St. Anthony - The Keeper of Lost Things

Lost Things made into a lapel pin
Auction item

Recently, I experienced something new - bidding on items at an auction. My mother and several of her friends visit the weekly auctions held at Weston's Antiques, a company that specializes in Estate liquidations, looking for items to add to their collections. They prep for the Tuesday sales by visiting the company's website where they can view samples of items as early as Sunday, and then attend the preview on Monday. There they look at items, read makers marks, look for damage, and plan their strategies. Tuesday begins by checking in with the auction house and obtaining a bidding card with a number and finding a good seat.

On the day I attended the sale, I perused the room looking for things I might like to take home to use in decorating my home. The pin featured in this photo was one among the many items of costume jewelry in a cardboard box. Its appearance definitely fits the bill for today's novel  - The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. 

Anthony Peardew lost the one thing his fiancé placed lovingly in his care; worst still he lost it on the very day she died. For the rest of his life while looking for this special item, he would pick up other lost things taking them home carefully cataloging them with date and location found. It was always his intention to work to return the items to their rightful owners, but found it hard to let the items go. Upon Anthony's death, his home and all the lost items are left to his assistant/housekeeper, Laura, with the one proviso that she take on his unfinished task.

Life hasn't always gone smoothly for Laura and this task seems overwhelming, but her best friend Sarah has some great advice for her and for the rest of us as well, "Laura, you have to let go of the past. You deserve to be happy, but you have to make it happen yourself. It's down to you....Don't keep punishing yourself for things you did then, but don't use them as an excuse either. You have a chance now to make a really good life. Grab it by the balls and get on with it." (p. 140).  And that's what Laura does. Ably assisted by Sunshine, a young woman with Down's syndrome, and Freddy the gardner, the team develops a website for displaying the items along with a brief description. Making use of social and mainstream media, Laura gets the word out about the website and items begin to be reclaimed.

Silver Plated Tea Set bought at auction
above it is a Wallace Nutting photograph
purchased at an antiques shop. 

Part of this interesting novel are the stories that Anthony wrote about the items he found, and like Anthony I began to wonder about the items that were being auction off in front of me. I purchased the silver plated tea service pictured here. Who owned it last? Was it a gift - wedding, anniversary or birthday? Who did they serve tea to? What was discussed while they enjoyed their cup? Who made it? You can imagine the questions might be endless, and I could easily begin to write a dozen different stories that feature this tea set in it.

Over the past few years, I have been drawn to collecting pre-owned items. They have such character and history. Plus there is a bit of an environmental aspect to it - recycling and reducing. When I visit an antique or thrift shop I think of all the stuff there and where will all the stuff that we keep making end up? What do we do with things we've lost - buy a new one to replace it if we can't find it. Is that the best solution? Without making and buying of stuff our economies wouldn't work, so can there be an easy solution for us?