Daryle's Ups and Downs – Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectibles Blog - Just another day.

This is going to be a Great Year

Tuesday started out to be an exciting day when my feet hit the floor at 4:00 in the morning and I headed to French Lick, Indiana for what I thought would be a treasure trove added to the Club’s inventory. I arrived shortly before 12:00 at my destination and I didn't have to wait long until my friend Cecil joined me. Cecil had already previewed our prospective seller’s items but the lighting in the older building was dim and Cecil did the best he could with this problem. But that is where the story begins to unravel.

After seeing the items for sale last week, Cecil informed me that he had viewed a 16 inch Grueby vase, two Tiffany lamps, a jeweled Weller vase, one Aston Knight painting plus many other interesting items. So you may understand the restless days I spent waiting for our visit Tuesday. Entering the older building and being led to the second floor, I was amazed because it was a wonderful apartment that seemed to be loaded with priceless treasures. The gentleman was very friendly and I began to browse around the rooms admiring each and every piece. I felt like a person gong on a museum tour as each piece was explained.

It was at this time I was told that only the items spread out on his dining room table would be sold and they had to sell as a lot. Cecil and I quickly browsed the table finding mostly common pottery, a few pieces of red ware, two reproduction lamps and a fairly nice quilt. I had in my head about $2500 and later I found out that Cecil had come to about the same figure. It was that time, I call it crunch time, that out of my mouth came that familiar question, "How much money are we talking about?” The seller didn't wait long to give his answer "$10,000". It was then that I knew the long trip had been for nothing.

However, my trip was to be a two pronged venture since I would be attending the auction in Evansville, Indiana the last four days of the week. Cecil and I excused ourselves and headed for the local diner to discuss our situation. We came to the conclusion that, so as to not waste a day, we would tell the gentleman in French Lick that we weren't interested and then head for Evansville, a day early, to preview that sale. Entering the door of the Sohn's Auction gallery, I saw an old friend by the name of Don who happens to be the owner of the auction house. I asked him if there was anything in this sale for me. His face lit up with the biggest smile you ever saw and he began to lead us through the gallery. I have to confess my eyes lit up too. This is one of the best cut glass auctions that I have ever seen. But not only that, there were treasures everywhere and I could feel that feeling of anticipation welling up inside me.

The thoughts of my early day disappointments soon faded as I began to think about which of the treasures in front of me would find their way into our inventory over the next few days. I may not be able to spent a cent at this auction if everything goes too high, however, I promise I will make it a horse race on a few of the items. From lemons to lemonade is what today was like for me but the reason for this blog was to share with all the readers that everything never goes perfectly for anyone. When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, just get up off the ground, dust yourself off and get back in the fight. I don't think that is original with me but I don't recall who said it first

By the way the Tiffanies were reproductions, the Grueby had a huge repair and the Weller vase had several hairlines. Hopefully by joining the Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectibles Club you may be able to miss a few of these unproductive trips and captilize on the great ones.

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