Fumbling with multiple locks and a ring of too many keys, he finally got the doors open and led us through the neatly displayed, modest treasures.
The house is a bright, cozy place with eight small rooms jumbled together and filled with modest treasures — delft tiles, Chinese figurines, photographs of Yourcenar's and Frick's dogs.
That is the case with "Curios and Treasures," a modest yet serenely beautiful exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Yet in contrast to what happened in the 19th century and a good part of the 20th century, the current transfer abroad of Iraqi treasures is modest.
But many were people of modest means who clearly were treasured simply for their friendship.
The centrepiece was a modest glass case that displayed a treasure usually hidden in climate-controlled sanctity: the striped suit Harvey Milk was wearing when he was assassinated.
There is an impressive cellar wine library and lounge bar, with treasures which start at a modest level with top selected regional wines at friendly prices.
But he is the only one of his siblings with any interest in stamps, and he readily admitted that his own collecting ambitions were too modest to justify holding on to such a treasure.
Yet New York University continues to wage its war of distortion and desecration, in spite of the fact that an increasing number of people consider this modest house to be a cultural and historic treasure worthy of national landmark status.
From relatively modest beginnings, it has become a much-loved treasure, renowned for smart modern brasserie food – scallops with crispy pork belly, turbot with samphire and Jersey royals – and a lovely setting.
We knew no one here and moved into a four-room, very modest apartment in Brooklyn surrounded by all these wonderful family treasures and the machines.
