Posted by Sam Gorden on June 10, 1999 at 22:45:38:
In Reply to: The role of luck posted by Steve Price on June 08, 1999 at 05:23:54:
: Dear Sam,
: Thanks for mentioning your site's article giving advice to new and potential collectors.
: "Luck" is certainly important, although I have found it mportant to be prepared to make a rapid decision when Lady Luck comes to call. Also, I am reminded that Napoleon either wished to have or feared opposition by (I forget which, right now, and it doesn't really matter) generals with reputations for being lucky.
: Regards,
: Steve Price
To All The "Lucky" ones.
When I received the many comments on the subject of luck, it occurred to me that my own experiences were the strongest possible evidence supporting my thesis.
My interest in antiques in general and in Oriental rugs in particular began in the great depression. There was no Welfare and most of us were concentrating on trivialities like paying the rent and putting food on the table. All non-essentials were rediculously cheap. A fine Tekke carpet,8x10, circa 1880, in excellent condition might fetch $50 at auction. At this point, I ask my gentle reader for one minute of quiet contemplation of the dear, dead days beyond recall. World War 2 brought with it a wave of prosperity engendered by the war effort and it was in this period that the interior decorators decreed that broadloom carpeting was "in" and the Oriental rug was "out". An Sarouk made for the Americancould be had for one dollar per square foot. All rural rugs were especially cheap because the art-historians had condemned these as being crude and degenerate (a favorite term). This enabled me,a high-school teacher with minimal income to acquire many examples of the best of these weavings for if money is the root of all evil, I was practically a saint! Today, I have an excellent collection of these beautiful works-of-art.
I have three questions:
(1) Did I cause the great depression?
(2) Am I responsible for what the interior decorators and the art-historians decreed?
(3) Did I create the 1963 exhibition of Caucasian peasant rugs which led to world-wide appreciation of rural rugs?
The answers to the above obviously is negative. Without these events, I never would have been able to collect these cherished artifacts.
These circumstances were created by outside agencies. I merely took advantage of them. Deponent Resteth!
Sam