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Illuminating exploration of the discreet world of appraisals

This NYT story is an illuminating exploration of the discreet world of appraisals....

Kneeling on the dining room floor, Evan Lattimer sliced open a cardboard box and braced herself for what might be inside: a lock of human hair, a half-smoked cigar, an arcane torture device, perhaps? Her face broke into a smile as she peeled away the bubble wrap: a dinosaur egg.

“You just never knew with Dad,” she said.

When her father, John Lattimer, died in May of 2007 at the age of 92, Ms. Lattimer knew her inheritance would include more than the family tea set. Dr. Lattimer, a prominent urologist at Columbia University, was also a renowned collector of relics, many of which might be considered quirky or even macabre.
. . .
As she moved through the estate’s many piles, she said, she was often perplexed. Was the tear-shape metal object on the third floor a piece of junk, or was it historically significant?

"In a Father’s Clutter, Historic Oddities," by Kassie Bracken and Erik Olsen, The New York Times, August 20, 2008

Posted August 21, 2008 01:57 PM · Permalink · Appraisals

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