Fellow Galoots, please read this excerpt from Gary Laroff R-E-A-L S-L-O-W:
  
> Yesterday an email arrived from Barry in Christchurch, New Zealand with the
> photo of a large Addis carver with Gothic imprint.  He found it covered with
> paint in a recycling shop.  Crisp and clear, the inscription reads "J. B.
> Addis" over "Prize Medal." over "1851".  

This is yet another example of the "You never know what you'll find unless and
until you LOOK."
 
GO! LOOK! Go to the flea markets, the tag / boot / garage / yard sales, the
antique shops, the junk shops, the recycling shops.
 
Go, because you just literally can't know if the time and effort will be
worthwhile before you actually search these places.
 
Kneel down to examine those "boxes of rust" on the ground under the front of the
vendors' tables, even though with every passing year it gets harder to
straighten up again!
 
You can't know. I was just three feet behind a ripoff artist who asked a widow
"How much do you want for this plane?" and got away with a nice #2 for $5.  (We
used to josh about getting a #1 off a widow for $5. This was close to that in
real life!) I would have offered her at least $150, it was that nice. Turned my
stomach to see someone obviously not well off being taken advantage of like
that.
 
If you have no room, you can at least save unappreciated items from the scrap
heap and get them back into "captivity".
 
Think about that......a circa 1851 tool (because it did not have the dates of
the later medals) made in England and found about 163 years later halfway around
the world in a recycling shop !
 
You are on an Ahab-like quest. Go forth!
 
John Ruth
One-time purchaser of a canvas roll of 24 Addis and Ashley Isles tools for $30
 
 
 

 
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