Joy and especially relief for Rens Kuijten and his wife Henny from Nuenen. A Delft blue vase that his son accidentally gave away to the thrift store has been found again. The heirloom is now safely displayed next to a statue of Mary on the couple’s cupboard.
That ends the search. It started a week ago, when Rens and Henny visited their son Hans. He had received the thirty centimeter high vase, decorated with a floral pattern, from his parents a few years ago.
But when he redecorated his house, he no longer needed the porcelain and he brought it to Het Goed without consulting his father or mother. A small shock, says Rens. “That vase was an heirloom and belonged to his grandmother. We already had it when I was little.”
And so the thrift store immediately checked whether the vase could still be retrieved. Bad news: it turned out to have already been sold. And the buyer? It was unknown.
“For the time being, it will no longer go to the children.”
Reason enough to make an appeal in the newspaper. Especially because even the family’s old address was at the bottom of the vase. “Then we got a message from a woman saying she had it in her possession.” And in the meantime, the vase appears to have had another purpose. “That lady had bought it a week ago on Marktplaats, from someone who had already found it at the thrift store.”
The woman wanted to sell the vase back for a few tens of euros. And so it happened: “The vase was delivered on Tuesday, well wrapped. It is now on the cupboard, we are going to put flowers in it,” says Rens. “All’s well that ends well. And for the time being it won’t go to the children anymore.”
