Whistler’s Metta Thomas knew he wouldn’t have much time with his father after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2018.
One night, Thomas sat at his ailing father’s bedside to play an antique bronze bowl that had been passed down through multiple generations of their family.
It ended up being the last moments they shared together.
“It’s just so heavy. I’ve lost so much sleep over the past couple of months. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night in this kind of panic, thinking, ‘Oh my god, the one thing in my life that I held as sacred and precious probably ended up being sold for $20, $30 at the Re-Use-It,’” Thomas said.
The “priceless” family heirloom, which was gifted to Thomas’ great-grandfather after it was uncovered in a 1946 archaeological excavation in Pakistan, wound up being sold at the Re-Use-It Centre several weeks ago, according to staff, with its new owner almost certainly unaware of its historical and sentimental value.
Adding to the heartbreak for Thomas is the fact the bowl was stored with a canvas zip-up case that contained his father’s ashes and was wrapped in one of his dad’s paisley 1970’s vintage shirts, although Thomas is unsure if those items were turned in to the Re-Use-It with the bowl.
“I’m sure if someone found these ashes, they probably discarded them,” he said, adding that his family had planned on spreading the ashes on the property where his father grew up this summer.
Commenting on Thomas’ July 29 post to the 32,000-member Whistler Summer Facebook group seeking help in tracking down the artefact, a Re-Use-It Centre employee wrote that she remembered seeing the bowl before it went onto the shelves.
“I can clear that up and assure you, it was taken to the Re-Use-It,” she wrote. “Because I remember seeing it about three weeks to a month ago. I held it in my hands before it was put on the sales floor.”
Lori Pyne, director of operations for the Whistler Community Services Society, which operates the Re-Use-It, said in an email that, with “thousands of pounds” a day in donations, “it is quite possible the artefact came through here, albeit there is no way to be absolutely sure,” adding that the store maintains confidentiality when dealing with community donations, making it next to impossible to determine who might have turned it in. (The employee who remembers seeing the bowl could not be reached for comment by press time.)
Just how the bowl ended up at the store is a similarly tangled web to unweave. A sound and visual technician for several different music festivals, Thomas was in a rush to catch his pre-pandemic flight to Costa Rica, where he remains, for its popular Envision Festival.
Initially, Thomas couldn’t remember if he had left the bowl in his off-the-grid cabin outside of Function Junction, something he was wary of doing for fear of it being stolen, or in storage at a Glacier Lodge restaurant where his friend worked. It wasn’t until another friend discovered the cabin had been broken into several weeks ago and thousands of dollars worth of equipment, musical instruments and clothes stolen that he assumed the antique was among the items.
But when the Re-Use-It employee informed him the bowl came through the store, Thomas was convinced he left it in storage, where, after his friend was unable to return to work due to the pandemic, he claims the restaurant’s owner donated all of his employee’s stored items to the shop.
“The reason I had this little mental glitch was just because I was undecided whether it would actually be safe [at the restaurant],” Thomas explained. “So I remember deliberating as to whether I should do it or not, but amidst the chaos of leaving town, there were two memories. One night before I was leaving town, I had intended on grabbing the bowl and taking it over there, but then something happened and [my friend] couldn’t meet up with me then so I left it in the cabin. Then the following night was when I actually had to get out of town. Now that I have spent enough time thinking about it, it was with me. I did take it to [to the restaurant].”
While Pique was unable to reach the restaurant’s owner, his girlfriend said in a phone call that she did not believe the bowl was donated to the shop, and suggested that the employee who remembers seeing it was mistaken. It is, of course, possible the bowl was stolen from the cabin and then turned in to the Re-Use-It.
However it ended up there, Thomas is hopeful its new owner will hear his message and return it—with a $1,000 reward for whoever does.
“It’s the one thing that I cherished if I have children in the future, the thought of passing it on,” he said. “My family is fairly laden with tragedy. Unfortunately, all the remnants of my past as far as my childhood coin collection, pictures, all the things from when I was a little kid, in one way or another, there were various unfortunate events that happened over the course of time that led to those items being lost. The only remaining one is that bowl.”
Anyone with information on the bowl’s whereabouts can email Thomas at metta@vusicmedia.com.
