About a week ago, I started watching an eBay auction for a Tapio Wirkkala Pollo vase. The seller had the starting bid at the incredibly low price of $24.95, and only one person had bid. Of course, I had no way of knowing how many people were watching exactly like I was, but I had an odd, tingly feeling that this one was under the radar.
If you've read my blog for long, you know that I love Wirkkala, and I particularly love the Pollo and the Kingfisher. The vases aren't particularly rare. On any given day you can find several on Etsy and eBay. However, finding one at a really good price has become somewhat of a challenge.
The day I found this particular Pollo, I decided to wait it out till the last possible second before bidding, so as not to tip my hand. I set an email and a pop-up reminder so I wouldn't forget to bid. As planned, I got my email reminder yesterday morning and went straight to eBay to check on the current price. Hadn't budged from $24.95. Great. I was ready. Later in the day, I got my pop-up reminder. Still $24.95. The feeling that I was going to win this one was getting stronger.
Then I got busy writing a post, and I got sucked into the inescapable vortex that is research. One link led to another, and before I knew it, I was avidly reading about a completely unrelated topic and had lost track of time altogether. I remembered the auction a couple of minutes after it ended.
The ironic upside to this tale is that I was also bidding on a large Wirkkala Kingfisher for the store yesterday too, and I got it.
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| The lovely 8 1/4" long Wirkkala piece I won on eBay |
But wait...is there another upside? The seller said "no chips, cracks or crazing," but apparently no one asked about smears, smudges or stains. Do I see a reddish brown mark on the side, near the bottom, starting faintly at the center and getting more pronounced as it curves upward and stops right under my caption? Hmmm...I think so. Could it be that getting busy saved me from the crushing disappointment of opening a package containing a (gasp!) flawed Pollo?
Ah, I feel much better. Yesterday the stars must not have been aligned for me to get the perfect bird. Let the search continue!
