I have said it before, that I am not above digging through someone's trash to find the treasure. This was the case yesterday. And I am continually amazed at what people throw away. Amazed!
Wednesdays are trash days in our neighborhood. So, on those days it is our practice to drive down different streets of our neighborhood on the ways to and from the boys preschool. 45th Avenue on the way to preschool, 46th and 47th and 48th on the way back. Wyatt usually falls asleep somewhere in between. I drive down each street slowly. And at the intersections, looking down each of the cross streets. Our trash truck comes by early, but the recycling truck and the bulk pickup truck does not come buy until almost 11 a.m. so the trash is gone by this time and only the piles that I might be interested in are left, so it is easy to glance down the whole street to see if there is a pile of stuff left. Yes, there is a whole strategy to my junk madness. Madness I tell you. But when you see what I scored today, answer me if you think it is madness. Or genius?
On 46th street, there was a little yellow house that had a huge pile of "stuff" out in front. A man came out while I was going through things and said that his mother had passed away and he was trying to get the house cleaned up and ready to sell. At the bottom of the pile of carpet and rusty dish drainers (there were 4 of them), and broken lamps galore was this.
We have not had a coffee table in years, since the older two boys were learning to walk and then jump off of things. It was just easier to take the coffee table out and have more room for playing in the floor. And in the VA house, we will be needing one that is long and skinny and not so square for in front of the fireplace. Oh, and look at this part of it.
Underneath the table, there are rails that hold three of these matching little three-legged stools. The stools slide right underneath the table and come out for extra seating when you need them.
All in amazing condition. Now, I know how three-legged stools can be so I am thinking that the boys can use the stools as little tables. And if they become a real problem then they just might have to put up for awhile.
S and I spent yesterday evening looking up the mark on the bottom. It is really worn, but we did a rubbing to find out it says Contant Ball Furniture. So we started an online investigation and found this from Ebay saying that Russell Wright and Leslie Diamond both designed for Conant Ball during the 1930's and 1940's. Folks over at genealogy.com are also trying to locate information on the Conant Ball Furniture Company. Well, after several hours, we still don't know much more than before. I did find this guy who claims to be a furniture detective. I have sent him links to the photos of the table and stools, so hopefully he can give us some more information. Whether it is worth $10 or $1000, we will happily use it. After all, it has to be worth more than I paid for it, right?
To see some other treasures rescued from the trrash truck you can check out this flickr group where participants subscribe to the theory that "trash is a lack of imagination". And I would add, some things that people put out for the trash can be attributed to just plain laziness...too lazy to try to find someone else who could use the item and too lazy to take it to the local resell store. It is sad when you really think about it.