October 10, 2003
Greetings Accumulators!
Yes, I've been lax. Well, not so much lax as invisible. What I mean to say
is that I've been on the road a great deal, and I do apologize. It's not
that I haven't missed you - I have missed you. I just haven't been able to
get near the computer and type to you. But, here I am and I hope all is
forgiven. An update on those wacky song lyrics you misheard: Alert
Accumulator Seaneen Brennan reports listening to "Rudolph The Red-Nosed
Reindeer" as a child, and hearing the last line, which is "You'll go down
in history", as "You'll go donw and kiss Irene." She says, "I thought
kissing Irene must have been something pretty special." Especially if a
reindeer is doing the kissing.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF A SNEAKY WAY TO SUPPORT DAIRY FARMERS
Alert Accumulator and devoted husband Artie Schwartz sent me an article
about two hikers in Sweden's far northern province of Jaemtland, who were
on a remote mountain when they came upon seventy pairs of shoes. If you are
a shoe collector, you may want to leave the room now. The 140 shoes were
each stuffed with about a pound of butter. And there wasn't a slice of
toast in the vicinity. Naturally, the hikers rushed to report this
extraordinary find to the authorities, who were quite annoyed. "If we knew
who had done this we could make them clean this mess up," Alf Kjaellstroem,
a province spokesman told The Associated Press Thursday. "It's not going to
be pretty when the butter starts to rot. And we have to wait for the snow
so we can get up there with the snowmobile." Aha - now the plot thickens.
In 1996, an artist named Yu Xiuzhen constructed a similar display in the
Tibetan mountains near Lhasa, China. The exhibit was called "Shoes With
Butter." So, we're supposed to consider this "art"? No report on whether
Yu's next installation will consist of socks filled with boysenberry
preserves.
THAT DOESN'T REMIND ME OF ANYONE I KNOW DEPARTMENT
Alert Accumulator and dashing man about town Ron McCoy, publisher of the
Antiques and Collecting Newsletter, passed another great story along to me.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England paid $387,000 for a Renaissance-era
plate depicting a man's head composed completely of penises. The plate,
which is Italian in origin, is attributed to 16th century ceramicist
Franceso Urbini. It shows a head made up of around 50 fleshy penises,
wrapped round each other to form a dense, knotted whole. Sounds pretty painful, doesn't it?
The head is framed by a garland carrying the inscription: "Ogni homo me
guarda come fosse una testa de cazi". Which means, "Every man looks at me
as if I were a dickhead." It seems that Frank didn't have much of a socal
life.
SOFA SO GOOD
If your life's ambition has been to own a sofa signed by a whole bunch of
British rock bands, Ebay's got a deal for you. The auction, which ends
tomorrow, is for a black leather (or vinyl - can't tell from the photo)
sofa signed by such bands as Blink 182, Linkin Park, Sum 41, Yeah Yeah
Yeahs, Datsuns, and Hell is For Heroes. In all, 20 bands signed the sofa.
All proceeds will go to charity. So, if you've ever wanted to sit on a rock
star, go to LINK.
So nice being with you again, Dear Accumulators! We are off to the country
house for the weekend. Fall foliage should be lovely, and we're expecting
company. Have a great week, Accumulators, filled with fabulous finds. Happy
hunting!
Best,
Judith
© 2003 Judith Katz-Schwartz. All rights reserved.
Antiques and Collectibles Newsletter #227
U.S. Library of Congress
ISSN 1520-4464
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