Around my area there are several
secondhand shops operated by charities such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Kidney
Clothes and others. There are also a
couple of shops owned by private entities who claim they sell antiques.
If
an antique is gauged by the number of scratches, stains and chips on any one
item, they do indeed sell such collectibles.
I personally think the owners either have supreme confidence in their
inventory, or have delusions of grandeur, but perhaps that’s just me.
In Australia such establishments are
called Opportunity Shops or, more frequently, Op shops. There, like the shops here, you can outfit
your kids for school or play for pennies, find furniture that with a bit of TLC
will do fine in the living room, and even find a nice warm bed for Fido, all
for what a single item would cost in a department store.
I have been known to browse these Op
Shops quite frequently and for lengthy periods at each visit. Usually I leave empty handed because that’s
all I’m doing…just browsing. However,
lately my expeditions have taken on a more purposeful tone. Now I’m looking for real goodies. Now I’m looking for hidden Renoirs,
Chagalls, even a sweet little Picasso would be nice. What am I finding instead? Dreadful paintings by people who did not heed
their art instructor’s advice to take up cooking.
My foray amongst the cobwebs and dust
of these stores is as a result of seemingly endless reports of someone finding
a famous artist’s painting by mere chance.
A woman wants a gilt frame so buys a cheap little painting for a few
dollars. Surprise! It’s a Picasso and worth somewhere in the
vicinity of $1 million.
What amazes me is that no one notices
the artwork was done by a master before it was put on the shelf for sale at
$3. Not the Op Shop sales person, not
even the original owner who must have just piled up all the junk into a box and
delivered it to the store as a charitable gesture.
My daughter often finds what she calls
‘little treasures,’ during her Op Shop excursions. But since these usually require major
reconstruction work to be recognizable as whatever they originally were or what
someone with a great imagination can turn them into, they don’t have a lot of
appeal for me.
Still, having failed at finding the
lost paintings of Rembrandt at my local Goodwill store, I have now decided to
alter my search from paintings to first edition books. Surely somewhere amongst all the moldy, dusty
piles of paper stacked in bookcases, I’ll be able to find that long sought
after first edition copy of one of Tolstoy’s masterpieces. What do you think are my chances folks?
I'm taking a break from this blog of mutterings and mumblings. I've decided to do some major traveling for the next year or so. Who knows I may experience some adventures I can recount on my blog. I also need to get back to my long neglected memoir...get the darn thing finished once and for all. It's been fun...but now, au revoir :)
