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Rich on rummage Treasure Hunt? He's Right at Home.By Rick Horowitz MILWAUKEE -- Summer adventurer that you are, you've worked yourself into a perfect frenzy over piracy at the gas pump. If those numbers don't come down soon, you're thinking to yourself, all your wonderful vacation plans will go up in a puff of...somebody's else's exhaust. I sympathize. And I'd be worried, too, most years. But not this year. First, because we'll be sticking pretty close to home this summer; instead of major cross-country jaunts, we'll be taking care of chores around the house, sifting piles and tossing junk. Second, because by the time we're done sifting and tossing, I figure I'll be rich. It's a Wisconsin thing. You think of Wisconsin (assuming you ever do) and you think bratwursts and beer, cheese curds and cows. But how about hidden treasure? How about pricey artwork? Apparently they're part of the Wisconsin experience, too. Just ask Roger Olshanski, who went from flea markets to fortune in the flick of an auctioneer's hammer. Roger Olshanski lives in Racine, just a little bit south of here, in a former firehouse. For decades, he's spent his time at rummage sales and swap meets and the like, collecting "old, unusual, or incredibly tacky" things. Things like fast-food-restaurant toys for children -- Olshanski has 40,000(!) of them. And things like paintings, including a grime-covered rendering of some magnolias he picked up four years ago and kept in a box. He can't remember exactly what he paid for it, but he never pays more than 20 bucks for anything. When the bidding stopped at Christie's in New York the other day, the relevant number was $1,350,000. Does the name Martin Johnson Heade mean anything to you? It didn't mean anything to Olshanski either. But Olshanski had a friend who knew the name -- a little-known 19th century American painter increasingly popular with the artsy crowd -- and recognized the style. Experts did the authenticating, and now Olshanski is doing the celebrating; deduct fees and taxes and such, and he still pockets more than $900,000. So naturally I'm thinking, "Why not me?" See, this isn't even the first time this kind of thing has happened lately, and right here in Wisconsin. The last time, just last May, it was a guy in Wausau, in the middle of the state, who'd paid $29 at a rummage sale for another magnolia painting by the very same artist. Christie's moved that one for more than $800,000. So why not me? I've got rummage all over the place. (I've probably got fleas.) Who's to say that somewhere in my tacky stacks, I don't have some undiscovered gem of my own? Something that doesn't look like it's worth a dime, but turns out to be worth a bundle. Maybe it's one more magnolia painting by the now-famous Mr. Heade -- it happened twice in Wisconsin, it can happen three times -- or maybe it's an equally desirable masterpiece by the equally prominent Mr. Somebody Else. Not that I've ever actually bought a painting at a flea market or a rummage sale or a swap meet. So what? I don't have to buy it to find it, do I? The folks who lived here before we did left behind all sorts of stuff; maybe there's some absolutely wonderful Piece O' Art tucked behind the old model-railroading magazines they kept heaped under the eaves. (They're still up there; we've never even thought of moving them.) Or maybe the magazines are worth a million. Or some of our old newspapers. Or the kiddie games. Or something. Something. All it takes is one thing that somebody wants -- or better yet, two somebodies. Something that two somebodies want and are willing to pay top dollar to get. So all I have to do is find that one thing, put it up for bids and watch the money roll in. Then I can buy my own gas pump. Posted 5/30/00. You
don't have to pay top dollar to get fresh stuff at "Rick's" -- talk
about bargains!
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Rick Horowitz