THIS WEEKS FEATURE

 SPECIAL EDITION 

Carlton's 800 mile L.A. Road Trip To the Glendale Show and Long Beach Flea Market

 PAGE 4 

LONG BEACH ARRIVAL

Finally I got into the flea so late, like 9:45AM I was pretty relaxed. You figure by then anything great is long gone, so it's sort of nice to just take your time. L.A. and the greater Southland region is tough for antiques. The reason is, in my opinion there are more collectors than there is stuff to be had. I remember once I was walking around the Long Beach flea and I saw a guy unloading. He pulled out this incredible looking sword. I looked at it and knew it was something even though it wasn't my area. By the time I went up one isle and back to see it, it was gone. That's L.A. for you...good stuff moves fast. Another time I was at the Rose Bowl flea. I was one of the first in the parking lot like 5:00AM or so. I'll never forget by the time I got out of my car and walked a short way. I looked back and two rows of cars had already parked behind me. At 5:00AM it drove home the intensity of L.A. and impact of that many people.

I never saw John Kanuit, which could be good or bad. He had either cleaned the place out by then and left or never made it that day. Or maybe we just didn't cross paths. He's right there in L.A. and one of the most prolific dealers in the world for sports antiques, and as far as I know hits Long Beach hard, or at least used to. He wasn't at Glendale either though.

Back to Long Beach, I leisurely made my way around the show and saw a good amount of interesting stuff I didn't need, no sports stuff. I did see a c1860ish table that got my attention...I considered pulling the trigger on...it was my kind of table, burl top, and low...I actually sat down in the booth and pondered it. I passed though, as it was a bridge too far that day....all that driving around to pick it up later and all wore me out to think about......

33 3/4" X 19 3/4" Watercolor Painting  by Maurice Day

SCORE!!!!!

And then I came on something. Along the northern fence I glanced thru just another ordinary looking booth. There was a picture of sorts I didn't pay much attention to immediately. It was displayed on an easel behind the table. Somehow I started looking at it. It looked like some kind of illustration for a children's book. As I walked around behind the table to get a closer look I could see it was a scene of beavers playing a football game against bunnies. I didn't notice they were playing football right away for some reason. Then I started to focus in. I looked it over and it seemed like it could have been a watercolor painting, which would change the whole equation. 

I asked the dealer how much and he quoted me $_____.00.  I asked if it was a watercolor, and he said yes......Then I really started focusing. I've always had a problem telling a watercolor from a print. So I queried the dealer if he was sure and how he knew. He launched into an explanation about the end of brush strokes were deeper color, and he took out a loop to show me. I still wasn't totally convinced though what he said made sense. I just stood there and looked at it for a while as I tried to put together a game

CONTINUE TO PAGE 5