Brag note: On Sunday night, I posted my 1,000th reclisted diary on Daily Kos. 🤓
Okay, onto CUA:
As I have mentioned here before, I am crazy about yard sales, garage sales, estate sales and flea markets. Whenever I am getting out of the car to peruse one, I feel my heart rate quicken. If I am with other people, I find it annoying how slowly they walk from the car to the yard or wherever the stuff is. I usually sprint ahead and wind up looking like a jerk. That’s how avid a treasure hunter I am.
Probably my best score ever was at an otherwise depressing garage sale in Long Island a few summers ago. Amid baby clothes and dented frying pans were a few framed posters. Sad, cheesy ones, no less - But wait...what’s this strange modern art tucked behind the Lighthouses of Virginia poster? It was this:
An artist’s proof, signed lithograph by Adolph Gottlieb from 1969. He has work in the Museum of Modern Art.
“How much is this?” I ask one of the two women running the sale.
“Two dollars”, she says. So, um, yeah, I buy it.
I still have it on my wall. I’ve researched it, and if it were in perfect condition, it would be worth about $5,000. Unfortunately, it has a little water damage at the bottom and a bit of color fade, putting its value closer to $2,000. Still an awesome find.
But doesn’t this kind of make me an asshole? I have just admitted that nothing makes me happier than swindling two old women out of a valuable work of art! My only defense is that I didn’t know its exact value when I bought it.
Even the guys on American Pickers will sometimes say to a seller, “Whoa. No, I can’t in good conscience pay that little for this. It’s worth X, so let me pay you Y.” But then again, they have a very lucrative TV show, so they can afford to be fair like that. Whatever — I suck.
What about you? Do you like treasure hunting? Does it ever make you feel guilty?
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