Since the early 1900's the two bird's eye maple bureaus lived in their separate bedrooms in a Cape Cod summer house looking out on the ocean in Stonington, CT. They had a good life and enjoyed living through the years with five different generations of an old New England family. Each spring they looked forward to the return of the family, enjoyed them during the warm weather and saw them pack up and close up the house in the fall once it got too cold to be down there.
Their life by the ocean in the seaside community sadly came to an end in the late
1990's when the owner of the house sold it out from under them. They were shipped to Ann Arbor, MI, to live with the youngest generation for 3 years. They watched the husband study while attending law school while the wife was busy as a teacher. During their last year in MI, they were happy to see a little baby girl come into the family. She got a new IKEA bureau for her little pink clothes.
After law school graduation, they were packed up in the big Uhaul truck and moved to Park Slope in Brooklyn, NY. They settled into life in the Big City and were there for almost 3 years. Sadly their family moved to Moscow so they were moved back to CT but to stay with good friends.
Those friends are now selling their house and moving to England so the two antique bureaus came back to the family this past Sunday morning. Enroute to their destination, one of them had an accident as it toppled out of the back of the truck. The bureau's top came off and got pretty scratched up and the bottom of the bottom drawer came off. Fortunately all the pieces were recovered and put back in the truck. The injured bureau can be fixed by by a woodcrafter. Right now the bureaus are living in the cellar.
They think of all those years they lived at the beach and looked out on the big front yard, sandy beach and ocean. They hope they will go back to living with the Moscovites in a nice house when they return to the US in the future.
last time bidding
6 months ago
Nice story.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry about the one that fall off the truck.
I am sure that they are happy to be in your cellar.
Olga
It can be repaired. They are not happy in my dark, damp cellar. They loved living at the beach house and looking out on the ocean.
ReplyDeleteJust love antiques....my first money (when I was twelve!) was spent on antiques, and I have a houseful...some family items. I just hope that some of my children appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of antiques that shifted to my house from my parents' house. I grew up in a period colonial from the 1700's and my parents were big antique buffs.
ReplyDeleteAwww!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of my grandmother's items. She passed away the day before I left for Novosibirsk to meet AugustRose. I have a small handmade little bench, and several of her quilts. Not sure if they are antiques, but they do have a long family history. My little items were never at the beach. Mine were in a little Florida Cracker house in a tiny town in Northern Florida. They miss the warm weather!
I am glad you can have your item repaired. I am hoping at the shippers expense!!
And BTW, when is that lawyer and his teacher wife planning to come home?
Loved the story except for the sad ending! Hope you can find a good carpenter to repair the furniture. If you were closer I'd volunteer Bob.
ReplyDeleteI have my grandparents bird's eye maple bedroom set which they purchased "before the war" circa 1939. Per Martha Stewart's advice, I paste wax the pieces once a year, and they look pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMaple, in general, is not too popular now. I visited a consignment shop last week and maple was going for a song. It's lovely the bureau's have found their way back to you.
Lindy,
ReplyDeleteI love bird's eye maple with the patterns and shading.
I wish I had a guest room so that I could put them in there so they'd be "happy" and not in my cellar.
Family antiques are the best and the price is right.