He haunted flea markets in Oakland and found quilts at the stall of Rosie Lee Tompkins. Eventually, she let on that they were her work. “He began to buy whatever she would sell him while also buying from other members of a large community of African-American quilt makers in the Oakland area. Over 30 years he accrued a collection of around 3,500 quilts, including some 200 by Ms. Tompkins. (With his death, how that collection will be disposed of is not yet known.)”