Autographs

Autographs

Who collects them?

Why bother?

This past week, I obtained a GREAT Album from a man who my husband went to college with, Robert Morris Dills. Above is his picture.

Cultural History. Like Mikhail Baryshnikov. Bob met him. He was there.

Bits of Evidence that YOU WERE THERE.

Or that you KNEW Someone IMPORTANT, Like Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

Tangible Evidence that YOU were a Witness to Something EXCITING that Happened.

Cultural History. Arts History, Bob met LILY Tomlin, too.

Bob even met Nancy and Ronald Reagan. Phyllis Meel is Bob's cousin.

This album was a TREASURE TROVE of Autographs. I can recall my husband telling me Bob Dills stories for years, however, he had no clue that I had purchased Bob's albums. They lost track of each other after college--I know you know how that is.

Bob was a art major from a small mountain town in Virginia, my husband was born in a big beach town--they met at University of Richmond. Anyway, they are both pretty nice guys. My husband still is. I found Bob's obituary last night. It appears that he passed away in Charlestown, SC on October 27, 2009 from an apparent heart attack while there on business. I wish he and my husband had been able to keep in touch. Anyway, I digress. I was writing about Bob's wonderful collection of autographs that I purchased. My husband was stunned (and so was I) when I realized that he actually knew this person who had collected such an album. I know lots of stories about him from back in his college days. Which I think adds to the provenance of the autographs.

Bob had big jobs, jobs that took him places. He met lots of interesting people, and he kept in touch with most of them. I have the evidence; it is up for auction on OLA now, or it will be.

I wish I had met him. I know I would have invited him over for dinner.

We are keeping his dog bowls.

Trip to The Antiques Roadshow

My trip to the Antiques Roadshow on June 27 in Raleigh, NC turned out to be a bust--if one considers that I was hoping--like most folks, to have taken something worth a zillion dollars.

However, I did get to meet Mark Walberg, and get him to autograph my program. He introduced me to his sister, Elizabeth, too.

I did get to meet some other interesting folks, who were pleasantly surprised with the things they had brought for appraisal, which made me very happy. There was one sweet couple who waited in the folk art line with us for what seemed like hours. They were elderly, and my darling niece was kind enough to assist them with their nylon and metal frame chairs (which was no small feat, since she was already hoisting a huge box for her mother, my sister). This charming couple brought a large woven basket (something about I know nothing) but it did look rather new to me; so as the line slowly advanced to the table where the appraisers were sitting, my sister and I kept looking at each other, and muttering to each other, "Looks like Pier 1. Hope this dear couple is not disappointed." They weren't. The basket turned out to have been woven by one of the top Cherokee tribe weavers. The appraisers were pleased. The basket's value: between $500 and $1,000. Goes to show what I know, which is what I knew I knew about baskets. Nothing.

The real TREASURE of the day came early on for me. In the staging area, before we were allowed to go wait in lines for appraisal, I noted a man holding a violin case. Never one to hold my tongue, I leaned over to him and asked him if he had a Stradivarius. His comment in return was, "That's what the label says." I had never met this man in my life, nor had any other inclination to talk with him, but in doing so, I found out out that he, too, had driven to Raleigh from my home town of Richmond, VA, and in comparing notes about our home town, found out that he is the cousin of a man I nearly married, Ronald Wayne Moore, and who I hold dear in heart to this day. This man passed away around 11 years ago, and we, Tim and I, would have never met if not for the Antiques Roadshow!