The Oppenheimer Report 2/25/08

The other day, I made my first purchase from EBay. I bought a clock with a face depicting an Al Capp (creator of the L’il Abner comic strip) illustration from an old Wildroot Hair Cream ad. Wildroot was my maternal grandfather’s company, and I thought it might be interesting to have this memento, albeit a cheap modern knockoff off the real thing. A long time ago, when Al Capp was hired by my grandfather to illustrate for Wildroot ads, Mr. Capp drew two L’il Abner pen and ink sketches for Grampy, dedicated to my two sisters Jill and Joanne. One depicts Mammy Yoakum, and the other is a sketch of L’il Abner. Those two drawings hung in my parents’ house for years, until one day, during a high school party my sister threw, the one entitled “Jill’s Mammy Yoakum” was stolen, probably as a stupid prank. Although it probably has much more sentimental value to us than monetary value to someone else, I doubt we’ll ever recover that sketch. I still have the “Joanne’s L’il Abner” sketch, and because it is dedicated to my deceased sister, it has great value to me.

As we build this new home up north, it occurs to me how much I have collected so far in my short life. While I am fortunate to have so much “stuff”, these days, I find that I’m looking for ways to simplify my life a bit. I once berated my mother for throwing out my entire model car collection in one of her cleaning frenzies. In fact, had she not done so, I’d probably still be agonizing over where to store all that plastic junk. These days, I am a little more selective about the mementoes I retain. When Shauna’s brother passed away many years ago, we were charged with the task of cleaning out his condo down in Florida. That sad exercise made me realize how true is the old adage, “You can’t take it with you”. What are we to do with the plastic drink cups saved from past Miami Dolphins SuperBowl? Somewhere in our larder there sits an unopened box of “Flutie Flakes” … presumably retained for its unique value to a cereal box collector. I used to collect very old postcards of Buffalo and Crystal Beach. I now have so many now that I can’t put them all in albums. The good news is that they have essentially quadrupled in value over the past fifteen years, but so what … I’ll never sell them. Now I’ve shaken hands with the Great eBay Satan, and I’m hooked. The other day, I found myself perusing 3,000 options for antique copper bowls. We’re looking for one to serve as the sink for a vanity we are designing. Maybe I can trade someone for a Miami Dolphins Superbowl beer cup. One thing is for sure … I’m not giving up that L’il Abner sketch.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED