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I find more and more, as I find more and more in my grandparents' house and that being extremely careful is a given. Unfortunately, my father and his sister are at odds with each other making the settling of the estate of their mother extremely difficult. Things that were here at one time have all but disappeared and no one knows where they went. I think, unfortunately both are losing it a bit and honestly don't remember what they've secreted away and thus find it easy to point fingers at the other. My aunt had a bunch of stuff on a table saying it was worthless and to "take whatever you want or I'm going to donate it somewhere." Having been close to my grandparents and a good listener in my youth (a child of the "...should be seen and not heard" generation) I noticed a simple lamp with a slight iridescence to its finish. "Oh, this is cool, my wife loves this style", I lied. I turned it over and in no time found the signature "LCT" initials an antique appraiser had pointed out a number of years ago on a similar one given to my father by his parents, followed by an offer of $15K to take it off his hands. "LCT" stands for Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of Tiffany's founder who designed, among other things, lamps. Dear Auntie was just going to toss it.
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