A heart attack in 1991 hastened things along. Too weak to work and flat broke, he began selling off his prized collection of antique hand tools at flea markets. It was during one of these forays in 1993 that he bought a chair bottom for a buck. Then he found an iron ring and a broken pickaxe and arranged the objects together.
The finished product, or “assemblage,” made him smile.
“I said: ‘Look at this. It looks like a Texas longhorn.’ ”
He meant it just to be an ornament for his truck and was gobsmacked when someone offered him 75 bucks for it — so much so he told the guy to get lost, repeatedly.
Justin told him it was junk. The prospective buyer, who turned out to be a serious collector, insisted it was art. In the end, cold cash settled the argument.