Welcome to the eleventh installment of our regular segment, where a vintage collector is given 10 short questions to answer. The same questions will be given to the next collector appearing on the blog.
Today’s participant is Moises Rodriguez Curiel, who is 38 years old and lives in Mexico City, where he works at a government agency dedicated to anti-corruption. Moises is also the founder of the largest Star Wars Facebook group for Spanish speakers – Star Wars Collecionistas / Collectors. I often share my blog articles in this group and I have to thank everyone there for their positive feedback and for putting up with my spam! They all seem like a great bunch of guys and I hope they don’t have the same dramas we have in the English-speaking groups! Well done to Moises and to the other admins for their great work there.
I’m lucky to have gotten to know Moises over the past six months or so and I’m impressed by his dedication to the hobby and to the collectors who make our hobby what it is. Not only that, but he has an outstanding collection! So thanks Moises for coming on and see you in Anaheim!
VSWC: And I’ll share an extra photo of Moises, for no other reason except that his wife is hot!
To the interview!
1. How long have you been collecting?
Ten years now.
I’ve never really stopped buying items from the saga since I’ve made my own money, but until ten years ago, those were casual purchases, not as a collector.
2. What do you collect?
Vintage toys carded or boxed. I also like Kotobukiya ArtFX 1/10 statues… a lot.
VSWC: Some of Moises’ great collection.
3. What’s your grail?
In my collection? It’s a Lili Ledy Chief Chirpa carded with the back printed backwards, I mean heads down. It’s a printing error that some Mexican collectors remember, but there are no other examples at all. As far as I know, this Chirpa is the only one. I´ve heard there is one card around like that, but solely the card.
Not in my collection? I don’t know… it would be some LL carded from ESB, maybe or if I had the toys from my own childhood. Sadly I lost them between moving house. I recently found a figure truly of mine since I was a kid, and it’s a treasure to me.
4. What collectors inspire you?
Many, especially the Mexican fellows, like Adolfo Martinez, Luis Galvez, Jose del Toro and others. To me, being a collector means that you have clear goals, you work to reach them, you are disciplined to search for them, you have to be financially organized, and so on. And to me, that speaks well of a person.
5. What is your most embarrassing moment as a collector?
When I lost an auction because I was waiting for the last moment to make the “winning offer”, and I did it, but my eBay account wasn’t opened so I lost the crucial seconds entering my user and password, and … you can guess. It was so foolish!
The item was a figure I’d been looking for a long time, still blaming myself hehe.
6. What is your favourite Star Wars film?
Besides ESB? hard to tell, I guess ROTJ and I also like Ep. III a lot.
7. What would you change about the collecting community?
Two things:
First, I see that for some guys, collecting is like a race against the others, and there is a lot of money involved. Maybe if we all search and go for the things that moves our real emotions, and not for the popular grails and rarities, maybe the Force would be more balanced.
Second, and I hope I don’t open a Pandora’s box or fall from the grace of others: I would change the total intolerance to repro items. Please keep reading! To me the problem is not the repro items themselves but HOW they are traded. Repro items sold as legit things is a detestable fraud. Repro items sold as “repro items” is a way to have items that you love but you can’t afford or that no longer exist. It’s like the art reproductions you can see in the Museums stores. So maybe the movement against Repro could change to a movement against fraud. Maybe I will start it in Mexico…
8. Forums or Facebook groups?
Since I’m founder and admin of a Facebook group, I would vote Facebook. But you learn a lot in forums. Maybe Facebook groups are better to make contacts and share information… actually that’s what Facebook is for, isn´t it? And forums are more organized by themes, like more specialized.
In the end both options are great. Speaking of which, you all are welcome to join Star Wars Coleccionistas / Collectors, the biggest SW collectors community in Spanish in the world.
9. What Star Wars character do you most resemble?
Maybe Anakin because of the struggle inside hehe.
Now seriously, I don’t know, I guess my wife could say better.
10. Is there one thing that collectors may not know about you?
Many. But related to collecting, I’m a fan of other things, like DC superheroes, GI Joe, MOTU, and watching sports (49ers fan, for example).
Thank you and MTFBWY!!