Home Run
Finding buried treasure in your storage closet
As humans, we are innately drawn to buried treasure. I talk about this a lot on my book tour and in my book, because it’s a huge part of what I do when I go vintage shopping: look for items that are, in some cases, almost priceless.
That’s my niche, really: finding pieces of design history that have been discarded at some point. I find them, research them, sometimes sell them but usually just hold on to the really special pieces. There’s my Goyard trunk (a $95 find worth anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000); my vintage floor-length 1950s Dior cape ($9.95 at Goodwill); and my signed Warrington Colescott art that I thrifted for $30 only to later discover that the Smithsonian had several of his pieces in their collection.
I love finding these special things and love hearing stories of the special things others have found, too. And boy, did Ted Lodge ever find something special. Lodge, a truck driver, inherited a home from his late father — who had also been a truck driver and had delivered baseball cards for a time. One box of those cards — from 1952 — had gotten lost in transit. They sat in storage for years, until Lodge came across them and sold them to a professional sports collector in 1986, for more than a hundred thousand dollars.
One of the cards in the set (a 1952 Mickey Mantle, sold for $50,000 after being unearthed by Lodge) continued to appreciate in value. The buyer did not want to sell it — a feeling I totally get, having collected old things for may years myself — until he was convinced by his kids to do so.
This week, it shattered records and was sold for $12.6 million.
The massive sale is in line with other sports memorabilia sales of late (a jersey worn by Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup recently sold for $9.3 million, for instance). But it’s also a good lesson to always check those old boxes you have in storage. And to start doing research on vintage baseball cards.
A lived-in denim shirt should be in everyone’s closet. For me, it’s a non-negotiable. There’s something very classic but still laid back about it and you can were it with everything from a satin slip dress to a pair of high-waisted jeans. The line Made in Tomboy specializes in perfect denim pieces and their take on the iconic denim top is more blouse than shirt: complete with gorgeous tailoring and rounded sleeves. It’s pricey but I found it on super sale.
I have spent a lot of time in the northeast this summer, and it is considerably dryer than down south. While that’s a good thing, temperature wise, my skin has loathed it. This serum — applied just out of the shower, to still-damp skin — has been a true saving grace.
Tom and I really love our Theragun but we didn’t bring it on our month-and-a-half long road trip because it’s pretty bulky. Now, the company has mini versions of the cult device (which helps target muscles anywhere on your body and is great after a strenuous workout).
The most fun coasters that will definitely spark a conversation at your next get-together.
We all made so much fun of New Balance sneakers for so many years (remember Crazy Stupid Love?) but they suddenly seem very now.
Recommended reading/listening:
Vogue’s Megan O’Sullivan hit the nail on the head with this piece, which is all about taking fashion cues from the people you have crushes on.
The primary bathroom in this Hilton Head beach house is the stuff of dreams.
After many setbacks, NASA is scheduled to send a rocket to the moon tomorrow.
And I’ll leave you with this….