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Now there's a strange headline, eh? This won't be about autographs, but I'm hoping one of you photograph uber-collectors can help me identify a piece of furniture that once lived in an ILM office. First, a brief backstory.
In September of '07, I and other members of the San Diego Star Wars Society visited Rancho Obi-Wan for a day. We got the tour and in return, helped Steve move some heavy items around. Many of the pieces you've seen in the renovated Rancho Obi-Wan, like the Tantive IV corridor, were laying about in pieces.
Anyway, one of the items Steve Sansweet needed moved out was an old dusty couch, clearly from the 70's. I asked Steve about it and he said he got it from a one-time Lucasfilm employee (can't remember her name), but she claims the couch once lived at ILM's early Van Nuys office. This may have even been before they were "ILM". Furthermore, Steve told me that, supposedly, this was the actual couch George Lucas sat on when he signed the contract to do Raiders of the Lost Ark!
Steve was chucking the couch out and while I couldn't take the whole thing back with me on the plane, I could take one of the four cushions. So, with his permission, I brought the cushion home, and it's been a treasured part of my collection ever since.
Now, even though there's a great story behind it, I have no proof that this couch was once the property of ILM - that's where I'm hoping one of you can help! If anyone has any behind-the-scenes pics from the early days of ILM where this couch might be visible, you would make my day. Here's a picture of the cushion, along with a group pic at Rancho Obi-Wan from that day (I'm in the center, holding the cushion).
