I was all set to hit about a dozen stoop sales today, but it was misting so heavily at 10am that about 80% if the sales listed on Craigslist didn't even bother to come out and set up. Anyway, I was even a bit of a wimp and instead of biking around to see who came out, I hopped in the car and drove around the neighborhood - which was just fine since it would have been doubly disappointing to find nobody out had I cycled all over in the rain.
But on with my tale: toward the bottom of my list of sales to visit was one at an address I had gone to a month ago - on the same day I hit the jackpot with the Adlen painting - it was at the same address where I had picked up the lovely Laguiole corkscrew.
I'm all out of order here but here is what you need to know: that day a month ago when I hit that stoop sale (actually, it wasn't even on a stoop - it was indoors in the parlor of an amazing limestone mansion in Ft Greene), I had spied a bronze sculpture on the mantle. I asked if it was for sale and the host said she supposed she would sell it though she hadn't planned to do so. She came up with a price, but it seemed too high to me so I took a picture and her email address and passed on it. Then, over the last few weeks it stuck with me and I began to think I had missed a real find.
So when I got there today at around noon it turned out to be the same lady and I was sad to see the mantle was bare - only to notice moments later that the sculpture was now on the floor in a corner with a price tag on it - same price as before.
Long story short, I got the seller to knock 15% off her price and I bought it. Still too pricey for a stoop sale, but I sort of love it and it is so unlike any other art I own. I know I will never regret it (unless, God forbid, it falls over and hurts someone). It weighs a ton - at least 40 pounds.
The bronze sculpture itself is 24 inches tall and solid bronze. The base is 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches and is solid marble. This thing is a whopper.
Here are a few more pix of the other side - not sure which is the front and which the back.
BTW - the inscription etched into the bottom of the marble base is "R. GIRONDA 69"
What do you think?
