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by Rosemary Lee Potter
Special to Tropical Breeze
It’s not the first time, nor will it
probably be the last, but I tell you, collecting on the way to do
something else is really fun, especially when you do it in courses,
like a dinner. The appetizer is where the surprise begins to
unfold.
My husband and I were out doing errands in
Newport, TN, rain threatening any time. As we drove up and around a
hill, a short cut to our shopping destinations, we noted a yard
sale sign and some bird houses for sale. We were driving and so
only caught a glimpse. We agreed we’d stop in on the way
back. After all it was a Thursday, not your most usual day on the
yard sale circuit. We saw it as an appetizer.
Even though there were sprinkles and a
cool breeze blowing on our return to the hillside road yard sale,
we parked across the street and ambled over to see what all good
stuff might be up for sale. That’s where the adventure really
began. We met a remarkably creative and hospitable couple in Larry
and Mary Kosel. At once we were talking with them and looking at
their array of interesting goods. We learned the yard sale sign was
put out two days too early. Too bad, Peter already had his eye on
an antique forge — you know — on a stand to more easily
work on horseshoes or smaller metal projects. (Maybe for his
birthday, I thought.)
We all already had some things to do, so I
asked Mary if I might return the next day to interview her about
the intriguing Kosel collectibles because by this time she had
shown me through her home where there were many collectibles and
most of them in use — definitely not only for décor or
just on display. I could hardly wait to get back there the next
day.
The next day lived up to my expectations.
Who did I know who actually cooks on a vintage 1920’s Hot
Point stove — true, décor — but dinner? Larry
simply repaired it and upgraded its electricity and there you are.
It didn’t hurt aesthetically either to have bright red pans
hanging nearby nor a wall behind it all of a confetti-like, broken
old china pieces pressed into wall cement. A one-of- kind kitchen
for sure. Yes, a modern fridge, but, once again, a much earlier
refrigerator model standing nearby.
And so it went — bathrooms outfitted
with old piping, novel fixtures such as pump handle faucets.
Everywhere you look at the Kosels’ you see an item or
collectibles displayed to ask about or admire. All had stories.
Surrounded with such antique goodies, it became clear that Mary and
Larry really have fun in their collecting. They make it part of the
regular stops along their way — estate, yard, garage sales,
Mary saying she “just knows” good design by instinct.
Oftimes, she kind of “thinks of ideas” which Larry then
implements. Thus, all the joint and pleasurable items and the
adaptations of items are due to their keen collecting
partnership.
I asked Mary how she knows what to sell in
yard sale or on eBay. Mary told me she selects from things she was
once fond of collecting. Some items require just too much space or
cleaning time. Thus, I was able to acquire her two pretty perfume
bottles which she had simply deleted from her collectibles.
The best collecting adventure which Mary
shared with me, though, was not about anything already mentioned. I
call it the old-pine-chest-in-the-living-room tale. Mary was
currently displaying an old quilt, clock and pewter bowl on the
chest. She was about to serve me a main course adventure, for which
every writer is hungry.
“Tell me how you found this
chest,” I inquired. Questions like this often launch my
search for true collecting adventures to share. Sometimes the
question is answered quite simply, with little accompanying
interest. Hooray! This time the response was not that way at
all!
I’d wondered why Mary was so
enthusiastic to give me the background story. It sounded quite
reasonable that she, a native of Seymour, TN, would read an ad for
an old cabinet for sale over in Pigeon Forge. That she would
traipse there to see the cabinet is not all that unusual either.
After looking at the cabinet, she decided not to buy it. Yet, here
at the end is where the tale picks up.
On Mary’s way out she spotted a
rustic pine blanket chest and asked if she could buy it. The woman
quickly responded that she wouldn’t sell it because her
great-grandfather had made it. Mary quite understood such a family
tie and left. Two days later, the woman called Mary and said she
had changed her mind. She would sell the old chest after all
— for $40. Mary quickly went back to buy the old piece.
As the seller was talking with Mary about
the family chest, they suddenly made an astonishing discovery. Jake
Flynn, the man who had built the chest, the woman’s
great-grandfather, was also Mary’s great-grand father! Mary
“accidentally” bought from kin her first and only
family heirloom from that ancestor. The seller was so pleased!
Think how Mary rejoiced!
What are the odds here? One can’t
expect such huge coincidences every minute. Folks passionate about
collecting, over a long time, alert, may just stumble on something
valuable. Worth may not be in financial terms or as surprising a
family twist as Mary’s! It might be an historical discovery.
People have found maps or documents behind old paintings, items
stashed under old desk drawers, antique treasures among miscellany
in estate sale box lots, even sitting on a home shelf for 50
years!.
For most of us, chances are that we will
not have a “Mary-blanket chest” moment.
Just fun.
Dessert? Peter received the antique forge
for his birthday.
© 2007 Rosemary Lee Potter. All
Rights Reserved.
Rosemary Lee Potter is a confirmed victim
of the collecting bug and can be reached by e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or write to her in care of Tropical Breeze,
P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.
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