I like to go to antique stores with my friend, Cathy. We poke around, reminisce about the things we grew up with that are now 'vintage', and look for bird cages. With me being a Hendryx Hoarder, my eyes can usually find a cage from 20 ft. If I miss it, Cathy calls it out. There are usually only one or two in the store at a time and mostly they are the brass beehive style.
I recently went North to Grants Pass, OR with Cathy. We hit a few shops and spent most of the time in our favorite one. I'd thought about renting a space here for my cages but it was too expensive as well as 30 miles away from home. Anyway, we wandered and looked and chatted. We had a great time.
I saw something that I don't understand. I nearly backed into a h-u-g-e Hendryx globe cage. It was probably 15" at least in diameter. I kid you not. It was on a stand which made it about eye level, maybe a little lower. I didn't recognize it, at first, as a Hendryx, as it had been painted. Not only painted, but painted and wiped off. I don't understand it at all. Why take a perfectly good brass treasure, paint it with creme puffy paint, and then wipe some of it off until the brass shows through? Is that shabby chic? I don't get it. I stood there, jaw dropped, and stared. I couldn't believe what had been done to it. Without the paint, the cage and stand would have been in my car in a flying second. I have two globe cages, but this one was different. Maybe it was the height, or the stand, or the tray around it...I'm not sure.
It's disconcerting when cages scream at me in the store. I'm sure that I'm the only one that hears the voices, and certainly I'm the only one who talks back to the cages. "No, I've got 10 beehives. I don't need another one, even though you are in remarkable condition." Things like that. Cathy just shrugs and goes on. I examine, I look, I handle, I talk...then I go on my way, ignoring the pleas I hear. This cage didn't talk very much. It just sat there. It was like it whispered "save me" or some such thing. My logic was quiet. Everything was quiet around us. I heard the buzz of others in the store, but I stood and just stared at this masterpiece with it's dreadful 'do'.
I know me. I have the best intentions. I will get this cage. I will remove the paint. I will... I will... It would never happen. I don't have the space or the inclination to get elbow deep in paint remover. And what would paint remover do to the old brass underneath? Important question that one. Very important.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Margaret Wolfe Hungerford (née Hamilton), is widely credited for coining the phrase in 1878 according to the internet. It literally means "the perception of beauty is subjective". Whoever 'improved' on this Hendryx cage must have thought it would look neat. Cool. Great. Chippy. Whatever. But why is it here now? Did it not work out as expected and was left here to find a good home? I saw no beauty in it except what I knew was underneath the puffy paint and streaks.
In my early days of trolling ebay for Hendryx cages, I didn't have enough knowledge to ask appropriate questions of the buyers. Needless to say, I received some real shockers. There were two that really stick out in my mind and on my shelves. One is a mission style Arts and Crafts cage. I bought it cuz it looked in good condition, clean brass, intact wires, etc. What I got was a cage that had been spray-painted gold. The paint was bumpy. Maybe with texture? Or maybe a terribly horrible job of painting. The seller hadn't offered that it had been painted. I hadn't asked. Stuck. Close to the same time I saw a drop-dead gorgeous Victorian cage with crimped wires that had the most wonderful shape. I bought it. Did I ask appropriate questions? No. Did I get another cage that had been spray-painted gold? Yes. It even had globs of paint in the seed guard. Definitely didn't want to stay on my shelf. Ugh!
I don't understand. I know I'm a purist. I want my cages to be Hendryx. I want my feeders to be Hendryx. I want my stands to be Hendryx. I'm pretty rigid on those points. But I don't want to look under gold spray paint or creme puff paint and streaks to see my cage.
You may think that I only collect brass Hendryx. That is not so. I have painted Japanned cages. But the paint is intended and original. No added touches. I have painted stands. But the chipped paint is the original paint. No added touches. And I have painted feeders. Once again, the original Deco finish. Intended. No added touches.
If anyone reading this can help me understand the idea of 'added touches', I'd really appreciate a comment. I did just sell a red and a blue painted cages on ebay. They were mid-century metal cages that had been well painted and designed by a previous owner. They sold quickly. But that didn't seem, to me, to be the travesty that this cage was. Or my other aforementioned cages. Maybe because they were metal and not brass? Or Chrome. I don't know. I don't like the painted late Deco Chrome ones either.
Maybe it does all just come down to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford and the saying that allows for individuality and expression of such. "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." I'll take mine plain, please.
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