To Buy or Not to Buy (for 7/30/06)

This week especially, the better photos attached to the article are worth viewing, as they show much better detail than those here in the narrative.

Find of the Week

Kafka biography illustrated by (!)

R. Crumb

price - 25 cents

sold

I know R. Crumb's work has sexist baggage, but as a conveyor of angst he is unsurpassed.  The text is also very informative about both Kafka and the Prague slum in which he lived.  These pages are depicting the Golem legend.  I will prize this and then send it to a young artist I know.

Other things we saw:

Our first sale this week was a gem, full of cool toys for both the kids and the adults.

Collapsing mechanical ball

price - $2

no sale

I wanted this to go to a kid.  What a neat thing. Every kid should spend some time looking at this and see how it goes from small to large.  I played with it for a while and used it to explain to a kid what a Dyson's (sp?) Sphere was.

DJ's CD mixer

price - $50

no sale

I already have two nice turntables and a DJ mixer for those.  Once I'm caught up to the 1970s, I'll move on to CDs.

Industrial quality disco balls

price - $25 each

Unlike the cheap plastic ones that show up at every 20th sale, these are the real thing - part of the father's prior life as a party DJ.  Okay, the psychadelic motif in our bathroom could use one of these, but I have major projects still to do with things I've already bought.

I did buy a mint John Hiatt record, as well as a very good copy to replace my worn out copy of "American Woman".

On to another sale with a distinctly different tone:

Precious moments figurines

price - $3 to $4

no sale

I'm sure there's a market for these things, but they're not for me.

I checked out a rack of clothes with Nascar, Budweiser and Marlboro logos, then moved on to a darling little girl - I mean just the sweetest, most innocent thing - with her own little table of items, mostly priced from ten cents to a quarter, including

Cigarette case, emblazoned with "Gott Mit Uns"

price - ten cents

sold

I really don't know what I was going to do with this, but I bought it and a theme started to develop for this weekend's sales.

Just for the record, here's my take on the phrase "Gott Mit Uns." You can say it over and over.  You can plaster it everywhere.  You can isolate yourself among people who agree.  None of this makes it true.  Whether you're driving a bulldozer or celebrating a touchdown, God doesn't take sides.  If you don't understand why I'm saying this, Google "Gott Mit Uns."

Remote speaker unit with (astroturf?) covering

price - I didn't ask

no sale

This was so ugly I just thought it badly needed its 15 minutes.

Overstuffed chair

price - free

no sale

Oh, I'd have grabbed it in a heartbeat if I had 1) a pickup, and 2) a party house.  I was tempted to just dig down in it and check for change.  I've found coins from the 1800s in things like this.  It would have reupholstered nicely too.

Tazz headphones

price - 25 cents

no sale

For the wild child.

Wee plastic turntable

price $2

no sale

I already have a couple nice belt-driven models, but this brought back memories of holding a sewing needle in my teeth to listen to a record because the speaker on mine didn't work.

Cabela goose down pants

price - $5

sold

They're size 36, which is too big for me or the person I'm thinking of giving them to, but a belt will fix that.  Where these are going there are no fashion police.

Lies My Teacher Told Me

price - 25 cents

sold

I already have a copy of this, one of the best books I've ever read.  It has wonderful, real history without the warts removed.  In the end he gives a few guidelines for evaluating a book and whether it comes with an agenda.  I found it interesting to take those rules and apply them to this very book.  It helped me look at each of the things it said separately and decide for myself where he was right on and where he was getting a bit too carried away.  Splendid book.

hooks for the garage wall

price - part of a large $2 grocery bag of stuff

sold

These, along with another 4 /long-sleeved wool shirts, will go to Colorado.  They are needed there.

8 X 16 inch stained glass replica

price - $3

sold

This is a design by Frank Lloyd Wright for a stained glass window.  It's glass.  My mom's customers have an eye for this sort of thing, and it's headed to her shop for sure.

Ground pork and chive blossoms

price - $9.50

sold

A bit too much MSG, but the place was much better than it looked from the outside.  Janie had fish, shrimp and scallops with bok choy (but it wasn't so photogenic).