A local charity auction was being held at the local country club.
Every wealthy mover and shaker in town was there. There was a very old
dusty dirty violin up next for bidding. The auctioneer begins..
coughing lightly.. and says.. Who will give me $10 dollars for this,
uh.. antique violin? chuckling under his breath. I'm sure it could be
cleaned up and might even be playable. It would certainly look nice in
someone's study or music room.
A murmur of muted laughter fills the room.. how about $8 dollars?
Someone from up front chirps in and jokingly bids- I'll give you $2
dollars, I can use it to light my fireplace! The laughter was not
muted this time. Then from the back of the hall comes a small voice
asking if he could examine it. An old man makes his way up to the
podium.. and quietly gestures a 'thank you' and puts on his glasses.
The man holds the violin with such care... touches it as if knowing
every grain on the wood.. and its workmanship. He holds it up into
the light as if that's all it needed, he brings out his hanky and
starts to dust off the maker's marks through the soundhole. A smile
comes to his face, and a tear forms in his eye. He plucks one string,
then another .. tunes the violin and asks for the bow.
The auctioneer quickly responds. Imagine the hall filled with
on-lookers and doubters and wondering what could be next? It was so
quiet you could hear a pin drop. "Well, it is probably going to need
some new strings.." the old man notes with a twinkle in his eye. The
murmurs cease as a simple but moving melody fills the room. Starting
so softly, so sweetly, a haunting melody so deeply moving, so soft and
warm. Such was the elderly man's playing.. so soft, so sweet.. so
terribly moving.. After a few moments he stops playing and looks at
the auctioneer and says "Just as I suspected", then he hands the
violin back to the auctioneer with great care, smiles and shuffles
quietly off the stage and towards the back of the room.
The auctioneer says.. Well, who now will give me $30 dollars? $100
shouts someone. $300.. $600.. $1,200.. $2,000.. $5,000 higher.. and
higher.. and higher the bidding goes.. The bidding continues upward
until it finally closes at $12,500 dollars with two local business
rivals bidding heavily against each other. The winner jumps out of his
seat with the thrill of victory!
But it wasn't till the touch of the master's hand that the rich movers
and shakers saw any value in that old violin at all. The old man
quietly slipped out the back door, tucking a crisp new $50 bill in his
vest pocket for 10 minutes of work. "What a piece of shit that thing
was!" he chuckled to himself.
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