Time shot into hyper-drive this morning as we began
counting down the days until we take
possession of the new booth at the antiques mall. The contractor is still off
at another job and has been for a week which is good in some ways, but not in
others. It really doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things though. The important
thing right now is filling up that space at the mall.
I found a
great estate sale – far away, but maybe
worth it – that opened last Friday and had excellent books judging by what was
listed. But Friday morning I woke to heavy rain and a feeling of having been
run over by a semi. I dragged myself out of bed, made some coffee, toasted a
bagel and had breakfast – my pre-dawn cure for anything that ails me. But, alas
and allack, no magic got conjured this time. When fibro slams me that hard even a cinnamon
raisin bagel with crunchy peanut butter and a mug of Folger’s dark roast is second rate wizardry. We could have gone the next day of
course, but there was little point in making such a long trip when we knew all
the good stuff would either be gone or still too pricey, so we took a pass on
it and hit the Akron sales instead. Not only were all three of them barking dogs
(though I did get a like new 1956 Girl Scout calendar in its original envelope,
an 8 volume set of Audel’s from the 30’s for the mall and two like new 60’s
gift books of the treacly variety in their original boxes, also for the mall),
but it was FREEZING outside. I’d worn sandals which means that for the rest of day
I dragged around two blocks of ice attached to my ankles.
By the time
we finished making the rounds we felt like a pair of spent balloons, so what did
we do? We went to an auction of course!
They hadn’t advertised books, but some of the furniture looked pretty good, so
off we went in search of a couple stand-out pieces to help pay the freight at
the mall . Within minutes I spotted a
box with books that should have been easy picking, but turned out to be the box
from the Twilight Zone. In this unadvertised flat lay several celluloid prayer books, one perfect in its original box, two rosaries, one especially pretty, and a ton of religious
cards. There was also something I’d never seen before – two patches bearing the
image of Pope Pius XII in a deep rose color. Immediately I equated them with scouting badges.
As the
recipient of a thing called the Marian Award which provided me with the most hellish
summer of my short reluctant Girl Scouting career I know that Catholic scouting
programs have their own awards in addition to the official ones. But I didn’t care
if that’s what those patches were or not -- I just wanted the prayer books. Usually I get
these every time they come to auction, but this time one lone guy challenged me
to a spirited bidding war. I never engage in these – NEVER – but I guess maybe it was the shock
of competition that impelled me to take my final bid to a mind-boggling $90! Fortunately, I snapped
to my senses just in time and let him haul the whole lot home for $95. I tried researching the patches
this morning, but nothing turned up. All I can say is they better be humdingers
or his buyer’s remorse is so far off the
charts it’s probably already caught up
with the Curiosity rover that just landed on Mars.
Fortunately,
I got furniture instead and even learned
how to date a Lane cedar chest in the process. Not bad for a booky type like me,
huh? Anyway, I got a Lane chest which is
from 1948, all sleek, blond and shiny in a modern way that I used to hate, but now find
strangely attractive. The chest part is on the top and there’s a drawer underneath, so it’s sort of a
high-rise among cedar chests. It still
smells like cedar, retains all its original
labels and even has the original key. I’m
beginning to think it’s a less common one, as I perused hundreds online, and didn’t even
find it when I googled its model number. It had some condition issues, but nothing a
nice coat of orange oil couldn’t handle, so at the moment it’s all spiffed up fancy as a chorus girl. To add to the fun, I also bought three teak Danish modern
occasional tables, again something I didn’t used to like. I’d show you pictures,
but it’s all jammed into the garage with
the building supplies, so you’ll have to wait til we get it all in the booth.
But great
though the furniture is I’m still right where I was before the auction -- dangling
precariously on the end of the book hook. Somehow between now and September 1st
seven bookcases need to be filled and for the immediate future there's no ready solution on the
horizon. But here’s what I’m thinking. I
can bring a bunch of sets, a ton of paper, those elegant slide rules we bought,
and what individual books I do have, and at least look reasonably viable. The problem is that if/when I sell stuff I won’t have anything much to
fall back on without digging too deeply
into my online inventory. Christmas is fast approaching too. And Eric and will
be gone most of September. And all the calls we’ve gotten lately were for books
so decrepit even a seller with no standards would run screaming into the night
It’s not
good. But you know what? For once in my life I’m not going to worry about it.
Somehow it will all work out.
