…is another man’s treasure says so many things on so many levels, but in this case it quite literally is true.

My friend, Ann, works for a historical museum in a small town in Indiana where someone made a donation of her grandmother’s, great-grandmother’s and great-great-grandmother’s hand crafted items.  Ann made the comment that people who don’t make things with their hands, taking the care and spending the many hours it takes to create something special, just don’t have the proper appreciation for hand crafted items.  Take this item for instance:

Someone crocheted this doily in what looks like 5/2 perle cotton, stretched it onto a red fabric-covered board with white thumb tacks, built the frame herself and framed her treasure to hang on the wall.  All of this took thought, time, skill and an appreciation for what she had created.  The museum didn’t see it that way and decided they didn’t “need” it in their collection, so Ann rescued it and brought it home.

Because the frame isn’t sealed, the doily inside has gotten soiled over the years, so Ann is going to have it professionally cleaned and restored.  But she is going to have it framed back as it is, although sealing it this time.  Why?

Because J. Huff Shaw would appreciate it.  And that, to people like Ann and me, makes this a treasure.