It is strange how age can change the meaning of things. We have an old antique farm table in our house that has been in our family for generations. I can still remember when my grandmother built it many years ago. Like most antique farm tables, it is a pretty rustic, rugged piece of work. My grandfather was a good craftsman, but he was not given to excessive ornamentation. When he would build antique furniture, it was simple, straightforward, strong, and functional. We lived out on the edge of the wilderness, so it was easy to get old, strong oak wood for building.
That antique farm table was made with a very country aesthetic. Everything in the farm would serve as many uses as possible. Real antique farm tables can be used for making and eating dinner, but you could also use them as work tables, or even as fire wood in a pinch. They are big, solid, and all but unbreakable.
When I moved into this new house with my family, it seemed like a shame to leave the antique farm table behind. We didn't have a lot of money, and it was made of good quality oak. We decided to use it as an antique dining room table. It was perfect for raising a family around. Because it was rugged, it was very difficult for the kids to damage. They could play on it, eat at it, and crawl around on it, and not damage a thing. Then one day, a friend of mine – a collector antique curio – came in.
He was absolutely flabbergasted when he saw that antique farm table. He told me that antique wood like that was worth a fortune if you could find the right collector. I never really thought of it as antique before that moment – I had simply thought of it as old. Nevertheless, he happen to know a guy who was a big collector of that sort of thing. He had bought and sold several antique farms, as well as hundreds of pieces of antique farm furniture. When he offered to buy it for several thousand dollars, I was absolutely flabbergasted! I had no idea it was worth so much, and if he had asked me even a year before. I would have sold it. Now that I was financially stable, however, I figured that a good table was worth more than money. After all, the memory of my grandfather was in that table.
|
