With the garage sale excitement happening around here all the kids are getting into it. Honestly, I think the sale is going to be one of the biggest garage sales I’ve ever seen! Anyway over the weekend our son Buck was home to bring the goodies he wanted to sell. Part of his goods included this church pew.
It was just gorgeous! I wished I had room but it but I didn’t.
He was only asking $225 for it. I knew it would likely sell….I thought about the house and my space and no, there’s no room.
The bench has a slight curve to it. It’s so pretty. Even with the slight curve, it will still sit flat against a wall.
As the weekend went on the garage got fuller and fuller and fuller. Finally I asked if he would mind if I tried to sell in now on the local for sale group on Facebook. He didn’t mind but said he didn’t want to cut the price.
I put it on..and we got a buyer really quick.
The buyer picked it up on Sunday and we got more room in the garage. I was so happy.
Today I got a message from the buyer. She wanted to know if we knew the history of the bench. I contacted my son and this is what I learned. “I bought them from a guy near Nashua had 3 of them in his barn he planned on refinishing but never got to it. He said they from a local church and he got them at auction. The egg and dart trim was popular around the early 1900 s I’d guess before 1930.”
I also got this picture of what they originally looked like.
The benches were much longer. Buck cut them down so they would be a more usable size. He also had to do some work with the trim on the sides as some was beaten up. He refinished one and sold it. He did another and kept it. The third on was the one he sold here.
I wrote a note to the lady telling her what I knew. I closed the note with the sentence, “Don’t you wish antiques could talk?” I really do wish they could.
Sometimes I imagine their lives to be a little like Jessie in Toy Story 2…lulling away somewhere waiting for someone to love them again. I wish they could say-I hated my days at the antique store and the best day of my life was when you came a rescued me!
That’s all from me…I’m off to shine up a couple of antiques of mine. I would hate for their recorded time with me to say something like…and that lady in Waucoma, Iowa was awful…she NEVER dusted me!!
I have no room in my house for a church pew either, but I’d love to try and make room for one!
Ooooh, that is pretty! A friend of mine had a much simpler (more modern, but still retired) church pew along one side of her table. It was great for seating her six kids.
Oh yes, how I wish these antiques and quilts could talk. I have a curved church pew like that one too. It is 9′ long and it won’t fit just anywhere! So far in my 2 moves I’ve been able to find a spot for it. I love it! Mine came from a Methodist Church in Harwood MO.
The bench is beautiful! Buck did a great job re-finishing it. When we buy an item which is antique, we always wonder where it came from and where it has been. We love it when we can hear the story!
Hope you have a successful yard sale!
Take care.
My mother-in-law has a beautiful church pew. It used to be on her sun porch and provided a lot of seating. She has 5 children who have children and we can usually squeeze all of us around the lunch table!