Estate Sale Mystery
20 December 2010
I feel like the poker player who's been at the table too long (except that I don't gamble)......a string of amazing estate sales have brought some amazing vintage treasures into my arms and I know the string is bound to break, any Saturday now....
But for now~~things are looking good, very good. I hit a sale late Saturday morning and although I grimaced when I heard my "Estate Sale Ladies" carry on about "how many fabulous vintage furs & garments were there and how this "other" "vintage" "lady" came in as soon as the door opened and grabbed just about everything from the 16 closets~~and why didn't I get there earlier???!!" I secretly congratulated my opponent of "huntress of all things vintage" and congratulated myself on honoring previous commitments of far more importance and carried on into this lovely brick mansion, certain I would find something special to reward me for not getting there first. . .
My initial reaction was the very same...That looks interesting...it's a bit worn...just what is it? I proceed to pick it up off the table in the lovely, well~lit front room of the estate. Hmmm, why is it still here? Why didn't anyone else, that "other vintage lady", grab this if it's "oh! so! great!" I set it down, just another powder/cigarette case~~they're a dime a dozen on eBay (well maybe ten bucks a dozen, but you get the point...)
"There's no price on this" I say to the most congenial estate sale lady. "Could you find out for me, I'm going to have a look upstairs. Don't hold it~~I'll just check back when I make my way back down".
Up the staircase I go, my little treasure hunter following at my heels "Mom, did you see this wallpaper?" "Yes, love, it's marvelous, isn't it?" as I drink in the antique blue asian toile....sigh....is the wallpaper for sale? I think to myself, imagining it in my front hall and up the stairs to the second floor...I find a closet in the fifth (?) guest room and there, in a dry cleaning bag, is a three piece Halston suit~~but wait, I'm wandering....we'll save that for another post....
I salvage four lovely vintage frocks and, after a rather thorough tour from my partner in crime who had already cased the joint, we end up back in the front room. There it sits, still. On the table. It has moved, so others have looked at it, but still, there it is. It beckons me. Having walked through the rooms of this lovely home, full of history and the passage of time, I find a need to take this treasure home...I pick it up again. It seems even lovelier than at first. "I AM FALLING" ~~ "UNAPPROACHABLE" are stamped on the front~~obviously the possession of a romantic, a lover, a broken~hearted fool. A Gatsby. I have to have it. "Oh, that's $~~ " says the congenial estate sale lady. "It's Marked, you know." I pick it up again and peer closely. Yes, it is marked, but I don't really care at this point. It has the most romantic appeal, I have already decided I will choose this as my treat for the day. A cast~off that no~one else wanted....I will give you a proper (new) home, I think to myself....
Later, sipping on a glass of Cabernet, I discover "McClelland Barclay" inscribed on the front and
with a Patent Pending for W.L. ENCHANTAIRE ...
Enchanting, indeed.
Perhaps there is something to be said for being fashionably late.....
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