The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Daily Newspaper
|
Saturday, July 5, 2003 |
Venezuela's Independence
Wirtz, Virginia - Let's celebrate Independence Day with our readers from Venezuela. The country's declaration of independence from Spain was signed July 5, 1811 in the Chapel of Santa Rosa de Lima.
We have not seen any Venezuelan corkscrews to include in our celebration but we dug out a story originally published in The Virtual Corkscrew Museum in 1997:
We went to Aruba on February 8. During our week stay, we made our usual visit to the Rococo Antique Shop. There we saw a wood T-handle corkscrew, a figural wood handle and a modern double lever. We left them all there.
On Saturday, February 15 we flew to Caracas, Venezuela. After the ride from the airport, we were apprehensive about wandering the streets. We unpacked and decided to venture out. Just around the corner from the Hilton Hotel we were in the Bellas Artes Plaza (Metro stop). We walked by one of the many street vendors hawking products from fold up tables.
We passed by a woman selling incense and Bonnie said "Did you see that corkscrew on the table?" I said "No" (she is my spotter!). I turned around and looked and there on the table was the dog pictured above. I had not seen this figural before. The woman asked for 4000 Bolivars (US$8.50). I gladly paid it. Bonnie speaks Spanish and she asked the woman if she had more corkscrews. She said she had many old corkscrews and she would bring them on Monday and would be set up by 1PM. That gave me two nights to dream about all the great things she would have!
On Monday we went to Bellas Artes at noon. She was not amongst the many street vendors. We had lunch and came back at 1:30PM. She was not there nor was her incense table. We went to see the Simon Bolivar statue and Plaza. We returned at 4:30PM and she was not there. The next day we flew home. We had our corkscrew dog. We had our dreams. We had no other corkscrews. Was this just another one of the stories we have heard from dealers so often: "I have some at home and I'll bring them next time."? Or is there a great horde of corkscrews to be uncovered in Caracas. If you go, stop by the tables at Bellas Artes Plaza. Maybe you'll have some good corkscrew fortune.
|
©2003 Don Bull, Editor |
