First Editions For Fun and Profit
I prepare to slip my digits into a red leather mule, with the tooling, toe and heel of a Sunday-go-to-meeting cowboy boot. Not my style by light years, but it is brand new, and my size, and the price is most definitely right: $3.99. Shopping at Goodwill requires me to look squarely into the eye of my carefully cultivated self-image and say: "Do I want people to think I'm a s***-kicking, line dancing, daughter of the west?" Leather shoes under five dollars or self-image as blues-loving literati? I put the shoes back.
On to handbags. Once I bought a Gucci handbag at Goodwill for $7.99. I justified the premium price by the profit I expected to take when re-selling the bag on EBay. I hurried home, and went online. One of the first articles that came up in my Google search of Gucci handbags revealed how to spot a Chinese imitation. A knock-off can best be spotted by the quality and color of the lining, I learned. I unzipped my bag. The lining was straight from the Middle Kingdom. Was I too chagrined to return the bag? I was not. Seven ninety-nine, less my geezer discount, still buys four double cheeseburgers - or one salad.
Pictures have been good investment items at Goodwill. I read recently about a woman who bought a couple of modern paintings, intending to paint over them and use the canvas for her own work. The Angel of Lost Art caused her to serendipitously discover that the paintings were worth tens of thousands of dollars. Would such fortune be mine this Saturday? A ersatz family crest on black velvet? No. A series of grey parallel lines on a red background? No. A gaggle of geese in gingham aprons and sun bonnets crossing an unpaved road? Most definitely not.
Books are what I really come for. I am collecting titles to read when I retire. It's unlikely I'll be able to afford to do anything else, such as travel or go back to school. As I peruse the titles, I see an old favorite. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. This is one of my very favorite books. (See "First of its kind: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood" my link text)
Of course, I buy the book, to read again. It will fill a Sunday with pure enjoyment for less than two dollars. But wait. Could it be true? Yes, it is. A first edition. The dust jacket is in excellent, if not pristine condition. There are no pencil marks or jelly stains in the pages. I drive home with my treasure, wrapped carefully within a fifty-nine cent Christmas hand towel I bought for this purpose. I smile the smile of the victorious. I have found and captured a great work of literature and a valuable collectable. Some day, when I'm down to my last few dollars and facing a dinner of cat food, I can pull the book off my shelf and sell it for a fancy restaurant meal or bag of groceries.
P.S. Electronic book fans, take note. While e-readers are easy to carry, can be read in any lighting, and hold the equivalent of the Congressional Library - you can’t read one throughout an entire weekend blizzard, without electricity to recharge, while wrapped in a sleeping bag in front of a fireplace, the words lit by fragrant candles. Nor, can you invest in a first edition that will extend your retirement savings by a few precious days. So there.
In Cold Blood
On to handbags. Once I bought a Gucci handbag at Goodwill for $7.99. I justified the premium price by the profit I expected to take when re-selling the bag on EBay. I hurried home, and went online. One of the first articles that came up in my Google search of Gucci handbags revealed how to spot a Chinese imitation. A knock-off can best be spotted by the quality and color of the lining, I learned. I unzipped my bag. The lining was straight from the Middle Kingdom. Was I too chagrined to return the bag? I was not. Seven ninety-nine, less my geezer discount, still buys four double cheeseburgers - or one salad.
Pictures have been good investment items at Goodwill. I read recently about a woman who bought a couple of modern paintings, intending to paint over them and use the canvas for her own work. The Angel of Lost Art caused her to serendipitously discover that the paintings were worth tens of thousands of dollars. Would such fortune be mine this Saturday? A ersatz family crest on black velvet? No. A series of grey parallel lines on a red background? No. A gaggle of geese in gingham aprons and sun bonnets crossing an unpaved road? Most definitely not.
Books are what I really come for. I am collecting titles to read when I retire. It's unlikely I'll be able to afford to do anything else, such as travel or go back to school. As I peruse the titles, I see an old favorite. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. This is one of my very favorite books. (See "First of its kind: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood" my link text)
Of course, I buy the book, to read again. It will fill a Sunday with pure enjoyment for less than two dollars. But wait. Could it be true? Yes, it is. A first edition. The dust jacket is in excellent, if not pristine condition. There are no pencil marks or jelly stains in the pages. I drive home with my treasure, wrapped carefully within a fifty-nine cent Christmas hand towel I bought for this purpose. I smile the smile of the victorious. I have found and captured a great work of literature and a valuable collectable. Some day, when I'm down to my last few dollars and facing a dinner of cat food, I can pull the book off my shelf and sell it for a fancy restaurant meal or bag of groceries.
P.S. Electronic book fans, take note. While e-readers are easy to carry, can be read in any lighting, and hold the equivalent of the Congressional Library - you can’t read one throughout an entire weekend blizzard, without electricity to recharge, while wrapped in a sleeping bag in front of a fireplace, the words lit by fragrant candles. Nor, can you invest in a first edition that will extend your retirement savings by a few precious days. So there.
In Cold Blood
No comments have been added yet.
