Victorian Junk

Once upon a time... around 1870, a great walnut Renaissance revival sideboard proudly graced a magnificent home. It stood nine feet high and was a masterwork of construction. One would have to look skyward to enjoy the intricate finial that topped this enormous prehistoric beast. Who knows its history so long lost in time? I only know that in 1984, well over 100 years later I found it. It was in a big basement with a dirt floor and the marble was long gone. The cabinet base itself was being literally reclaimed by the earth in payment for the walnut trees that man plucked to spawn its birth. A victim of hungry termites, it was a sad excuse with only hints of its former glory. The sheer weight of the piece caused its crumbling termite eaten base to disintegrate so it looked like it was being sucked into the earth, the cupboard was actually a foot shorter and leaned precariously to one side, a good kick and it would have fallen over.

The backboard, over five feet high, was mainly intact. Termites did chew some of the bottom away but must have gotten tired of it, the termites were long gone. It lay in a musty basement for how long as mold formed on its applied decorations and in 1984 I found it, a dinosaur with little left than fossilized bones.

Still, I looked at it and thought; the cabochon on the finial looks really a lot like the one on our sofa set and wouldn't it look splendid if we just hung it above the sofa!. I handed the owner $50 and myself and 3 other guys lifted the backboard on top of my 82 Volvo wagon and I drove her home thinking what kind of fool am I doing this?

I was new to victorian furniture and I had this giant worthless piece of junk and I took a screwdriver to it and disassembled it. One termite chewed bottom board went right in the garbage and I was left with a pile of interesting elements: A cigar box full of wonderfully shaped applied ornaments, Two lovely fluted side rails with tassel and rope decoration, a very nice shaped shelf of impressive size and the huge finial which is 18 by 18 inches and a huge chunk of walnut it is!

Well, I have a nice pile of old walnut I can use for restoring a lost bit of decoration on something I buy someday. I have some great carvings that I may someday use to restore a missing one on some piece of furniture I buy. That shelf and side rails will make a super radiator cover for the long low radiator in the living room and the top finial, with a little cleaning and a new coat of finish will make a super nice shelf above our Renaissance sofa if we turn the finial upside down!

Why am I typing all this here? I think it?s a nice story, especially for newcomers to this web site. This was 20 years ago and my wife and I have become a lot more savvy when it comes to Victorian furniture. We have acquired some wonderful pieces over the years and have filled our home with beauty and joy. Maybe it?s just the sentimentality of age, but in my mind I love the old piece of junk I salvaged as much as ever. This is not about whether or not to refinish, this piece of furniture was long gone when I found it. Still, I look at it and admire it almost on a daily basis. I can imagine its burled, circular, cyclopean cabochon eye watching over our home in mute thanks for keeping its spirit alive.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/zekenstein/shelf-1.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/zekenstein/Crest1.jpg

One mans junk is another mans treasure.

"One mans junk is another mans treasure"

Very true...

My first restoration project was a refinish to a Victrola circa 1915 when I was 18 years of age. That was about 37 years ago.  I paid $50 for the piece at that time and it is worth about the same today if you factor in inflation.  My daughter beat on the lid with a metal object when she was a small child and it still bears the scars from that event.

Today my home is filled top to bottom with High Style Victorian furniture, yet I would sell every piece that I own before I would part with that Victrola.

Take Care,

Michael