Idaho State Journal, February 8, 2004

The mystery of antique shopping

by Sarah Keech, Features Editor

   Whether it's at the local Salvation Army or Goodwill, or the higher-priced "official" antique stores, there is always a bargain, and sometimes a mystery, to be had when you shop second-hand stores.
   I started shopping second-hand stores after I graduated from college and found myself off the parental dole and unable to walk into any store and purchase new furniture, appliances or decorative items for my tiny apartment in Washington, D.C.
   At first, I found it a pain to have to pick through other people's used items to furnish my place, but soon I found myself feeling an adrenaline rush each time I approached the doors of any thrift or antique store in town.
   Sure, I've never found that $1 million Monet painting stuffed in between a poster of playful kittens and a deceased grandmother's cast-away embroidery work, but there are things that I have found that I will likely keep forever.
   I still have the two oversized bronze Turkish spoons; they've been hanging in my various apartments for years.
   It's probably worth nothing on PBS's "Antique Roadshow," but when I found a mint-condition vintage framed print commemorating the 10th anniversary of Portland's (my hometown) famed Saturday Market at a Goodwill in Arlington, Va., for less than $1, I knew I had a keeper.
   But the favorite thing I've found was something I picked up simply for aesthetics. It's a bowl. On the outside it's metal (I have no idea what kind), but the inside is beautiful red enamel.
   The little bowl sat on a table for months, usually filled with wrapped candy for visiting friends, but one day it was empty and that's where the mystery began.
   I decided to wipe the bowl off with a damp cloth and left it to dry in a dish rack. The next day, as I was putting the other dishes away, I saw an unusual scrawl on the outside of the little enamel bowl.
   It took about 45 minutes before I realized was trying to decipher a signature upside down, but once I turned it over the name was clear. It was signed 'Kring.'
   Sure it could just be a kid's project from an art class, but there was something about that bowl that made me decide to look further into the history of the small object I had picked up for $2 at a suburban junk store. I felt like Nancy Drew; I felt like a detective looking back into history. And I would never guess what kind of history I would find.
   Being a fan of all the televised antique shows, I even watch the ones from Great Britain that are shown on PBS on weekends, I love the history and stories behind old objects. So, much to my surprise, my little bowl did have a history.
   I hopped on the Internet and conducted a Google search, looking for artists named Kring. It wasn't an instant match. But, using various combinations of words - "Kring" and "bowl," "Kring" and "enamel," "Kring" and "bowl" and "enamel" - I finally found my artist: Walter Kring.
   No, you've probably never heard of him, I certainly had not before my search. In fact, he's more famous for his years as the reverend at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City than for being an artist.
   As it turns out, pottery was Kring's passion; so much so that a Web site commemorating his work for the Unitarian Church says Kring was active in his art until his death in 1999.
   Despite the artist, my bowl is still probably worth very little, but to me it's priceless.