There are none so blind as those who don't know a A near pair of Louis XVI style paint decorated and parcel gilt fauteuils when they see them

Back in the day some of my brothers and sisters and I had a pretty sweet thing going on. We were living in San Francisco and we used to go down to Butterfield and Butterfields warehouse auctions and bid on mixed lots of books and such. This would be with whatever money we made babysitting or whatever since we were so freaking poor.

We could sometimes pick up a box of books for three bucks. Possibly less. We're talking 25 years ago so I don't want to swear but I think I once bought a box for a dollar.

Then we would sort though the books and take the ones that looked interesting. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which later was filmed as the Money Pit comes to mind.

When we were done we would go off to various used book stores and sell all the books. Once we got a book that was worth hundreds of dollars. Talk about good times!

I was just thinking about that and talking to Cul and I took him over to the website of Butterfields and was a trifle shocked that their name is now Bonhams & Butterfields.

We were looking at various auctions and found one for important European furniture. I explained to Cul that Butterfields is always important. We were looking at "A near pair of Louis XVI style paint decorated and parcel gilt fauteuils"



when I realized that if I saw these estimated $4000 - $6000 chairs sitting by the side of the road with a free sign on them I would look at them for a moment, look closing at the carving, shake my head, wonder at the ugliness of them and go on my merry way.

Perhaps that explains how despite my promising start in the secondary market back in the day I can still barely make my rent payments all these many years later.