The more I’m in this business… the more I seem to love it… a few
unnamed characters notwithstanding. This is a business which seems to
require more knowledge for less remuneration than any other I know.
When someone says to me: “You didn’t know that?” … with total
amazement at my abysmal ignorance… I usually ask them if they know
what a culet is. And then the not-so-friendly game of intellectual
one-upmanship ends. Sigh. Knowledge is directly related to where on
earth you happen to be standing at any given time I guess. I could go
on and on.
However… all that said… there is something about conspicuous
consumption that sometimes seems to even rattle my jaded
perspectives.
What does one get a woman who has everything? A Maserati perhaps? A
little private jet? A boy toy for a week? All nice things I’m sure.
But by certain stretches they can all seem like essentials and can
easily elude the category of conspicuous consumption.
Ah… but when it comes to evening bags… it is here that throwing
money down the drain takes on new meanings. For those of you who
think that logic can not be defied… think again. I have an evening
bag that cost-- back in 1987–23,000 Swiss Francs. I have no idea how
that translates in today’s dollars… but I would venture to say
quite a bit more than that aforementioned paltry Maserati.
It is mesh. It is studded with round diamonds and has a suspended
fringe of pear-shaped diamonds as well as a pear-shaped diamond clasp
and a diamond pave-set rectangular frame. But that is nothing ladies
and gennulmens. It is the material from which it is made that knocks
me out. This evening bag is made of platinum and has a gross weight
of 565 grams.
It’s nothing to look at folks. It’s an evening bag. You’re going to
a wedding… or out clubbing… and you need something within which
you can place your lipstick… and the keys to the apartment… and a
few little doo-dads. And so you spend a hundred grand or so… for a
purse. Sheesh!
But I will show it to you… and you ladies can all eat your hearts
out over the fact that the best you will ever do is a picayune
Chanel… or a Dolce and Gabbana. My trinket is better than your
trinket is what makes the world go 'round… does it not?
So… ya wanna see? Go. Look. Enjoy. Marvel.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… and you will see represented on our pages a
magnificent gold whistle of Indo-Portuguese origins.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark