I went to Santa Fe recently to see M’s cousin. And I was reading the newspaper while I waited for her to get ready to go to dinner, when I saw a notice in the paper about an interesting looking estate sale. I looked up the addy on my phone and thought I knew where this was (as it turns out, I didn’t) so the next day we were off, looking to score some treasures.

The sale was at an impressive house up in the foothills. The guy selling the stuff said that it was mostly from his uncle, although some of it was his. The uncle liked to collect things so much that when he filled up one condo with things, he had to buy another one to live in. And here it all was, and although there were no bargains to be had, it was fun as usual to be able to snoop through someone’s life.

It was an interesting collection of bits and bobs from various cultures Native (Red Indian) and foreign (Thai artifacts are quite popular). M’s cousin bought the basket visible in the upper left corner and it fits in nicely with her decor.

There were two rooms of this stuff. Here we have a bronze lady lamp and an African thing in the back, then a Native storyteller figurine (very popular in the 80’s), a bodhisattva from India, an antique Hispanic Santo, modern Santos, a bust (could this be of the uncle?) and a bit of hand painted pottery all mixed together on this one shelf.

This grouping was interesting to me because of the dolphin vase and Aegean candlestick figurine. I guess he must have touristed Greece (they don’t sell this stuff in the local tourist shops).

The seller had so much stuff to get rid of that he had hired a person to come in, price everything and display things, and he still had this collection of figurines and artifacts shoved into a box. One could purchase similar items in the smarter sort of tourist shops today. But one has to remember (I’m talking to you, self) that this is the ultimate fate of our personal talismans.