So there we were on Monday, sharpening up our awareness of odd things one might pick up at a yard sale or a thrift store for fifty cents or a dollar and which might later turn out to be worth a small or medium-sized fortune, by watching Antiques Road Show (US version) when this particular item was spotlighted for an appraisal.
This episode was a repeat from 2009, actually our local PBS station depends heavily on repeats, which is one reason I have never pledged to them. (The other being that they would never hire me, although as a retired AFRTS type, I was perfectly qualified for any job they had on offer. Deal with that, KLRN!)
And my daughter took one look at it: having picked up a considerable vocabulary of Brit-speak, through hanging out at various on-line fora, ( as well as reading the Daily Mail Online every morning) she exclaimed,
“Balls!”
It’s a family curse – an unexpectly ribald sense of humor, which I blame on my father — or the fact that both of us were some years in the military — not a place you go for refined humor. I began to sing,
“Do your balls hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o’er your shoulder
like a Continental Soldier?”
I swear, we laughed, hysterically and uncontrollably all the way through the segment featuring this pot. We even laughed through the following segment, about a pretty piece of custom-made early 19th century jewelry.
One of my daughter’s career ambitions is to buy something at a yard sale, estate sale, thrift store, or even to pick it up from the curb, take it to the next Antiques Road Show and discover it’s worth . . . well, a whole lot.
A pot like that isn’t one of them, though. Although in this current economy, we could certainly make use of the amusement value.
(Later — I was reminded that the link to the source of the object pictured might not be sufficient to cover copywrite issues – so to see the picture, you must now follow the link. And when you look at it, keep in mind that this is what we were both reminded irresistably of!)
I was just talking with a friend about “art” finds at yard sales and thrift shops – a woman picked up this unsigned painting that “experts” insist is from Jackson Pollack – and she was offered $200,000 – which she refused.
(as an aside I mention the old adage from the stock market – “The bears make money and the bulls make money but the pigs never do”.)
And I’d like to know how one can determine if a painting is a Jackson Pollack painting – did he have specially trained earth worms that only did certain moves?
That vase to me looks like an Etruscan vase – worth ????????
Bill, I would be willing to swear, it wasn’t earthworms, but a flock of grackles, which Jackson Pollock had tamed to roost in certain trees, fed certain foods, and put out canvases underneath, with splattery results. I’ve been trying to establish this as a a descriptive term ever since: “Wow, those birds really jackson-pollocked that sidewalk, didn’t they?”
It was a SW Indian Zia water pot – late 19th century, apparently. I wouldn’t have bought it — I’d have been laughing too much.
I guess my memories of the object(s?) – or subject of the story – is vague. I don’t see the resemblance at all.
But I’m glad someone has a sunny disposition and is easily amused, like a 7yo. It has been too gloomy around.
“The lure of easy money, it has a mighty strong appeal”
– Don Henley from “Smuggler’s Blues”
Might as well get a metal detector and hit the beach, waving it around.
Of course, I’ve done pretty well at the local Goodwill snagging valuable vintage stereo gear.
This is nothing. What about Marie Barrone’s (played by Doris Roberts — one of the best actors evah) “abstract sculpture” on the “Everybody Love’s Raymond” television show?
As Tom Lehrer said in his song, “Smut”: “When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.”
Doris Roberts a long time ago.
That photo is mislabeled. I should have recognized Rita Hayworth.
An old anecdote about Rita Hayworth. She was making a movie and the lighting technician was having trouble with reflections. He finally said “I can’t get this right because she is sweating too much. Can we do something about the temperature ?” Her personal representative objected saying, “Horses sweat, Miss Hayworth glows !”
The version I’ve seen is: “Horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow.”
Incidentally, there is some scientific evidence for that Victorian saying.