penix
- Tori Robinson
- Justin Russo, Tom O’Brien, Aaron Saule and Naotaka Aogaki
- Tsuneo Sanda
- Dwayne Smith
- Tom Spina Designs and Regal Robot
- Gordon Tarpley
- Kathy van Beuningen
- Adrianna Vanderstelt
- Jerry Vanderstelt
- Christian Waggoner
- Russell Walks with Rylee Schlaht
- Steve Willaredt
- A. Young
Additional Death Star works by Kurt Gaulke, Lawrence Noble, Dan Norgan and Gordon Tarpley are not available for auction, but will be featured on special display at Rancho Obi-Wan.
Watch for and use #DeathStarAuction on social platforms.
All photos and video by Victoria Webb Photo
Star Wars is Forever!
As 2019 falls behind we look forward to an exciting 2020. Inspiration for Star Wars fans worldwide will be abundant next year. We hope to share it with you!
Become a supporting Member of Rancho Obi-Wan or donate any amount by 12/31/2019 in order to receive a tax deductible receipt to file with your 2019 taxes next year. Always consult a tax professional. Become a Member before 12/31/2019
ArcLight Cinerama Dome Los Angeles Exhibit
See The Rise of Skywalker at the ArcLight, 6360 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. We will have a small exhibit of items through 1/3/2020 representing all previous 8 Skywalker saga films.
Paizo Humble Bundle supports ROW!
Delve into the rich lore of Pathfinder’s Age of Lost Omens campaign setting. Your purchase supports Rancho Obi-Wan. This amazing bundle ends 12/30/2019. Don’t forget!
Gala 2020 tickets on sale now!
| Our fundraising Gala is Saturday, June 13, 2020 with an optional wine tasting on Friday, June 12th, 2020.Join us for a festive Summer BBQ with auctions, door prizes, games, friends, laughter and more! Buy Gala tickets now! |
Special Art Auction Coming 1/31/2020
Many talented artists have given their time and energy to decorate a familiar item for ROW to auction. One of these unique pieces needs a home with you! More information coming in the next weeks, but save the date and sign up for PropStore.com’s newletter to receive news.
San Francisco Giants Star Wars Day 2020 Announced
To celebrate The Rise of Skywalker, The San Francisco Giants announced their Star Wars day early. There’s all kinds of great gifts and perks!
Purchase your tickets today!
Deep Dive VIP Tour Series
Join us for these special “deep dive” tours during which you will see items from the collection not normally shown, talk with experts in the theme, tour the museum with Steve Sansweet and our docent team, taste wine from Skywalker Vineyards and beer from Petaluma’s Hen House Brewery, and dine on genuine Texas barbecue straight from our R2-BQ smokers.
So much news!
Save the date, hints, exhibits and deep dive tours.
Thank you!
On behalf of everyone at Rancho Obi-Wan, THANK YOU for coming to see us at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. It was great to see so many friends and make new ones. Your support there was integral to our continued operation. If you didn’t get to Chicago, we hope to see you at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, August 27-30, 2020 where our exhibit will take you back 40 years to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
Continue reading “So much news!”Many thanks!
To everyone who came to see us and support us at The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience booth at Star Wars Celebration Chicago–THANK YOU! Thank you for visiting, for donating, for buying something, for playing Star Wars with Friends, for spinning the wheel, for bringing your friends and family, for smiling and taking photos, for being inspired by Star Wars!
Continue reading “Many thanks!”The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience at Celebration Chicago April 11-15, 2019
Evolving schedule for the Rancho Obi-Wan booth:
Continue reading “The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience at Celebration Chicago April 11-15, 2019 ”