Aiken

  I was coming back from a record store trip in Augusta one day, and I saw a sign for an antique mall in Aiken, SC.  I had just been turned on to antique stores as a place to find pop culture memorabilia, so I took a detour from my trip.

 Aiken is a relatively small town in SC with a lot of old buildings and history.  They also have a lot of horse farms in the area.  In fact, Joe Walsh of The Eagles had a horse farm near Aiken.  James Brown used to live in a town near Aiken.  I found the antique mall on the main street through town and went in.  I wandered down an aisle and something caught my attention.  In a glass case, there were two signs noting "Beatle Bus" and a date (August 18, 1965).  I knew that The Beatles had played in Atlanta then, and I figured that there were designated buses to take fans to the stadium.  The owner wanted $80 each for the signs, so I bought both.  It was quite a find.  When I got home, I did some research and found that these signs were extremely rare and may be the only two still in existence.  I sold them for $500 each to a collector.

 So, when the FBC Seniors were going to go to Aiken for the day, I jumped at the chance.  Maybe, I would find another gem.  It was a cold and rainy day.  I walked into that antique mall.  It had been about 20 years since my last visit.  Once again, I wandered the aisles, but I noticed something different.  The prices had changed.  No more were there bargains to be had.  Instead, there were items marked at market value.  Aiken had changed to an upscale area.  The word had gotten out about Aiken, and their antique stores.  One thing that I have learned over the years is that you sell something at a price you think it will sell, not a price it is necessarily worth.  I found an autographed picture of Rudolph Valentino.  As I am into autographs, I thought this might be a good addition to my collection.  After all, how many Valentino autographs could be out there?  I couldn't see the price, so I asked the lady at the desk to open the case for me.  The seller wanted over $1000.  That was how much the autograph was worth.  I suppose it is still collecting dust in the case.  I ended up buying a couple of CDs and left.

 We then went to the Aiken Museum, which is in an old three-story house.  I couldn't find an elevator (I don't think they had one), so we all had to trudge up the steep steps to get from floor to floor.  My lungs were not happy.  As we were leaving, the workers there asked us where we were going to eat.  We were heading to Golden Corral.  They told us of a nice restaurant downtown that had better food.  They were right.  A nice ending to an otherwise disappointing day.