gb0551ms-33-45

Transcription

[Page] 45
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for the amount. Nor does the interest in the
story end here. The purchaser before com:
:pleting the deal submitted the goblets to a
London dealer named, Thomas, in Bond St.
I think, who not only pronounced them
genuine and worth £70 but offered to
buy them.? Notwithstanding the quhilk I
congratulate myself on having escaped,
and am firmly convinced that my judgement
is sound. [added in 1945] 1945 how true it is that a collector frequently
regrets most the chances he lost! I lost this fish by my own folly! ---

One often misses good bargains by want
of courage! After the above-narrated experience
I have been more cautious. A week or two ago
I passed daily on my way to Chamber St. a
curio shop on the mound. In one of its
windows there appeared for a week or ten
days a very nice antique chest of drawers
of walnut evidently old French. My instinct
told me it was good, but I had no place for
it, and did not wish to waste money in
these times, so made no enquiries about it.
It disappeared one day, however, from that
window & happening to be in the shop
shortly afterwards I enquired what had
become of it. It had been sold to another
dealer Whytock & Reid for £10. One day

last week finding it in the window of the latter’s
shop in George St. I could not resist going in
and enquiring what the style was & the price.
Louis XIV – price £25! A fairly handsome
profit on a simple transaction.
While writing about furniture I may record
how I came to purchase the Queen Anne escritoire
in the smoking room. In the autumn of 1907
I went with Sandy & Mary, both then very small,
to the hotel at Skinburness in Cumberland for
a week or two. Having occasion to go into
Carlisle one day & while awaiting the arrival of a
train, I strolled round the town, & thought I might
try & pick up an escritoire for Jim’s wife, who
wanted one. In an old furniture shop I spied
a beauty, the one I now possess, & on enquiring
the price was told that it was £12. I saw the
piece was good, & the price fair, so I said I would
take it & would pay if the dealer would forward
it to me in Edinburgh where I would be in Oct.
I knew Blanche would never give the price so I
decided to sell her my old one. Some days
after while out on a ride on a bicycle ride I entered the little
town of Wigton, and as was my custom enquired
at once if there was a curiosity shop there. I was
directed to a game dealer who occasionally
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