This month's Active Rain Challenge hosted by myself and Eileen Burns 954.483.3912 gives you the chance to write about a moment in your life where you bloomed or for the pranksters in our midst you were able to pull one over on a friend with an April Fool prank.
I was thinking about this and thought about when my father died, I suddenly found myself responsible for purchasing for our family business, my brother was already in America running a gallery in New York which we had recently opened having moved from Los Angeles. I felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
I remember driving around some shops in England and purchasing an antique Worcester trio, that is a coffee cup, tea cup and saucer. When I got home I looked at them and thought to myself, well that is not going to pay the bills. I need to do better. I was very worried I could not do this.
I had a young child and wife to support, plus staff and rent to pay for a shop in the Knightsbridge area of London near Harrods. We were holding a big opening party in New York for the new gallery, my mother still grieving my Dad was going along with my sister and a partner/investor my father had brought into the business in the last year.
On the way, I decided to leave London go to Holland and attend an antiques fair being held in the city of Delft. My father had always gone and I had been in the past. I remember walking round and round finding nothing to buy. My wife and son were waiting in the car and we were leaving that evening for New York from Amsterdam airport. I though about walking round one more time, and then suddenly I looked up on top of a cabinet and there they were.
The most amazing set of Chinese Export Porcelain, lobed bowls, or cache pots for holding flowers I had ever seen. Decorated in "famille rose" enamels and dating from about 1730 they were decorated with flowering plants, trees and phoenixes of the most amazing design. I quickly asked the price and condition, wondering how they were still there and not already sold. I looked them over carefully for condition wondering to myself how they could be this reasonable in price. I made an offer and the dealer accepted it. I had made my first major purchase and I felt very good about what I had bought.
Suddenly my confidence rose, I blossomed and I knew I could do this. It turned out we made a significant profit on those bowls, sending them to New York to be sold by my brother. That one purchase gave me the confidence to dive in and trust my judgement and my knowledge. Over the years I purchased many items that were unusual for us to deal in but which we made good profits on because of that one purchase. In the image below you will see he is jumping in but still has his ring around him, that was how I felt at first, but suddenly I could let go of the ring.
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