Perhapablog

Friday, September 15, 2006

retablo exvoto

okay...

so every once in a while i type in 'chupacabra' or 'chupacabras' into ebay to see if they're selling something new that i might be interested in. there are countless offers for any one of the three or four (bad) chupacabra movies made in the last 4 years or so, imani coppola's 1998 chupacabra titled cd (which my best friend and ex-girlfriend dani actually owned and dug--i'll hafta ask her if i can borrow that...), the odd chupacabra t-shirt or mexican wrestling mask, copies of scott corrales' excellent book which chronicles the chupacabra flap in puerto rico back in '95/'96...even a mummified chupacabra 'claw'! occassionally there are some other--and in some cases more sensational--entries; the chupacabra embryo in a jar, the way cool, chinese-made chupacabra figure, even a weekend at a texas ranch for a chupacabra safari!
ebay is funny.

the other day i saw this.




and here's the legend, the translation of the story, written on the tin.

RETABLO EXVOTO SIGHTING OF THE CHUPACABRAS

Size: 7-1/2 x 13 in_Mexican oil exvoto painting on tin dedicated to the Lady of San Juan.
The story translates into: _"Ramona Telles went to the outhouse one night and there she saw the Chupacabras and as she ran away she directed her prayers to the Virgen de San Juan and when she came back none of her lambs were hurt"

it really got me--i bookmarked it--going back from time to time to see what it was going for. i kept thinking, well, maybe i would bid $20 on it! it was really fascinating and it would be a great novelty to add to my already weird collection.
then it was going for $23. i thought, okay, maybe i'll bid $25.

then it went to 30 and i thought, okay, this is a real work of art, an oil painting! plus, her name is ramona TELLES--that's really close to tellos, so it has an almost cosmic significance, combining the two creations that i am most proud of. i could go to 35.

and 40.

...

i won it at just under $50.

stupid addictive ebay.

don't get me wrong. i dig it that much, feel that it was well worth it, can't wait to hang it up...but that ebay'll get ya, boy.

have a great
weekend!
todd

5 comments:

Brian said...

The true genius of ebay is that they know that american's love to win and that our competative nature is good for their bottom line.

And to think, it all started as a place to sell Pez dispensers.

todd said...

huh...
i thought it was barbies...?!

Brian said...

Actually Pierre Omidyar came up with the idea for an online auction site first, but it was the enthusiastic response to his then girlfriend's, now wife's, selling of her pez dispensers online that showed him the potential in our love of collectibles.

He told the story to ebay's first PR person and thus a myth was born, but a myth with some basis in fact as all good myths are.

todd said...

thank you, sir.
i am now duly informed.
: )

Brian said...

Fandom will forget all
about Hulk vs. Thor after
they get a whiff of

Big vs. Koj