Antonio Barrena , from Badajoz, houses at home more than 5.000 figures of the famous Kinder Surprise Eggs
ABOUT EGGS. Antonio Barrena shows with pride part of his enormous collection of small figures. / J. S. |
There are those who collect stickers; Other ones, richer, decant themselves for the works of art. One way or another, any collection is always an obsession's story, but also one of a personal challenge and, of course! an entertainment. In the case of Antonio Barrena, the Kinder Surprise Eggs,and the famous figures that appear from their entrails, are his passion. Antonio keeps in his house more than 5.000 figures, "I believe it is the biggest collection in Spain", he says with pride.
Although the company which sells them (Ferrero) doesn't have official data, this official of the Extremaduran Service of Health bases his asseveration on the contacts he maintains with other collectors of the country. We are really a few in Internet and from there we know what each one has ."
Hand-painted
As he explains, he found his way into the world of the Kinder Surprise when their first daughter was born, in 1992. "When she was two, we start buying, my wife was the one who began keeping them in a box and, after several years, when we already had a few, I went into Internet to see if there was some other fool who had the same liking as us. And indeed: There was not one, but rather there were loads."
From those beginnings, in which it was fundamental the help of friends and family, he has ended up getting almost all of the hand-painted figures, the most valuable among the collectors from all over the world. Thanks to his liking he has got friends from Chile to Japan, with the help of exchanging complete series that vary from some countries to others.
Among the figures he exhibites - the great majority sleeps in boxes - he highlights the collection of puppets 'Tao Tao', of the year 1984 that can cost about 250 Euros. He also has a special figure. It is a hippopotamus characterized as Darth Vader, of 'Star Wars'. Besides the original toy, in blue color, there is a limited series with the toy in black color. Antonio Barrrena has one of these hippopotamus that cost up to 50 Euros in the market.
Once he has gotten everything that has been published from 1990, Antonio devotes himself to help other people. It is the case of Eugenio D�ez, a Cantabrian he has struck up a close friendship with, based on the exchange of items of their common liking.
If somebody is interested in contacting him, he provides his electronic mail address ([email protected]) , and their personal page in Internet
(http://es.geocities.com/alvandor). Instead of stickers, toys are exchanged.
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