So, one of my weird things that I do is that I signed up to browse the Sotheby's auction catalogues online (yup, that's right, you can't actually see the items up for sale unless you register and log in... but moving on...) that pertain to things I'm interested in - textiles, antiques, musical instruments, books, etc. It's almost a guilty pleasure - one of those things you're sort of embarassed about, but that isn't bad for you or anyone around you...so why should I actually be embarrassed?

Not that I will ever be able to afford anything being auctioned at Sotheby's, but it's a bit of escapism, I guess.

Every now and then there's something I strongly covet. A Strad here, a book there (the 1481 edition of Homer's works in Greek was only 80,000 pounds)... But for the most part it's just seeing what all those rich English country folk are auctioning off that's interesting.

Today, for example, there's a piece of 18th century embroidered English silk about 75 cm by 101 cm... Just a random piece that looks like it was taken out of a dress that was being deconstructed... but for only £1500 (high-end estimate, could go for more, this is an auction, remember) you too could own it. What you would do with it is beyond me. Frame it and put it up somewhere? And then the conservator in me cringes at the thought of the fabric being exposed to light and such... Ah well.

For about £120,000 you could have a George III pedestal desk dating from about 1760...

£250 for a pair of Victorian ivory opera glasses...

I was very excited for a moment by what looked like a harpsichord... and it turned out it only looked like a harpsichord. It was, in fact, a marquetry sewing box. Ah well. Only £4000 for that...

And only £100,000 for a four-poster George III mahogany four-poster bed. A bargain, I say!



Someday, when I'm rich and famous... Someday...