Not Meant To Be

I have been an admirer of Clyde Butcher's photography (http://www.clydebutcher.com/) since I first saw his photos of the ghost orchid and the Facahatchee Swamp in the Florida Everglades at the Cleveland Botannical Garden's annual orchid show years ago. At that time, his haunting photographs were expensive but not entirely out of reach, but I just could not allow myself to indulge in one. Too frivolous. And, since that time, I have followed his work, ordered his yearly calendars and kicked myself for not purchasing a work. His photos have only gone up in value. He is considered the Ansel Adams of this century. I read The Orchid Thief by Susan Orleans and eventually ended up living in Clyde's backyard, so to speak. All signs were pointing to me to own one of his works.

So I put a "search" on eBay and for the past maybe five years, have looked at every Clyde Butcher item that has come up for auction. Finally, an early work of his which is color (which he did before his son was killed in an auto accident) came up and I took the leap and bid and won the auction.

I waited excitedly for the UPS delivery truck to arrive and toted the awkward and heavy box upstairs. After carefully cutting the box open and laying the bubble wrap enclosed print on the dining room table, I unwrapped to view my prize.

What! The glass had broken in shipment. The print, which is #10 of 25o, had a huge scratch across the middle. I couldn't believe it. I contacted the seller immediately and he was terribly upset, even to the point of offering me works from his private collection to purchase at a discount. But I wanted that particular print. Now I await the UPS claims agent and will apparently have my money refunded and a piece of history is gone. It was not meant to be. I feel bad about it. If you want to see what I was going to own, go to Clyde's website and look up Estero Island. But I was going to own a pre-1985 rare color version. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I will have to keep searching.