The Old Cracked Bowl and the Lion That Got Away

As you guys know, sometimes we like to buy old shit, aka antiques. Now don't get us wrong, we don't really care at all if they are worth anything to anyone else, because we are buying them for us.

So I get something in my head, like maybe I see something in one of my decorating magazines, let's say it's an old wooden bowl, and I decide an old wooden bowl is the secret to a long and happy life and off we go, to the very convenient antique market held every Sunday right down the street from us.

What usually happens is that the thing I have decided I must have turns out to be something that is "collectible." Translation: Collectible: Old shit that people used to throw away which now brings in a lot of money at antique markets very much like the one we attended Sunday.

So old wooden bowls are collectible, but I got lucky and found another rarity - a not so nasty antique dealer who gave us a REAL deal because there is a crack in the bowl. A crack is of no concern for people like me - since I just happen to be from New England and just happen to love love mixing old stuff in with new, and particularly love things that are slightly flawed, a little chipped paint here, a little distressed wood there, and so a crack? Not a detriment, but a bonus!! So the pic above shows the now infamous bowl sitting right next to my other favorite find, an old "collectible" pitcher which I got years ago when I was very poor and bought everything including clothes from a local consignment shop.

But back to the present - Yesterday I almost acquired another item - a strange little wooden lion sculpture. I thought it was kind of funny because it was rather horrible, yet whimsical bad art. Dave asked the dealer how much the little lion was and instead of answering he responded with another question.

"Do you know where this is from?" he asked, with just a hint of mystery in his voice.

Dave replied, "Well, I know where lions are from, yes," which of course made me start to laugh so I walked away a bit and pretended to be incredibly interested in something else that I can't recall anything about right now. In the background I could hear the dealer recounting a story that I'm sure included ancient tribes and African royalty. Most likely it included a mystery involving the theft of this sacred artifact and the eventual recovery all of which was probably going to result in a grand finale and a very large price tag. However, Dave has ADD.

So we never heard the end of the story because Dave had forgotten why he was standing there but mostly because we already knew where it was headed anyway and we didn't love that little piece of bad art nearly enough to pay the handsome sum we were about to be expected to pay. Besides, by this time, Dave was already onto the old magazine table where he had spotted some old Beatle mags.

Unfortunately there is no end to the wanting. This market only spawned another desire for basically useless decorative items - old wooden decoys.

PS. Country Living Magazine is delivered to Canada. You're invited to the wine and cheese celebration @ 6:00.