Wednesday, July 10, 2002

michelangelo in the maid's room

Last night, I watched the Antique Roadshow for the first time. The premise is a simple one, really. People clean old junk out of their attics, and bring it to appraisers, and every once in a while some of the stuff might be worth a fair sum of money. Nothing on the show compared to a discovery in what used to be the maid's room at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. Mixed in amongst a box filled with sketches of lighting fixture designs, purchased in 1942 for $60.00, was a drawing of a candelabrum by Michelangelo, which has been valued at $12 million. I guess it might be time that I got around to cleaning out my attic.

Later: More details from the New York Times: The discovery was made by a visiting Scottish Museum Director who likes digging through old ignored boxes of artwork at museums and snooping through flea markets on his vacation to see if he can make discoveries like this one. Maybe I can get him to help me clean the attic.

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