Book quietly holds £41,000 surprise for 46 years, then delivers!
Somewhere in Norwich, a 1980 copy of David Hockney's Paper Pools sat patiently on a Salvation Army shelf for a YEAR, holding its breath, keeping its secret. And then volunteer Jemma Banks — a local artist, because the universe loves casting — thumbed through it and found an original signed Hockney print, fresh as the day it left the press. Forty-six years of waiting for exactly the right hands!
And what hands! Jemma called it 'a privilege' just to HOLD it. That's the correct response to surprise art, and we're framing it.
The auction on the charity's eBay page ended at £41,160 from an anonymous bidder described as 'delighted' — a word we'd like to see in more financial reporting. Every pound goes to people in the community who need it most. The book gave, the volunteer found, the bidder delighted, the community wins. A perfect machine with no losing parts!
Check your bookshelves tonight, friends. Statistically, most books contain only words — but SOME contain swimming pools! Another gift!