I'm going to let you in a little Springer family secret: my brother and I have a feud. While some families feud over who is getting the family estate, my brother and I are at odds over who is getting a small wooden bear that my parents have at their house.
While my parents were living in Japan in the 70's, they bought a small carved wooden bear that they kept with them as they moved around and eventually settled in Georgia. This type of bear is typical of a style of Japanese folk art carving done by the aboriginal peoples called the Ainu. They are found of carving bears in a variety of different settings, often with a fish. Like so:
This is almost exactly the same composition of the carving that my parents have. For whatever reason, my brother Justin and I got into an argument when we were in school over who would eventually get this bear carving from my parents. Neither one of us was willing to concede over this bear issue and it will probably have to be resolved over a lengthy and costly legal battle. At least that was the most likely course of action until the events of this weekend.
We went to Stuttgart over the weekend to visit friends of ours who had recently moved there. On the morning that we were leaving, Jessica insisted that we go see the flea market that was set up downtown in one of the squares. I reluctantly went along, being a good sport even though I never take any pleasure in these things. To me, everything there can be sorted into two categories: old shit that nobody wants, cool shit that's too expensive. But as we were walking past the the tables of junk, Jessica spotted something that caught her eye. It was a wooden bear. The guy at the table saw that we were interested and held it up for us to see. He said that it was a Russian carving, solid wood, very difficult to make. I didn't know if he really thought that, or if he was just bullshitting us to make a sale. But I knew immediately what it was. It was an Ainu bear carving. He wanted €30 for it, but I got it for €22. Here's a picture of it, with a dollar for reference:
It was a little dusty, but no worse for wear. With a little wipe down, it'll look as good as new. Plus, compared with what comparable carving are online, I think I got it for a bargain.
Maybe the feud will finally come to an end. Unless of course the one at my parents' house looks cooler that this one.
3 comments:
So I can only assume that this is going to solve the problem when you give it to Justin and let him think it's the original while you take the original for yourself, right? Cause any other resolution means that Justin won. Think about that.
There is only one way to settle the feud dear brother...pistols at dawn
If I remember correctly, that bear was promised to ME in exchange for a Road Warrior t-shirt. But whatever the case, I too am the proud owner of not one but two bears with fish in their mouth. Once from a Mexican street vendor, the other purchased at a California Goodwill. And lest we forget my AWESOME bear picture depicting an epic battle to the death between two of are hairsuite friends. How's that for sabre rattling?
Post a Comment