Has anyone ever opened their collection to the public?

[ONEYE]

A private/personnel museum that people could come visit? I know we share our collections on line, but I think it would be cool to have people see it in person. I don't mean to your house/home, but may in a separate building on your property or in your town. I know, there would be insurance issues as well as rent if you don't own the location of your museum. Would or could you charge an entrance fee to offset those costs? Just thinking "out loud" and curious to see if any of you have thought about this idea.

 

[Rusty85]

I often thought about it. Seems like a pretty cool idea, but the cost/profit margin might be tricky.

 

[subxinu]

I'd visit such a "private museum" and give a donation considering many people here have nicer collections than many of the "studio museums."

 

[Droidboy]

Whenever I have people over they always suggest that, but I couldn't imagine the feasibility of it, let alone the practicality of it. But it's always flattering people think it's that cool.

Gregg

 

[**Miketrixx**]

it sounds a good idea
a way you could keep costs down is do it in groups maybe then it would be shared between you all plus you would get to see everyone elses collections at the same time :cool

mike

 

[stapleton13]

I do that once a year in a way. I do a haunted house every halloween, and display several of my new props in one of the windows of the house where people waiting in line can view them.

Last Year we had a old blaser that was painted up as an area 51 truck in frount of our house, and I placed my aliens Pulse rifle on the passanger seat.

Myron

 

[bigbaddaddyvader]

I was supposed to have my collection displayed at the first ever SW convention in Northern Ireland last year but the venue and the guys arranging it would not insure my collection.I said ok fine and got a quote for event insurance which was like a hundred pounds for three days and would have covered everything and they refused and told me I would have to pay it.Keep in mind that I was doing all this for free as it was for charity and I was going to be transporting everything and myself and a friend would have set up everything so basically they didn't have to do a thing and they went so far as to advertise online and in newspapers that there would be a display of original props from the film at the event.Despite all that they refused point blank to cover it or pay for the cover so I had to pull out which really aggravated me as I so wanted to be a part of it but I wasn't about to put my whole collection in public for three days with no insurance and the casual disdain they treated me with after they courted me was dreadful.I mean I didn't go to them THEY came to me with the idea and I said I would do everything.Bottom line-no insurance no display.
Damn shame.

 

[Lost in Trek]

Never displayed the props but years ago I did put together a Trek collectable diplay for the Science Museum of Virginia. They did insure all pieces from the time they left my house until the time they were returned. It was kinda cool and pretty fun creating the displays.

 

[ONEYE]

Thank you all for the comments/input.

A temporary display for an event/convention would be a ton of work. Packing up, transporting, unpacking, display, etc... That's why I would shy away from a short term display.

I'll continue drawing up plans for a private display in my home. I don't want just to display, but want to have cool, themed "environments" for each genre of the collection. Presentation to me is as important as the items themselves.

I'll keep checking this thread for any new ideas/suggestions. It just seems a shame to keep the collection all to myself and not share it in a more active manner.

 

[Rebelscum]

I opened my collection for a charity event last year for a Safety Town to be started this year in our town. Tickets were pretty expensive and limited but a lot of parents came with their kids, many in costume. 501st helped out generously, and we got quite a bit of newspaper and tv coverage. It was a lot of darn work though, so I'm not sure if I'm up for it again, though the question keeps coming up.

 

[ONEYE]

Maybe if done, it should be open for viewing in the same manner that The RPF is open for membership. Limited time periods. In that way, it would allow for new items to arrive, and/or displays to be upgraded/changed/ modified. Control how many can enter and when. Make it easy on "The Curator".

 

[DarthMarmalade]

Ah, now here's something I can speak to.

My collection includes very few prop replicas, and even fewer fan-made ones. It's mostly toys. However, after joking about the "museum" in my home for some years, a few friends of mine and I got together and made it official: we formed the non-profit Star Toys Museum, Inc. to preserve, protect, and share the collection.

It's still in my home, still very disorganized and in need of much more room (there have been three new Star Wars movies since we made The Museum official, four if you count The Clone Wars), but we're here and still receive visitors. In fact, the last month or so has seen a veritable explosion in visitors -- I don't know why, but I suspect the economy has folks looking for inexpensive things to do close to home.

We don't have set hours, and don't charge admission. We're open by appointment -- send an email or leave a phone message, and we can usually arrange for someone to greet visitors -- and we have a jar so folks can leave contributions, if they wish.

Two years ago, the Geppi's Entertainment Museum in downtown Baltimore borrowed a boatload of our toys for their Star Wars 30th Anniversary exhibit. They were very professional, insuring and cataloguing everything. It was a blast to see my toys in their facility (my avatar picture is from opening night there). Since then, I've been slowly putting together a "traveling collection", so that the next time someone wants to do something like that, we won't have to take apart any of our displays -- we'll just have boxes of toys ready to go.

Here's a link: http://www.startoysmuseum.org/

I know that the folks at Geppi's, at the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum of Wheeling, WV, and the Antique Toy Museum of Stanton, MO are living my dream, and I'm sure there are others as well.

 

[ONEYE]

DarthMarmalade,
Thank you! Inspirational and if I ever decide to do something similar, I'll model myself after your example. :thumbsup

 

[racprops]

One of the major questions is do you show off your collection…

It can become a can of worms…

Non-fans may ridicule you and it.

Fans may complain that you have so much and as friends you should give them some of it.

Once known you have all of that, you almost can not leave you home for fear of break ins. (Bars on windows and doors and house sitters become something you will want…)

Visitors may even steal from you (ask about Forry and how much waked out of his collection)

So can you live with the ridicule, pressure to share, or theft?

Or do you end up like Scrooge Mc Duck and keep it in a security vault and only you visit it?

Some deep thoughts from a old collector.

Rich

 

[HILDEBEAST]

Rebelscum on this board opened up his collection last year for an event in Dallas and people are still talking about it. He did it right with the best Star Wars collection I've ever seen. It was amazing the scope of his collection. Everything was high end including all the displays he designed and then built. He has his own theater in one room and a very large room with some of the best Star Wars pieces available. If you google Philip Wise you will see a site with a lot of his collection.... truly amazing collection Philip.....

 

[DJP]

Here's a link: http://www.startoysmuseum.org/

Very, very interesting idea..

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

One of the major questions is do you show off your collection…

It can become a can of worms…

Non-fans may ridicule you and it.

Fans may complain that you have so much and as friends you should give them some of it.

Once known you have all of that, you almost can not leave you home for fear of break ins. (Bars on windows and doors and house sitters become something you will want…)

Visitors may even steal from you (ask about Forry and how much waked out of his collection)

So can you live with the ridicule, pressure to share, or theft?

Or do you end up like Scrooge Mc Duck and keep it in a security vault and only you visit it?

Some deep thoughts from a old collector.

Rich

I vote for the Scrooge McDuck scenario myself:cool

I too would think that the vast knowledge of such a valuable collection would be very tempting to steal, especially if it was just casually displayed and out for the taking and not under lock and key.

I've only let a select few who aren't family or close friends see my collection.

 

[ONEYE]

Only few can sees "my precious."

Justs long enough to know I haves it.

Yes, I'm not a big fan of worms.

 

[CB2001]

Well, I will admit, with what I have now, all my props can fit into a suitcase (as you can see in my prop collection post). But I have seen a lot of groups at MegaCon that were selling replicas (such as Arsenal Models) and groups of replica makers showing off their works in a massive collection (like the Robots Builders Club, as I show pictures of their replica robots in my MegaCon video).

 

[sycor]

most of my props are still packed in the boxes they arrived in from various sellers and runs from here. I just haven't gotten around to putting everything out in a nice display. But I do like taking some pieces in to work occasionally and my co-workers really like them. Of course working in a movie theater means there's always someone who thinks it's cool.