Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I hit the jackpot!


I went to an estate auction tonight and bought a box of old books. Look at all the art books I got! There are 3-4 (on the bottom of the pic) that are just a collection of prints, ready to frame. Oh what fun it will be to study some of these! Most of these books were given to the recipient as a gift in the 1940's according to the notes inside. There's also a whole book of cat sketches, ready to frame. The atlas will be so much fun to do some collage work with.

You wouldn't believe this auction. They were actually going to auction the home too but it was SO run down. Only one person showed a slight interest in it so they couldn't auction it off. It was a house, built in the 50's that had absolutely nothing done to it over the last almost 60 years. I don't even think they painted a room! Old linoleum flooring with holes worn through it. Filthy, dirty walls, old kitchen, a bathroom that had so much mold and grunge it could have been an out house from the 1800's. Seriously.

The foundation was caving in and the house just needed a total gutting out or possibly tear down. Want to hear the really strange part? The man recently passed away and his wife just went in the retirement home. They were millionaires. Rumor has it they were worth 30-40 million dollars and they lived like this. It really was unbelievable. No children, only distant relatives.

Odd, the people we think are so financially successful are probably just in debt up to their eyeballs and the ones who live like this are the ones that have the money but refuse to spend it.

My cold has to get better soon. It's at the stage right now where I'm wishing I had a neti pot! Hopefully I'm in the worst of it and it will lighten up soon.

Good night all!
Darla

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Darla!
how are you deary?
Thank you for visiting me, I truly do appreciate every single post.
You certainly got yourself a grand deal! Those beautiful books with colored photos?.. OMG.. what inspiration you will now have.
I own one and that is Renoir... but I do love it tons... That must have been totally exciting for you!
I am so happy for you,
Cheers, Darlene Pringle*

Unknown said...

what a score !!! brilliant idea about the atlas- i will be searching the cheap shops for an old one.

Tracy said...

that is such a great find! those books are amazing!

America Alcala said...

You are so lucky to have found those wonderful books! :)

The Studio at Crow Haven Farm, LLC said...

Boy girl...you did hit the JACKPOT! What a great find and what a great day you had! Enjoy them and have a great holiday weekend!
Cheers

The Blonde Duck said...

Popped in from Kelly's studio to say hi! I love your art!

Bronwyn said...

Oooh, what a wonderful find! Especially the Atlas - so fun to use old maps as a starting point for backgrounds - I love old dictionaries too. It's always more magical if there's a strange history along with the objects, like your secret millionaires... thanks for sharing.