Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Serendipity

When I have free time, I drop in on thrift stores. You never know what they're gonna have on the shelf. Every so often you score a gem and the price is always dirt-cheap.

I started riding motorcycles in 1997. The following year the famed Guggenheim Museum in New York City presented an exhibition called "The Art Of The Motorcycle." The exhibit was a big success and displayed hundreds of motorcycles from earliest to latest. The exhibition drew huge crowds, larger than the museum had ever had. Of course I went with my motorcycle buddies. I still have a t-shirt from it.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue, the kind of fancy, well-written book usually published at art shows. The catalogue is 432 pages, the size of a coffee-table and heavier than a bowling ball. It contains gorgeous full-color photographs of motorcycles and recounts their history. The catalogue cost $125 at the show.

Yesterday, in a thrift store, I saw that very same catalogue in perfect condition. I grabbed it and was shocked to see the price -- five bucks. Five bucks! It'll be a permanent addition to my new office.

9 comments:

  1. Woo! That's an incredible deal on a museum book! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I still regret giving up my mom's Georgia Okeefe coffee table book. It was massive though and through too many moves it got donated.

    Thrifting karma comes back though. I picked up some new jeans and a couple of tees after for under $30 after sticker shock at a retail store!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Phenomenal score! I'm delighted for you, Ally. Nothing quite like adding a new (be it new-new or new-secondhand) book - let alone a gorgeous, haulking tome like this - to one's shelves.

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh wow, what a steal! And I'm so glad you have it now, definitely a must-have for you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's an awesome deal! Great find!
    xoxo
    Lovely
    www.mynameislovely.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow!!! what a price!! I have a copy of my old boss' museum book on Italian violin-making and that cost £85 new (he gave it to me as a gift!) So I know that to find something like that on sale is astounding!

    ReplyDelete