It is coincidental that two lots at two different auctions I previewed yesterday should be of greyhounds. The above, by Lalique has a slight chip to the base, so would eliminate my interest and will very likely reduce its sales price.
This is only an engraving by the original artist's brother Thomas of the oil created by one of Queen Victoria's favourite painters, Edwin Landseer, of Eos, the greyhound belonging to Prince Albert. It is for sale at Skinner in Boston, from where this image comes.
Anyway, my interest is concentrated on the arrival of my Art Deco bull, for which the DHL Tracking now informs me that the international shipment has been processed in the parcel center of origin, which as you can imagine makes it almost difficult to contain myself with excitement that it has moved on from the first notification: the instruction data for this shipment has been provided by the sender to DHL electronically, which was logged on 20 December.
Perhaps if it had been a greyhound it would have arrived more swiftly. But in any event, arrival without any chip off its block would be much appreciated. But "arrival" is a key event. And providing an estimate as to when this might take place as easy as weather forecasting.
Lalique greyhound image from Case Antiques Inc, Knoxville, TN
16 comments:
There is no functioning postal service here in Angola so if I neeed anything at all, it has to be DHL'd to me. Providing security to certain international airlines at Luanda airport I am familiar with all the flight schedules from Europe so it amuses me when I note from tracking that a package from UK was delivered first to London Heathrow, then to Frankfurt, thence to Dresden (!), on to Bruxelles, Paris and finally Lisbon from where it was sent to Luanda. There are direct flights to Angola from LHR, Frankfurt, Buxelles, Paris and, of course, Lisbon. It is a pity I cannot claim Air Miles on my DHL shipments!
Paciencia (patience) was the first word I learnt in Portuguese followed by Calma-te (calm yourself) when I lost my patience!
Paciencia is something I have learned here in Thailand, where time means absolutely nothing. Here they say "mai pen rai", which is the equivalent of calma-te: don't worry yourself. But actually the delay is nothing to do with Thais or Thailand, (yet...that joy in store when customs decide how much duty, aka tea money they want to charge), but on the ever efficient German postal service, which I joked about with the girl in Hanover yesterday; (I know you're half German too).
You joked with a girl in Hanover? You mean she had a sense of humour? Remarkable.
I worked on the Angolan Customs Modernisation Project for two years heading up their anti-corruption team so I know exactly how to get my kit through customs...
Well, I think she got the joke, but then again, if it never arrives, I'll know why.
Having inside knowledge here at customs would be helpful, but the pickings are too rich to share that information I imagine.
Lalique aside, I think your bull sculpture is a much finer design, and from wht I've seen of your apartment, a better fit. More gravitas.
Ah, customs! I had one shipment here for which we received notification very late on Friday. We picked it up on Monday, but were charged storage over the weekend, even though Customs was not open then!
When the bull arrives, we'll all celebrate. I look forward to seeing where you'll place it. Hope to see a photo or two in situ. Have a great weekend...Loi
I like the Lalique. It is something I would buy for myself.
As for deliveries, the span between Xmas and New Years seems to be a black hole during which tracking numbers disappear. I had a couple packages that scanned on departure, and then showed up at the front door a week later, with nothing in between.
Mark - that's me - full of gravitas! But thanks for the compliment.
Parnassus - it seems they always win, which isn't difficult when they write the rules, or change the goalposts.
Loi - yes, you've been living through this with me! The latest DHL Tracking looks encouraging, (it's 60% accomplished, but hasn't yet left Germany). Go figure.
Diogenes - yes it is rather pretty, but I'm always wary of glass because it can (and inevitably will) be chipped. A bronze greyhound I have was knocked over the other day, when it was being dusted. It is of course fine. The table has a dent in it, however!
I hope you're right about the impending delivery, but I'm not getting my hopes up unnecessarily!
Also Columnist, thank you for the heads up on Skinner Auctions in Boston. They have some nice Wedgewood basalt in the January sale. I'm tempted to bid. I'd never heard of Skinner before.
Diogenes - I will alert you to any others I see. I too like black basalt, and the pieces in the sale are lovely; also like the terracotta Wedgwood teapots with basalt crocodile handles on the lids.
Slightly off-subject, grayhound dogs are raced in Arkansas as legal gambling. While their working life is short-lived, there are now rescue groups that take these dogs and find loving homes for them. They are quite well-tempered, and accustomed to being around strangers and other dogs. Although they cannot be let off leash in open areas as they would bolt like lightning after any squirrel, etc., they make wonderful companions for those in the U.S. looking for a loving pet.
The actress Annette Crosbie is a high profile rescuer of greyhounds in UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/west/series2/retired_greyhounds_cruelty_racing.shtml
Partially related, she played Queen Victoria in a rather good BBC television series many years ago.
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