[trojangal]

Okay..not really an odd thing, but worth telling.

This past weekend in Sandestin, Florida, the Thomas Kinkade ( sp?) Gallery actually had the artist there for a fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation. Deal was if you bought any of the canvases $500 and up, you could get him to personally autograph it at the fundraiser. In addition, there would be a $1000 24x36 ( something like that) Kinkade canvas that he would personally autograph and it would be auctioned for Make-A-Wish. My mom and dad decided to enter the auction, and had pre-determined bid already in mind.

Mom and Dad decided to take part b/c they both like Kinkade a lot, but I never found out how much until this weekend.

Bidding started at $1000--went back and forth and it built up fast. F ound out that Dad bid $5000, and thought he had it. A lady bid $5500, then watched as my dad bid $6000. She gave in, and my dad was now the owner of a Kinkade $1000 canvas with the author's signature.

Here' s the clincher!

Kinkade, on the back of the $1000 autographed canvas, sketched an original drawing of one of his lighthouses, signed it, dated, it, and wrote on it "Florida Tour 2004".

My dad's investment went up to $19000 in a matter of minutes by that single one of a kind drawing on the back of the canvas. At least that's what the going price for Kinkade originals on Ebay was last time he checked...

Dad says it's a pretty good investment considering he can write off part of the money he spent as a donation since it was for Make A Wish!!