A few days ago, I was talking to my friend Linda who conducted the huge estate sale for "the hoarders with money" back in October. Somewhat offhandedly, I mentioned to her that I'd give anything if the glass tops hadn't been missing from those two Adrian Pearsall tables my daughter bought, since it was going to cost us a fortune to have odd-shaped pieces cut.
She said, "I wondered who bought those tables and left the glass behind." I was speechless for a few seconds. Finally I said, "You mean the glass was
there all along?" She told me that the last time she took a look around the larger of the two back yard sheds, the glass was propped against the wall.
For a minute, I allowed my hopes to rise. I asked her who we could contact to see about getting into the shed. She couldn't find the number of the woman who had the key and couldn't remember her name, so that was a dead end.
She told me that the last time she drove by the house not long ago, it was still vacant, so she suggested that I stop by the house, tell the neighbor next door what the situation was, so at least one of the neighbors would know what was up if the police were called because I was poking around in the back yard.
I drove by the house late that night, to see if it still looked vacant. Everything was dark, but there were two cars in the carport. I told myself it might just be neighbors parking there to make would-be burglars think it was occupied...or so I hoped.
When I went to the house the next day, no one was home, but I could see plants in the front window and a dog in the back yard. Not good. No one was home at the neighbor's house either. Darn! I left a long note to the current occupant, explaining my plight and coming dangerously close to begging for the glass, although I did manage to salvage a little pride by saying I'd make them an offer if they didn't want to just hand it over...hoping that made me sound like such a nice person they'd call and say, "Why, sure...come right over and get it. It's rightfully yours."
I was prepared to pay $50...oh, hell, $100...for the glass, because I know it would cost much more than that to have some cut, and having the original is so much better anyway, not to mention how much nicer it would be to have only my daughter's original $8 invested in the whole deal.
This is what the tables would look like if they had glass. See why we don't want to have to get it cut?
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| 1stdibs.com |
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adrianpearsall.com
(Too bad about the grainy 50s photo on the Pearsall site, but you get the idea. This is the only picture of the table I've ever run across in all my searching.) |
My son-in-law stopped by later that afternoon, and a disheveled 40-something guy came to the door. He complained that my SIL woke him up, said he'd found my note and that he'd look in the shed if he got around to it and call us if he felt like it. Then he said he was tired and was going back to bed and slammed the door. Does the phrase "slim and none" sound like it might describe our chances of getting the glass?
Several days have passed since my SIL's encounter with Mr. Charming, and we still haven't heard from him. Maybe our lucky streak just ended.
Still, it couldn't hurt for all of you to cross your fingers and send out some positive vibes. Maybe the guy will miraculously have a change of heart...or sober up and realize I offered to pay him for the glass.
