Collectibles

by Jane Elsdon

If I can say anything with great assurance, it is that our daughters know their way around antique stores, yard, and garage sales. They are both artists and crafters, therefore, they are also in love with collectibles. Collectibles — in all their forms — lend themselves well to the formation of family myths. One of our family myths revolves around a Jewel Tea percolator coffeepot. One day many years ago our family gathered to help my husband's mother, Opal, with a yard sale. Opal was affixing a $3 sticker on an autumn leaf embellished coffee pot. Our daughter, Kathy, took one look at it and shrieked, "Gr'ma, you're NOT going to sell that coffeepot for three dollars!"

"Why not?" Opal asked, looking at the coffee pot as if she considered it an old piece of junk.

"Because it's worth a lot more. I saw one just like it in an antique store last week and it had a sixty-five dollar price tag on it." Kathy's younger sister, Cindy, echoed her agreement.

Opal's eyes widened, "Well! I won't sell it at all then." She picked it up and cradled it in her arms. "I'll make a place for it." She marched into the house and moved some knick knacks from a central shelf in her dining room. With great care she dusted the coffeepot and placed it there with obvious — even if sudden —  appreciation for the relic that she had just learned was more valueable than she would have guessed. From that day until her passing it retained its place of honor there. It was one of the treasures our daughters wanted their dad to paint, so paint it he did. It has become a story we bring out, amidst much laughter and nostalgic kidding around, whenever we're together. We can almost see Opal grinning at us again, as she watches our shenanigans. No wonder it ended up in a poem. That is often how they happen.

It's natural that when Gene and I began to put together the book we wanted to do for our family, containing some of his favorite paintings and my favorite poems, it was essential that painting had to be among them. It was the painting that inspired the poem, "Collectibles." It's also not surprising that the Jewel Tea coffee pot is in our kitchen now, not so far from Gene's KEURIG. And its story will probably get a workout once more around Thanksgiving when the family gathers to share good food, memories, and each other's warm company at the beginning of another holiday season. We could wish you nothing better than just such a celebration and the warm feelings they can bring, memories in the making.

Collectibles          When the Jewel Tea man raised         a cloud of dust driving his Ford         down our rural gravel Indiana lane         during the war-fueled, rationing-ruled forties         it signaled the highpoint of our day.         When he opened his trunk overflowing                                     with coffee, tea, spices and other         delectables and seldom seen collectibles         mothers and children alike were held         in his thrall by nesting bowls, percolator         coffee pots, tea pots fashioned after Aladdin’s         Lamp, embellished with Autumn Leaf.         These treasures snared our eyes and attention         as if a magic spell had been cast over         mothers and clamoring children.         Gathering around the overflowing trunk         of his dusty car, we held our breath         to see what new and unexpected prizes         he had brought from far away with which         to tempt our longing-filled mothers whose         apron pockets held precious little money.         Seventy years later, those coffee, tea pots, and bowls         claim honored space on shelves and in curio cabinets         half a continent away, where they still catch our eyes         as we wonder at the stories, mysteries, and memories         locked within them that we will never truly know.

Painting by Gene Elsdon
Monarch Butterfly Banner Image by David Farris