Alex and Laurel Acevedo with the painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey, complete with metal tag. —R. Scudder Smith photo
:Ask Alex Acevedo about dumpster diving and he can tell you all about it. In fact, he might tell you the following:
"Once upon a time there was a painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey, titled 'Twilight Rainy Day,' which I was lucky enough to purchase from a private collector and add to the inventory of Alexander Gallery, 942 Madison Avenue. One of the nice things about this work of art was that the frame came with a metal tag on the front that read 'J.F. Cropsey" and was further enhanced with two crosses, only adding to the authenticity and value of the painting.'
The frame turned out to be in rather poor condition, not worthy of the painting, and Alex had it replaced with a more suitable one. The tag was removed from the original frame, placed safely in a white envelope, and would soon be attached to the new frame where it belonged.
Time came for the Winter Antiques Show at the Park Avenue Armory and Alex lined up the Cropsey, along with some other treasures, to be presented in his booth. So off to the show for setup, with the envelope and tag ending up safely placed on a piece of furniture in the booth awaiting to be applied to the Cropsey, now newly framed. Where is the envelope, Alex wondered, when he returned to the booth. After checking with his wife, Laurel, it was finally determined that it had fallen on the floor, appeared to be just another empty envelope, and was swept away with the trash.
"I quickly ran to the front of the show to learn where the garbage was collected, and where it was stored before leaving the armory," Alex said. At the rear of the building, behind the last row of exhibitors, were the dumpsters, all seven of them in line, each overflowing with sacks of waste. "Into one of the dumpsters we went, not really dressed for such an activity, especially Laurel in her mink stole, and we soon realized that this was comparable to looking for the famous needle in a haystack," Alex said.
This couple, thrashing around in a dumpster, gradually attracted the attention of some of the workers at the armory and a few gathered around to watch. In desperation, and wanting to get out of the dumpster, Alex offered $1,000 to anyone who could find the envelope and tag. That drew some attention, but when he raised to stakes to $2,000, he got more interest. Knowing that it would be virtually impossible to find the envelope, he pushed the reward higher, to $5,000, and finally ended up at $10,000.
That is all it took for a team of four workers to get together and take on the challenge. "They worked out a system and went through each bag, dumpster to dumpster, a real time-consuming task, and damn if they didn't find it," Alex said. "And true to my word, I wrote out four checks, each for $2,500. However, one of the guys wanted to split it with a friend, so I took back his $2,500 check and wrote out two, each for $1,250."
The Cropsey went unsold at the Winter Antiques Show, and Alex did not raise the asking price of the painting from $600,000 to $610,000.
