That's harsh ... not on the same scale as your pain but I can relate: Untill recently, I'd had a personally signed to me by David Prowse Darth Vader glossy A4 ( " To Christian from Darth Vader " ) , the exact same one that was on the kid's bedroom wall in 'POLTERGEIST'. I got it before Star Wars was released (or got famous) cos my mum and her friend took all us kids to Hamley's toy store in Birmingham when I was about 5 ( I'm 38 now ). I was the smallest kid there in a crowd that numbered only 10 or so, so an assistant in the crowd said "Darth, there's someone here who want's to see you" and lifted me up. I still didn't know at the time who the black shiny tall guy was or why I was holding a torch with a plastic tube attached to it that my Mum had bought me, but I felt important ..
Any hardcore Star Wars collectors/ fans of a nervous disposition stop reading now ..
As I grew older, Star Wars re-defined pop geek culture ... fast forward to when I was fourteen ... my 'friends' are in my bedroom and playing on my new dart board when one decides out of jealousy to throw his darts at my framed Darth Picture ... three puncture holes that I tore out out of anger to cause extra tear damage, but after ... I stored it away and it travelled around with me through different decades, girlfriends, life changes, countys untill about 2 months ago ..
I rediscovered it again, drunk & looking for something else, and thought: "Hey! .. I love this and I'm going to give it the restoration that it deserves!" ... brace yourselves ... I sprayed detergent on it and wiped the autograph off. For fuck's sake. The next morning, after retrieving it from the outside bin, I still have what's left of it ..
On the upside, I came here to boast about my best Christmas present .. my wife bought me a 99% mint copy of the Twilight Zone Magazine, November 1982 with Stephen King's Cannes film festival first gushing review of The Evil Dead. Check this out: ' Asked what he want's out of the business, he says: "Right now I want to make enough money to get my car fixed. I'ts been sitting out in front of my house since we finished Evil Dead, and my folks are pestering me to have it taken away. I don't wan't to do that. I want to get it fixed." ... and ... ' ...but as he turned into his home block after the film was wrapped, the engine caught on fire. It's sitting there now in Detroit .. So's the film - waiting for an American distributior. Any takers? '
Happy Christmas Deadites