The One That Got Away

Imagine one's surprise when, idly strolling through the antique mall less than a mile from one's new home in Dallas, he encountered a cantaloupe Casual China carafe.

Now, this collector has never once found Russel Wright's Casual China in cantaloupe in the wild. Not even a plate or a cereal bowl. The few examples he has in that color were acquired on eBay. So to have his first face-to-face encounter with cantaloupe -- that warm, bright orange hue so desirable among aficianados -- be in the rare form of a carafe... He had the antique shop lady open the case so he could hold it in his hands and inspect it closely. Within minutes, fellow collectors across the country were consulted via smart phone.

Advice from Minneapolis: buy, but only if you think it's right for your collection. From Chicago: Kinda pricey in the current depressed Russel Wright market. From Bloomington-Urbana: Did you buy it yet? From Besthesda: BUY IT.

Well, this collector waited a day so he could think about the financial ramifications. What could he sell to finance it and have a "revenue neutral" situation? He and his partner were planning a trip, possibly to Vegas. The entire trip -- airfare and hotel -- cost less than this one carafe (even at 20% off). It's hard to say that one piece of pottery = one's entire "get the hell out of Dallas during the Super Bowl" vacation.

Hard, but not impossible.

Unfortunately, the next day, financial calamity occurred. The collector discovered that he had double-paid his mortgage. Foolish, foolish collector! In the move to Texas, he had been juggling bank accounts and carelessly paid the bill twice. So while he would be fine again come payday on December 31, he was momentarily broke. He went every day after work to visit "his" carafe and fantasize about the day he could buy it, like a person might visit the dog at the pound he hopes to adopt. Sure, he could have charged it, but finally being free of credit card debt, he didn't want to start that again.

Today, when he visited the mall, it was gone. Someone else in North Texas wanted the cantaloupe carafe more than he did. And the collector is grieving mightily the loss of a carafe that never was his.

The collector is telling himself, "Well, the glaze was kind of uneven near the bottom. And there was that glaze skip inside the neck." But he knows it was beautiful and rare and he will never see one at that price again. The collector mourns with deep sobs.

Collectors, I ask you to help me feel better. What rarity have you let slip through your fingers? What is your biggest "I shoulda gotten it!" regret?

Comments

[Paul Hanson]

My biggest 'I shoulda gotten it!' was the Shell & Thread pattern sterling silver flatware set (for 12) at an Estate Sale in Edina (divorce) for $225

[Dana]

I don't have a good "shoulda gotten it" story, because I'm shamelessly self-indulgent...but I have Russel Wright story I can share. I found a ripe apricot carafe on eBay for $50 and thought I'd NEVER get another deal like that, but a couple of months later, I found a ripe apricot 4-qt covered casserole for the same price. I was ecstatic and couldn't believe my luck. The day it arrived in the mail, however, I dropped the lid, shattering it into a million pieces. Talk about devastated! It took me forever to find another lid, and when I finally did, it wasn't cheap.

[Atomicscott]

I feel your pain, Antay!

I have a long list of "I shoulda gotten it" stories, but two really stand out. When I first started collecting, there were a bunch of mid-century antique dealers in the boy's town area of Chicago. This was at the very beginning of the mid-century craze. I had a dealer who called me to say that he had an original Herman Miller Nelson marshmallow sofa for $400. I thought about it for a day and decided to pass because I just didn't have the money.

My second bad pass was an original cowboy painting by Til Goodan, the guy who designed all of the cowboy dinnerware for Wallace. The painting was $300 and I put it on hold, only to back out a few days later when again I decided that I could not afford it. Arghh!!! Within a few days, I regretted my decision and have regretted it ever since.

My advice is that poverty is only temporary (hopefully), but those once-in-a-lifetime deals only come...well, you get the drift.

[Supra Skytop]

TO TO TO TO .....NICE WAY.....HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY LIFE THE WAY YOU DID.....

[Modfather]

We were the ones who snagged that cantaloupe carafe, BTW (mall on Forest @ Marsh). You are certainly welcome to visit it whenever you wish. (Came to read your Zeisel obit post, and was poking around and found this.) Anyway, we stupidly passed on a Ruba Rombic fish bowl (Phoenix) in LA many years ago...it wasn't even expensive since it had a tiny little crack extending from the top rim. Very, very dumb.....