What happened to Mom's chair?

    Several weeks ago, I bought a lovely needle-point chair at the auction. It was a nicely sized 'sitting room' chair, with  dark green fabric, a neatly stitched floral vine design on the seat and back that complemented the mahogany legs and arms. Across the back was stitched the name and date of the person who had obviously spent many hours on the project.

   I had looked at the chair just prior to the auction beginning and determined  it was in excellent condition, no pulls in the material or stitching and no scratches on the woodwork. Real solid. It was the type of item I generally do not buy, but if the price were right...

   The chair did not get a great amount of attention, much to my surprise, and I was pleased as I placed it carefully in my car. I thought I could either sell it or swap it out for one at home. It was very nicely done, but the last thing I needed was another antique chair around the house, something my kids keep reminding me of quite often. “Dad!. What's going to happen to all this stuff when you and mom are gone?” (Am I going somewhere?)

   The chair sat in the corner of the room for a few days and I finally decided to sell it and put it in one of my booths at the antique mall. Perhaps someone else would enjoy its beauty and if it didn't sell within a few weeks, I could always bring it back home.

   The chair looked very handsome in among the other pieces of furniture that were for sale. I put, what I thought, was a reasonable price on it and headed home. I returned two days later, only to discover that the chair had been sold. Two days mind you! But here is the interesting part of the story.

   The person who bought the chair was the son of the lady who had restored it and spent hours and hours on the needlework. He was unaware  someone  in the family had sent the chair, along with some other furniture, off to the auction to be sold. But remembering the wishes of his mother, he and several other siblings had understood that the chair was to remain 'in the family' . Without hesitation, he purchased the chair and returned it to its 'rightful home'. That chair had far greater  'family value' than any price tag I could have put on it and this story did have a happy ending. But sometimes that is not always the case. 

   Auctions, antique shops and yard sales can be very interesting places to browse and can reveal a great deal about “families.” Each week, with regularity , there are pieces of furniture, jewelry, glassware and china and pictures, often hundreds of family picture and albums that are sold to someone looking for a buy, when in reality, perhaps the intent was that the items  remain in the family and passed down through the generations. Did grandpa intend to have his oldest grandson get his favorite gold engraved pocket watch?  Did anyone in the family know that was grandpa's wish?

   Tucked away in the bottom of a cardboard box where several very old, autograph albums. For those not familiar, autograph albums were 'pre- facebook' in which people would share their secret thoughts and ideas, sometimes only for personal reading or, on occasion, to be shared with only the closest friends. In several of these albums were entries dating back as early as the 1830's. I am not sure the writer ever expected his or her personal thoughts and ideas would ever be shared with the rest of the world, but these old, musty and well worn pages have created a great deal of interest for others who collect written history and memoirs. Famous people? Probably not. But were the thoughts, ideas and secrets on these pages meant to go public  almost 200 years later?

   Over the years, as my parents got older, they began to downsize, getting rid of things they didn't need or want any more. (I am sure my children hope I do the same, downsize, that is.) Some  have been  passed along to me, some to the grandchildren and some to the auction every once and awhile. My mother still has several lists of items she kept that were important to her and my father and the lists indicate  her wishes in terms of who and where they should go upon her passing. 
   For my family, it's pretty simple. The family tree doesn't have many branches and while I have joked about the lists in the past, I think I am beginning to understand their importance and the need for some planning. Whether large families or small ones, I think I understand how a beautiful needle point chair might end up at a place where it was not intended, and if it had not been by chance, a son walking by an antique booth at the mall, who knows where the chair might have ended up.

   But, I guess it's time to start planning and downsize. So... for the sake of my kids....would anyone like a couple of pairs of slightly used cuff links and a few old tie clasps.? (At this rate, this could take a while.)