Buying items at auction sales is a favourite hobby and busines practice of mine. As my readers already know, I consider auction sale purchases to be a powerful way to acquire needed business and personal assets at a reasonable price. For independent business owners, auction buying may be the only way to get needed furniture and equipment, while preserving the company cash flow.
Not all of my auction sale visits end with business items as the target. Today, I was at a sale where many of the features were art objects from around the world. The owners were world travellers and avid collectors of locally handcrafted items. They were especially interested in the work of local craftspeople.
One of the sale features was a wall tapestry (pictured above left) from Peru. Hand woven by a local Inca craftsperson from llama hair, the tapestry depicts the fabled ancient Inca lost city of Machu Picchu (pictured directly left). After a period of bidding, I was able to purchase the tapestry, to hold a place of honour on a wall here at home.
Another feature of the sale was hand carved objects from wood. I was able to bid and buy some birds that were hand carved from wood in the Amazon rainforest. I was also able to buy some hand carved elephants and giraffe from Africa. All of the items are very beautiful, and they tell a story of local craftspeople as independent businesses.
There is a sense of power in these objects. They are like holding a part of the world in your hands. They not only contain the spirit of the materials from which they were crafted, but also the loving care given by the craftspeople during their creation. In fact, that is what they are. They are an overt act of creation. They are the turning of one beutiful natural product into another that reflects the heart of their creator.
Beautiful hand made objects enrich and enhance our lives, as they helped provide a means of support to an unknown person halfway around the globe. When we see a handcrafted item from Africa or South America in our homes, we can feel the person who made it has joined our family too.
Thanks to today's auction sale, I was able to share in the phenomenon of the true global village of independent craftspeople.
The objects will have honoured places to live here at home.
