tired, sniffly, sunburnt, hot
I woke up early this morning to head down to the auction appraisal clinic at Bonham's and Butterfield's in San Francisco this morning. The morning commute traffic wasn't as bad as I had feared and I made it there by 9:30 or so. I didn't get lost and I even found a parking spot in the tiny 12 spot parking lot! Good omens, I hoped!!
It was so cool inside there, seeing over a hundred people and all of their most special treasures. They had tables set up in all of the different specialties : Asian art and antiques, paintings, silver, furniture and the decorative arts, Native American and Pre-Colombian art and artifacts, etc. It was just like the Antiques Roadshow, thankfully sans tv cameras. It turns out that my treasures were not as valuable as I had hoped. The silver pieces were all appraised at around $500. If I had the whole set, not just a teapot here, a serving tray there, it would have been worth far more.
The most valuable thing (as I had suspected) was the claret jug. But it's got serious damage and is in need of repair. If it was perfect, he said that it would have been worth around $2,000.
The thing that my friend told me was a Tiffany lamp was actually a Japanese vase that someone had cut the bottom from and turned into a lamp, which of course destroys the value of the object. So although it is very beautiful, the appraiser said that it was worth less than $100 and I felt a bit like a jackass.
I was done with that by 10:30 or so and went and met Laurel and Fargo and Andy for coffee. Then she showed me some of her artwork, which is looking amazing! She figured out a new way to display her sculpture and it looks perfect!
I was trying not to spend the whole time loudly blowing my nose. I have a bad cold which made it hard to think and talk and breathe.
We also had lunch and walked around the Mission and went thrift shopping, it was very nice. I saw many interesting things, and I wish that I had brought my camera...here's a list:
1-hairless cat
2-store that sells zoot suits and everything else that goes with them, like color co-ordinated shoes and hats and suspenders
3-man-thong underwear in the shape of a red cartoon elephant
4-pretty girls in summer dresses
5-lots of color
Now I am exhausted and sunburnt and ready for bed.
It was so cool inside there, seeing over a hundred people and all of their most special treasures. They had tables set up in all of the different specialties : Asian art and antiques, paintings, silver, furniture and the decorative arts, Native American and Pre-Colombian art and artifacts, etc. It was just like the Antiques Roadshow, thankfully sans tv cameras. It turns out that my treasures were not as valuable as I had hoped. The silver pieces were all appraised at around $500. If I had the whole set, not just a teapot here, a serving tray there, it would have been worth far more.
The most valuable thing (as I had suspected) was the claret jug. But it's got serious damage and is in need of repair. If it was perfect, he said that it would have been worth around $2,000.
The thing that my friend told me was a Tiffany lamp was actually a Japanese vase that someone had cut the bottom from and turned into a lamp, which of course destroys the value of the object. So although it is very beautiful, the appraiser said that it was worth less than $100 and I felt a bit like a jackass.
I was done with that by 10:30 or so and went and met Laurel and Fargo and Andy for coffee. Then she showed me some of her artwork, which is looking amazing! She figured out a new way to display her sculpture and it looks perfect!
I was trying not to spend the whole time loudly blowing my nose. I have a bad cold which made it hard to think and talk and breathe.
We also had lunch and walked around the Mission and went thrift shopping, it was very nice. I saw many interesting things, and I wish that I had brought my camera...here's a list:
1-hairless cat
2-store that sells zoot suits and everything else that goes with them, like color co-ordinated shoes and hats and suspenders
3-man-thong underwear in the shape of a red cartoon elephant
4-pretty girls in summer dresses
5-lots of color
Now I am exhausted and sunburnt and ready for bed.
posted by zelia at 6:09 PM
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