A Flea Market Find: The “Mayflower” Bowl

The “Mayflower” Bowl
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A great sales person is a great actor.

 – Based loosely on a Paul Lynde quote

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Last winter [January 26, 2015], Jerry, I, Mark, and Missy (the four Siegels) were browsing a flea market at Webster (Florida), nosing around in the antique section, when I spotted an old wooden bowl with cracks.

Despite the cracks and being around the block several times, the bowl was very pretty and exuded a lot of soul, and I was drawn to it.

But it had a $900.00 price tag on it.

I and two other women were oohing and ahhing over it, but that high price tag seemed puzzling; while the bowl did seem to be old, it just didn’t seem to be worth $900.00.

No one seemed to want to question why the bowl was priced so high – that is, except me, so I said to the owner of the stand, “This is a really nice bowl, but I don’t understand why it’s $900.00.”

He, a white haired gentleman with a nice smile and friendly voice, said, “Well, the man who sold it to me said that it sailed over on the Mayflower.” With a twinkle in his eye, he added. “You believe me, don’t you?”

I said, “No.”

He laughed. “Well, then, I can give you a good price. How about $3.00?”

“Sure!”

One of the other two women said (in a humorous tone), “You bought that right from under me!”

“Yes, I guess I did.”

We all had a good laugh.

So, now I am the proud owner of a cracked wooden bowl.

As I was leaving, my pitchman said to me, “Now you take that bowl to the Antiques Roadshow, and they will tell you that bowl’s from the Mayflower.”

I just laughed.

As I was leaving, I realized what an awesome salesman I had just encountered.

With an audience of three, he managed to create “buzz” for an old wooden bowl with cracks...

And I fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

Have a nice 4th of July!