Wendel| Subject | : | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| Author | : | Administrator |
| Date | : | 11-07-1999 on 08:16 p.m. |
| Or nightmare. |
| Subject | : | RE:A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| Author | : | Wendel Swan |
| Date | : | 11-08-1999 on 03:06 p.m. |
| wdswan@erols.com In about 1979 or 1980 when I lived in Illinois, a
picker called me one Sunday to see a Tekke ensi. Trash was kept in the
hallway outside his second floor apartment and, atop the garbage cans,
were two rugs: a strip cut from a 1940's Kerman to reduce its length and
the Khotan (about 3' x 4') shown below. Before knocking on his door, I
looked at the Khotan just long enough to ... . (Well, you know.) The Tekke
ensi was nothing special and he wanted $600 for it. What, I asked, were
the two rugs on top of the garbage cans? "Part of a Kerman and a worn out
Caucasian" was the reply. "If I buy the ensi, will you throw in the ratty
Caucasian?" "Sure, it would be gone with the garbage on Tuesday anyway."
"Done." I sold the ensi for what I paid for it, so the Khotan was free. My
pleasure was not so much in the bargain, but in the rescue. I have often
wondered how many other great or near-great pieces have met a similar
fate. Two or three years later, someone prominent in the rug world really
wanted the Khotan, so, in a fit of insanity, I sold it. It next appeared
in an exhibition in New England in 1984 and then in Herrmann's Seltene
Orientteppiche VIII in 1986. With half the proceeds, I managed to buy a
piled Huari four-cornered hat and undoubtedly wasted the other half on
something frivolous like mortgage payments. I have almost no regrets about
ever selling a rug. But I really liked this little gem and, perhaps
equally important, the tale that could be told with it. My Midsummer
Night's Dream certainly didn't end in a nightmare, but there is a
bittersweet aspect to the memory: I miss this Khotan: Wendel |
| Subject | : | RE:A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| Author | : | Marvin Amstey |
| Date | : | 11-08-1999 on 04:22 p.m. |
| mamstey1@rochester.rr.com That is one bad nightmare! Worse, it will be recurrent; whenever you look at a blank space on your wall, you'll see the Khotan. If you really want to relive that nightmare, how about selling the chinese to me? Best regards, Marvin |
| Subject | : | A Midsummer Night's Dream - of a Salor torba |
| Author | : | Steve Price |
| Date | : | 11-12-1999 on 05:21 p.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu A few years back I visited Kansas City and spoke to the local rug society. My hosts, who took wonderful care of me while I was there, took me to the local rug dealers. Fine people, all. In one of the shops, while mindlessly thumbing the usual pile of cheap whatevers that dealers keep near their front doors, my fingers found something that felt different. When I looked at it, there was a nice - nay, terrific - fragment of a Salor torba. Equal, in my judgment, to a Salor fragment that had recently sold on the east coast for a well justified $6,000 or so. The colors, the wool, the - well, this was the real McCoy. An there it sat, in a pile of $50-$250 modern and outworn small rugs. Unlike most of the others, it had no price tag, but being in that pile, it would have to be in the few hundred dollar range, maybe less. So, I asked the dealer what he wanted for this shmatta, this disgrace in his otherwise lovely inventory. "You'll be surprised", he answered. "Go ahead and surprise me", I said, "I can take it." He told me he could accept nothing less than $4,000, and apologized profusely. It belongs to someone else, and he's totally unreasonable, he explained. So I went home without it. But it was a nice dream while it lasted. Steve Price |
| Subject | : | RE: Shmatta |
| Author | : | Steve+Price |
| Date | : | 11-13-1999 on 10:57 p.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Folks, I've seen a few inquiries about the word shmatta; it simply means "rag" in Yiddish. Out of curiosity, I did a search for the word on one of the web search engines, and very quickly found this delightful (in my opinion) story that also illustrates the way the word is used colloquially. The author identifies himself only as "dave"; the URL for anyone interested in the original (although I've simply copied and pasted it here, I'd hate to be thought of as a plagiarist by not citing it properly) is http://vodka.ijmc.com/archives/1998/October/981001.html :Sadie and Yetta, two widows, are talking: Sadie: "That nice Morris Finkleman asked me out for a date. I know you went out with him last week, and I wanted to talk with you about him before an answer I give him." Yetta: "Vell.... I'll tell you. He shows up at my apartment punctual like a clock. And like such a mench he is dressed. Fine suit, wonderful lining. And he brings me such beautiful flowers you could die from. Then he takes me downstairs, and what's there but such a beautiful car... a limousine even, uniformed chauffer and all. Then he takes me out for a dinner... Marvelous dinner. Kosher even. Then ve go se a show.... let me tell you Sadie,I enjoyed it so much I could just PLOTZ! So then we are coming back to my apartment, and into an ANIMAL he turns. Completely crazy, he tears off my expensive new dress and has his way with me!" Sadie: "Oy vey... so you are telling me I shouldn't go out with him?" Yetta: "No... I'm just saying that if you do, you should just wear a shmatta." I think this explains the term completely. Regards, Steve Price |