After accounting for things properly attributable to such, the bulk of his personal possessions went to his sister, who expected to run through them for personal memorabilia and give the rest to charity. This included, she thought, one of the tattered rugs in his library that sat just beneath one of his favored leather reading chairs, a faded red and brown lined pattern escaping from beneath and disappearing underneath a larger area rug in the room.
Lo and behold, the rug turned out to be Navajo, and not just any Navajo creation. Upon consultation with an appraiser, it was determined to be a "second phase" rug dating from the mid to late 1800s. Slowly it dawned on her - this was no casual purchase, but one her brother must have brought back from a three month long sojourn he took in eastern Arizona in the late 1950s; apparently today it could be valued as highly as $20,000. She had never thought to note it and ask how he had come by it, and regrettably it was too late.
And to think in discussing the room we almost didn't bother to check, thinking the old leather chair itself might have been the thing to value!
BB
