If Antiques Could Talk: The Story of Tomášek, the Exbor Brook Trout

This is the story—the provenance—of a fabulous fish named Tomášek and his recent journey from Ancestral Antiques to his new forever home. A brook trout, Tomášek was born in the fall of 1958 near the sparkling rivers of Nový Bor—a town in Czechoslovakia famous for its glassmaking and the renowned Exbor glassworks. To be fair, Tomášek wasn’t your average fish; he was a shiny, hand-crafted creation with the kind of shimmer that left even the fanciest carp starstruck.

Tomášek was a curious fish—curious about the world, about history, and mostly about what life was like outside the glassworks (and if it involved better snacks). Through a series of extremely unlikely and mildly confusing events, he found himself far from his European home.

Tomášek had always heard about a magical place called Manhattan—a city so shiny and sparkling it could rival his own luminous scales. He pictured himself gliding past glimmering skyscrapers, dazzling lights, and maybe even getting his own Broadway show (“Trout! The Musical”). But before he knew it, he found himself in Manhattan…Kansas. Not quite the Manhattan of his dreams. Instead of dazzling city lights, the brightest thing around was a sunflower with an attitude. Still, he quickly took pride of place and settled in with a lovely family whose last name was Bellman. Life in Kansas was odd but delightful—Tomášek heard tales of tornadoes, wheat, and why humans put ketchup on everything.

When the Bellmans moved to Florida to be nearer to their son, John, and his wife Karen, Tomášek happily traded wheat fields for sandy shores, where he quickly decided sunscreen was overrated for fish.

But Tomášek wasn’t done traveling—he was a fish of ambition! Next stop: Oklahoma, to Karen’s sister Denise, where he somehow ended up the star attraction on AncestralAntiques.com. Tomášek became internet-famous, which, for a trout, meant he was finally more popular than most goldfish.

One day, a kind man from Norway—coincidentally, the homeland of Karen and Denise’s ancestors—spotted Tomášek online and immediately knew he needed to “catch” this globe-trotting trout—not with a fishing rod, but with his credit card—as a gift for his brother. With the spirit of a true fisherman (and a bit of online shopping prowess), he reeled in Tomášek, who is now on his way to the buyer’s brother that lives in Norman, Oklahoma, who will then be delivering it to their other brother in…wait for it…Florida.

Are your flippers spinning yet, because Tomášek says his fins are!

For Tomášek, it was déjà vu with extra seasoning—he was a fish that had traveled more miles than most travel influencers, and yet here he was, circling back to Florida like he’d forgotten his sunglasses. If he could slap his fin against his tail, he’d do it out of disbelief. Thus, Tomášek’s wild adventure came full circle, all without so much as a drop of water (or a decent beach selfie).

Oh, the stories Tomášek the trout could tell—from the rivers of Czechoslovakia to the sunflowers of Kansas, Florida’s sandy flip-flops, antique websites in Oklahoma, and a Norwegian shopping spree. Not bad for a fish who started out just hoping not to be someone’s dinner.