Author: Phillip Traum

Trash and Treasure

Nov 08  |  Haley DiRenzo

Inside the open-air market, in the perfect Spanish she’d learned at her east coast prep school and put to use during countless summers in Spain, Ashlyn negotiated the vase with authentic ancient markings down from $1000, to $750, to $175. One hundred and seventy-five dollars for an authentic ancient relic, she thought with giddiness. Ashlyn couldn’t wait to show her mother, who had taught her the importance of swooping in on quality art at Connecticut estate sales from a young age. Keen to take obscure paintings off grieving families’ hands, she got rich convincing vulnerable people their treasure was actually trash.

Ashlyn had always felt a little bad when one of those paintings turned out to be quite valuable, and the family who sold it hadn’t known, but not everyone had the funds, time, and patience, to get the works appraised and insured. Why should Ashlyn’s family suffer just because they did? But still, despite Ashlyn’s excitement about bringing a treasure home from her month abroad, she felt a kind of shame at robbing the old seller of over $800. What was $800 to Ashlyn? By the end, they were negotiating over only $5. And the seller had conceded. Ashlyn’s mother had taught her that desperate people would almost always agree if you made a show of walking away.

Ashlyn had prided herself on having an eye for luxury, just like her mother. That’s what had landed her an art gallery internship back in New York after her summer abroad, not her family’s connections. And yet, she hadn’t realized that the vase was just cheap ceramic, made with modern clay a few months ago. The woman selling them had bought 100 for $20 each, decorated them with obscure markings, and made a killing off foreigners like Ashlyn who were always so happy to think they’d cut a bargain.

Ashlyn did not secure a full-time position at the gallery. But when her mother placed the gaudy and horrible vase in the garbage one morning, while describing how she had stiffed the waiting staff of her most recent gala out of their tip, Ashlyn realized that maybe the fact she had not inherited the ability to discern trash from treasure was actually for the best.