I know, I know, I haven't been on the page all year. Mostly it's because the rhythm of my life was a moderate, steady heartbeat for months and months - hunt the same rounds, find lots of cool but less-than-unusual items with the occasional "holy crap" find that, to be honest, is simply part of the heartbeat. (Arrogant, perhaps, but I vote for Trusting - Mama Angel takes care of me.) Sold a few things on eBay as part of my Purge but not enough to even count as a P-. Haven't been back to selling at the flea market, so things built up to such a critical mass that I finally tossed much (did I really think I'd sell
that?) and sent half of what was left straight back to the very thrift stores it came from. I liked the symmetry.
B-boom, b-boom, b-boom...until one day...one bright, shiny day...last weekend.
Guess where I went!!! Go on, guess!!!
What gave it away?
My sister won the ticket raffle, not me (but I made her apply). She actually forgot all about it and had made plans with friends, which, luckily, fell through (or were easy to change - she's nice that way). She took a gun (this is Texas) and two dolls, all inherited, while I took part of my organization lapel pin collection and a little ivory figure I'd found in a bag of "small gods" I got in a thrift store.
The place was crowded.
That's the outside, the
first of the lines (half the convention center), where we queued up to get our finds categorized and ticketed (first picture above). This is as far as my video log got because they don't allow cameras (or active cell phones) inside. And by "inside" I mean the other side of the hall, in which is a ring of Roadshow set pieces (flats) with the specific content banners on the raw side (where we lined up according to our tickets) and also over the appraisers' tables (the part you see behind each on-screen appraisal on TV - yet another line). Lots and lots of lines. And only one, rather small ring.
But oh! what a ring!
Sis and I stayed together, and went to each of the four content ares in order of line length (short to long). That would be: weapons, dolls (separate from toys), then a toss-up but Asian arts, and collectibles. Outside the ring it was always just a line. Inside the ring (where we were led by Roadshow personnel in very small batches) it was packed, all into something the size of the average store-front McDonald's.
Around the edges were the tables, a dozen and more of them, where people were seen (and dismissed) quickly and efficiently, with a path designed to let is walk around as far as the next break in the flats so we could then queue again (outside the ring) for our next category.
Then there was the center, a kernel that buzzed like a shaken beehive. My memory is a bit hazy on details of the "inner circle", in part because you had to pay attention to your place in line (I was cut twice, seriously?), in part because we were the last group so everyone was exhausted, and in part because I was going all geeky fan-girl seeing so many familiar faces. But what I remember was continual motion: there was one empty space (for furniture, I saw), one or two easels, and two or three station-like tables, and within this setup there were three sets of filmed appraisals going on, and one more area set up for what I later saw was close-ups of an object (a painting, in this case). The four (maybe five) cameras, the set parts, and the people, both dressed for TV and headset-crowned, moved and shifted and spun around this tiny space in a well-practiced ballet. It was fascinating. And over much too quickly, and without autographs, selfies, or even appraisals from my rock stars.
Will we retire any time soon on anything we brought? Nope. Was it all I'd hoped for? Nope. Would I do it again?
In a heartbeat.
