What a whirlwind!! @_@ - Updated Info!!!!!

[Gonzai]

As some of you may know, I just inherited a complete art collection. I went and picked it up
this weekend, and know I am getting ready to make a dedicated gallery to the artwork. Wanted
to fill some of you in on things, since you have been sending pm's and asking.

The history:

About 10 years ago, I was listing some items on eBay, and I had a very nice person named Rosemary
bid on my auctions. She sent me all kinds of messages asking questions about where she might be
able to get more artwork from. We traded emails back and forth for awhile, and I helped her get
some nice things. As it turned out, she had been collecting for quite sometime, but mostly from
ebay and US dealers.

As time went on, she asked for my phone number so that she could call me. I gave it to her, and
the rest has been history. We have been very close friends for years. We talk on the phone. I
knew so much about her life, and her struggles after she lost her mom. She was a whirlwind. She
would buy wonderful artwork, and we tended to have the same tastes, so if ever I was looking to
sell something, she always wanted to buy it. When times got tough for her, she would ship me
items to sell for her. This was just over the last few years, as her health starting failing, and her
mdeical bills started to pile up.

A few years ago, she left her job because of her health, but she stayed in good spirits. She was
always fun to talk to, and I would tell other collectors about her. I am sure there are a few of you
out there that I have talked to about Rosemary, and know how she was like the wind. She would
come and go. There were months I would not hear from her, and I would call and call, and finally
I would find out she had been sick and been in the hospital. The current situation was no different.
I had been trying to contact her for the past couple of months with no luck, when finally last week
she called and let me know that she was back in the hospital.

Unfortunately for Rosemary, this time she is not coming home. She is unable to care for herself, so
she was moved into assisted living. She needs to sell her home, and all of the contents needed to
go. Now, Rosemary was not just a cel collector, she collected lots of different things. I won't go
into what all they were, but she had a ton of stuff, and now no where to put them. I told her to
get a storage facility, but she is fairly certain that she will be there now for the rest of her life, of
which I am not sure how much time she has left. So, needless to say, she called and asked me to
please come take all of her artwork. I agreed to pick it up and store it for her, and also, she will
need help with her expenses, so I will sell anything she asks me to if she needs the money.

I wish Rosemary all the luck, and hope her health improves, and she can get out one day and get
her items back. Her good friend in New York picked up all the rest of her other collections, and
is storing them for her as well. ^_^

The Road Trip:

So, I had to work in Greensboro, NC this last weekend. I get a call from Rosemary telling me that
the realtor said everyone needed to come and get the things they were getting before the 30th,
cause that is when the hired people will come and clear the rest of the junk out of the house. I
knew I would not be available next weekend to go there, so my only option was to go this weekend.
Now keep in mind, I found this out on Thursday, so I needed to get there and home from in a matter
of a couple days, and to get a flight from Greens boro to New York and then home was just not available.
So, starts my horrific road trip.

Friday night I did a one-way rental from Greensboro to Long Island. I took off at 6:45 PM and arrived at
4:10 AM. For $75, I rented a hotel room to sleep for 3 whole hours before I woke up and headed over to
the nursing home to see Rosemary. It was the first time we had met in person, so it was really a touching
experience. I waited there for her friend to arrive, and we headed over to Rosemary's house. Once we
got there, I went to where the artwork was suppose to be, and it was all gone. >_< I only found a couple
pan cels, and a bunch of shitajiki. I was mortified. I called the realator, and thank the Gods, she had
taken it all out of the house for me, in case I did make it. Apparently, Rosemary was pretty adament to
her that she wanted me to have it. Needless to say, I had to wait for a few hours, but she showed up
with all the artwork.

Thank goodness I went through everything, though, or some beautiful pan cels would have ended up getting
pitched. >_< Anyway, Rosemary also asked me to take all of her DVD's and sell them for her to help raise
money as well, so I packed all those up, along with the artwork, and headed to the Shipping store. I
ended up mailing 7 boxes of miscellaneous items, and what I assumed where not her top quality cels, and
the rest I loaded in boxes to being back on the plane with me. Total shipping cost was $300. -_- I
left the shipping place and ran back over to the nursing home to drop off Rosemary's shikishi that she
still wanted, and then took off to the airport, since I was cutting it close,

Needless to say, there was an accident on the Interstate and I missed my flight. The rebooked me out of
Newark, but my GPS took me through downtown Manhatte, which on a Saturday night..... well, lets just
say I could have run there faster then I was moving in the car. SO, my flight was at 7:32, by 6:45, I was
still sitting in downtown Manhatten. I still needed to check in these two boxes and return the rental car
which by the way was an hour late and ended up cosing me $299 instead of just the $201. Expensive hour!! O_O
So, I called the airlines, and they re-booked me on the flight first thing in the morning. As it turns out,
though, my 7:32 flight was delayed to 9:00, so they re-booked me back on that flight and I got out of
there and landed in Chicago at 10:00 PM. Yeay!!

Except, Rich can't find the airport (how you can't find O'hare airport is a mystery to me), so needless to
say, he did not show up until 11;45, and by the time we got on the road for the 3 hour drive home, well
it was almost 4:00. AM Now, keep in mind, I am doing all of this on just 3 hours of sleep. I am totally
exhaused. @_@ Sorry for the long winded storey, but it was all leading up to this. ^_^

The artwork:

What to say about the artwork. Hmmm.... I am guessing somewhere around 500 pieces, maybe a bit more
or less. I don't have it all here with me, but I am guessing. The cel books were not full, and some would
only have 3 to 4 cels in them. There was a lot of items from series I know about, as well as many I have
no clue about. I am hoping to get lots of help from Beta members in identifying the series for when I
do the gallery. Series I did recognize were ones such as Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, Bio Hunter, Kenshin,
Trigun, Beach, Naruto, Kare Kano, Basilisk, Vampire Hunter D, Saiyuki, Samurai Deeped Kyo, Gravitation,
Golden Boy, Trinity Blood, Bakuretsu Hunters, X, Full Metal Panic, Bio Hunters, Tactics, Peacemaker Kurogane,
and, and and... the list goes on and on.

So, Hopefully, I can start getting things listed slowly but surely. She has been collecting for years, so look
for items that you may have wondered where they went. I think it will be fun to finally her her artwork
on line for everyone to enjoy - including her. ^_^

[kamidake]

Wow, what an adventure! I think this also qualified to be called a Cel rescue mission! And what a great friend you are to go through all of that, I'm sure at the end it'll all be worth it. Can't wait to see Rosemary's treasures, and I wish her all the best.

[teggacat]

whirlwind?!? sounds like an understatement there!
Fascinating account of your recent events, looking forward to seeing some of your friend's
collection, and what a nice way for Rosemary to be able to enjoy seeing her cels, an online gallery,
you are a great friend to have! My best to you both!

[cutiebunny]

Glad to see that the trip to pick up Rosemary's items had a happy ending, even if the journey was a difficult one. It's nice to see collectors helping out other collectors.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of Rosemary's lovelies, and I hope she gets some enjoyment being able to view her collection online. I'd love to see her shikishi one day, but I understand how personal an item some of those can be. I'm sure each one has a story behind it.

[Gonzai]

I'd love to see her shikishi one day

Well, somehow I ended up with one of them here, so I will scan it before I mail it
back to her friend in New York to take up to her. It is dated 1998, and is of Vash.
SHe had mostly autographs withe little characters, but a beautiful one from Wicked
City and a couple other amazing ones from Gungrave. @_@

[Gonzai]

Quick update. From what I looked at today, looks like there are 319 cels and 9 genga sets.
That is only what I have here. There is still 2 more boxes coming, which may eventually
double the amount of total cels. O_o Its going to take me forever to get these all scanned
and updated. -_-

[Grico]

Wow that was really was a whirlwind. I am glad you were able to save the cels from an unfortunate fate. I'm sure Rosemary will be happy when the cels can get into the hands of new owners that will treasure them.

[ReiTheJelly]

I am sorry to hear about Rosemary's health, but wow - what an awesome friend you are, to organize the sale of her cels and DVDs. It will certainly take a long time, but hopefully you can raise enough funds from the sale to help pay for her extended care.

I certainly look forward to seeing her collection.

[tex-chan]

I'm also very sad to hear about Rosemary's health. I've emailed with her many times since I started collecting (as well as purchasing from her ebay sales many times, too). Although we aren't close friends like the two of you, I always found her to be such a wonderful, positive, and kind person. Getting an email from her was like having a wonderful little surprise present in my inbox! When you mentioned the art inheritance in your previous post, I was afraid it was Rosemary. I was hoping that I was wrong, though.

If you need any help with putting the gallery together -- putting together scans, image editing, whatever -- please, please drop an email to me. I would be happy to help you out. This sounds like a HUGE project, and I know how busy you are!

I'm happily excited to see Rosemary's wonderful collection online. And even more happy that she will also get to visit her artwork this way. What a wonderful solution so that she can know her art is safe, but she doesn't have to miss out on the enjoyment of owning it. But, most of all, I hope and pray that Rosemary will be able to recover her health enough that she can get her treasured artwork back.

I'm so glad that you made it home safely. And this just goes to prove what I've always believed: You, my friend, are one in a million!

[kira]

one hell of a road trip.

that's so sweet of you to take care of rosemary's collection.

cant wait to see the finished gallery when you get it up and running.

[Rekka Alexiel]

Wow, what an amazing story! It's so awesome to read about this friendship that stemmed from this hobby. I'm so sorry to hear about Rosemary's failing health. It was so sweet of you to go through that crazy road trip to meet and pick up her collection for safekeeping. It's so sad for her to have to sell it to help with medical bills, but I understand that a couple hundred sheets of plastic with fancy paint splashed on them really means so little when compared to a human life. Sometimes it might feel like the world would end without this hobby or our beloved collections, but really it does...although it may be hard to admit! I hope for her recovery and reuniting with her collection! Please keep us posted on her condition if you can!

And this brings up an interesting topic of what will become of our collections after us? I know my family has absolutely NO knowledge or interest in animation artwork...and I feel like my mom specifically thinks I'm crazy for buying so many things of plastic and paint when I can make them myself, she says. I just laugh and say she hasn't got a clue... so what would become of my collection should anything happen to me?? I wouldn't want them to be given to my family simply because they wouldn't be able to love and keep them in proper condition. I know this is such a dark topic, but has anyone thought of this?? What would you do? I know not many people are interested in the titles I collect, but if I had a choice, I'd want someone who also collects and loves the series to take them, so I'd know that they'd still be loved and enjoyed as much as they had been with me. Maybe that's too much to hope for...

[Gonzai]

Its funny that you bring that up Rekka. I spoke with the realtor, and she told me that
had Rosemary not told her that she wanted me to have these things, and was so adamant
about it, they probably would have all been thrown out with the trash when the cleaning
crew came in. She said when they first saw them, they assumed that Rosemary had
drawn them. >_<

Can you imagine?? O_O Think of what would have happened had she been incapable of
talking, or God forbid if she would have passed away or something. Makes me wonder
how much artwork ends up in the trash, when people get sick and pass away, and no
one knows what the artwork really is. -_-

[Joost]

This is a really amazing to read! I really hope her health will improve.
I bet she will be trilled to see her art online, be able to watch it whenever she wants

It's nice to see a community working together like this

[Gonzai]

So, in case anyone is interested, here is the final count for just the items that came today:

Big O - 22 Production cels
Burn Up - 24 Production cels
Master of Mosquiton - 34 Production cels
Bakaretsu Hunters - 12 Production cels
Blue Seed - 16 Production cels
Bio Hunter - 24 Production cels
Cyber City - 1 Production cel
Trigun - 4 Production cels
Fushigi Yugi - 3 Production cels
Golden Boy - 14 Production cels
Cowboy Bebop - 1 (absolutely stunning) Prodction cel
Inuyasha - 1 Production cel
Bleach - 2 Reproduction cels and 5 genga sets and 3 fan cels
Vampire Hunter D - 11 Production cels
X - 18 Production cels
Saiyuki - 3 genga sets
Yami No Matsui - 1 OP genga set
Peacemaker Kurogane - 1 OP genga set
Unknown series - 19 production cels

What was nice about the unknown ones, this time around, is
that all but 3 are from the same series, so much easier than
the last batch. ^_^

[animejewell]

Please tell Rosemary that I wish her the best and I hope that she does well where she is at. I will pray for her. It's wonderful that you can help her out, she has a true friend.

Good luck with the collection,
Linda
animejewell