When Betty Lynn and I visit a large antique mall looking for drumming artifacts, we usually divide forces. By tradition, on entering, she goes to the left and I to the right and we each systematically cover our area until we meet somewhere towards the middle of the mall.
This is what we did when we visited the Heart of Ohio Antique Center near Springfield, Ohio in April of 2013. No sooner had I left Betty Lynn, and started into my section, then I spotted the lamp base, not in one of the endless rows of glass covered display cabinets, but rather sitting above one of those cabinets. I recognized at once that it was a real "find" and wondered what do I do now? Do I run after Betty Lynn, who could not have gotten far, or do I carry on, confident that it will be still there when we meet in an hour or so? I decided on the latter course of action, and covered my half of that enormous mall without finding another thing of interest.
When I finally met up with Betty Lynn, she was very happy with her success in finding a few little figurines. She then asked about my luck while noting that I appeared empty handed. I suggested she follow me and led her back to the case very near the front of the store. She peered inside and then looked back at me as if to say, have you lost it? There's nothing here of interest to us. At that, I pointed upwards, and fully enjoyed hearing the gasp that meant I had hit the mother-lode.
Once we had it lifted down and moved to the front desk, we had a chance to examine it more carefully, I noted that there were some condition issues, and steeled myself for the bargaining that would now ensue. The price being asked was on the high side, so I offered what I thought would be a fair price at about two-thirds of asking. As this was a mall, and everything was on consignment, the consignee had to be called. We were delighted when word came back that our offer was accepted and this beautiful alabaster drummer on her marble base was to be ours. She now takes pride of place in our living room and is the first thing visitors usually comment on.
