November 28, 2003
ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES NEWSLETTER #234
Greetings Accumulators!
My fellow American Accumulators will know what I mean when I say I'm
resting up today. Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day in The United States, was a
day of family intrigue, noise and gluttony. He Who Is The Light Of My Life
and I had a wonderful time yesterday, but today it's bottled water and
fresh vegetables. We have run today's errands and are now ensconced inour
tower enswirled with fog. We know it's raining down on the ground because
we were out there before, but we can't see anything but white from our
windows. We trust the river will still be out there when it all clears.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF WELL, I MADE A COUPLE OF NIGHTSTANDS OUT OF COPPER
TUBING AND WIRE ONCE
While I'm the first to tell you that the prices you hear on The Antiques
Roadshow should be taken with a large 50-gallon drum of salt, this story
was too amusing to pass up. A Dutch man has been told that his toilet paper
roller is actually a 15th century candelstick worth about $11,000. He had
bought the object for about $2.50 and had taken it to the Dutch version of
The Antiques Roadshow, where one Jan Beekhuizen, a Dutch antiques dealer, told
him it was terribly valuable. Mr Beekhuizen said: "This is the most bizarre
story I've ever heard. The owner told me he gave the candlestick to his
children to play with the day before the show." Right now I know you are
thinking, "Mr. Beekhuizen is obviously a strange visitor from another
planet. He thinks it is bizarre that the man let his children play with the
candlestick." The using it as a toilet paper holder part is apparently a
perfectly normal occurrence to Mr. Beekhuizen. If you are ever invited to
Mr. Beekhuizen's place for dinner, be careful. You can't be sure where the
plates and utensils have been.
DO YOU LOVE ME, NOW THAT I CAN DANCE? DEPARTMENT
Israeli customs agents have seized 450 dancing and singing Osama Bin Laden
and Saddam Hussein dolls. The official word is that they were seized
because they are "inciteful". The owner of the dolls told agents, who
discovered the dancing demons during routine checks in the port of Haifa,
he was importing the dolls, which carry toy guns, to sell to Arabs and Jews
in Israel. Apparently this is no marketing genius. My guess is that
Israelis will not be lining up at the Tel Aviv Toys R US to buy one of
these. Just my hunch. The ship carrying the dolls also contained 450
Teletubby dolls, which are also being held by Israeli customs, until they
can find out if they are authentic. Personally, I'd be just as likely to
purchase a Teletubby as an Osama or Saddam, which is to say, not at all.
I TOLD YOU ALL THAT LOGOED MERCHANDISE WOULD COME TO NO GOOD
I've never been attracted to those items easily identified as the work of a
particular designer - the Gucci items with the "Gs" on them, the "LV"
adorned Louis Vuitton bags. I just don't want to do a company's advertising
for them unless they're willing to pay me to do it. And certainly, I never
want to pay THEM for the privilege. I've always thought it was a bad
practice. So, along comes a nice lady in Scotland to prove me right. The
lady, carrying a Burberry umbrella (we all know that distinctive Burberry
plaid), was refused admittance to a pub in Aberdeen. Bouncers at the pub,
The Filling Station, wouldn't let the woman in because Burberry has becone
fashionable with soccer hooligans, reports the Daily Record. The woman, who
shall remain nameless (well, if you don't count the Burberry umbrella),
said, "I looked nothing like a soccer [person]. I was wearing the best of
clothes. But for some reason they had a real problem with my bag and
umbrella." The Filling Station apologized to the woman, but said they'd
continue to monitor customers carrying or wearing Burberry. Don't go there
if you're carrying your Kate Spade shopping bag. I wonder if they're
checking the little gold tags on Chanel strings of pearls. You never know....
SITE-SEEING
THE BEATLES IN RISHIKESH - A 23 year old photographer went to India in 1968
to find himself. One assumes he did that, but he also found the Beatles,
who were there to find inner peace and to discover the beauties of the
sitar, while forming the ideas that changed music forever. No professional
photographers were allowed. The young man put the photos away in a
cardboard box and now, more than 30 years later, has posted them on a
lovely web site, for all to see. View the beautiy of Rishikesh, the ashram
of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and the young and lovely Beatles.
LINK
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT LEGOS, AND MORE - At this site you can
take an interactive tour of a Lego factory and learn more than you wanted
to know about Legos. Trust me.
LINK
Okay, Accumulators, I've been sitting here long enough. Time to get going.
While I've been typing to you, the East River and the Triborough Bridge
have magically reappeared outside my window, which is very comforting. But
I don't like that it's shortly after 5PM and it's already dark outside. For
those of you in the New York City area, don't forget to watch the premiere
of "Antique Show and Sell on Monday night at 7PM. All other Accumulators
have a great week, wherever inthe world you are. Happy hunting!
Best,
Judith
© 2003 Judith Katz-Schwartz. All rights reserved.
Antiques and Collectibles Newsletter #234
U.S. Library of Congress
ISSN 1520-4464
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your comments, as always, are welcome. If you have something to say, write to me.
To subscribe to the free short weekly email newsletter, send a blank email to antiquescollectiblesnewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RETURN TO INDEX OF NEWSLETTERS