Small world coincidence.

[Kelly]

This is a long story that I will try to cut short. For my entire career I worked for a board of 7 people. Each year at Christmas, for about 18 years, I made small boxes for each as a personal thank you. I always included a card thanking them for their support, the kind of wood it was, and “ Christmas, 19—.”
Over the years, those individuals have changed, some deceased.
Last week, I visited a massive collection of antiques, artifacts and memorabilia.. While browsing. I noticed a small wedge and maple box that looked familiar. I passed it twice before I asked him about it. He grinned and said he wondered if I would notice it. He bought it at another antique shop to house a very special collectible car. I carefully opened it and, sure enough, inside was the card inscribed “ Dear John, I made this box of wedge and spalted maple. Thanks for your support and friendship.this past year, Kelly. Christmas 1999”
I got a little chill, It was for a man who had passed away 15 years ago with no children. I guess this was sold as a part of his estate.
It is a small world.

 

[malacoda]

Very cool story. It is indeed amazing how small the world can be sometimes.

 

[Oka]

It is a small world, awesome experience

 

[ScottM]

Did you buy it back?

 

[bob vaughan]

I've sort of had that happen but not quite so elegantly. A friend showed me a turning I'd made years back and given as a gift. He got it at Goodwill

 

[Mike Davis]

I had a lady bring in a stained glass panel and asked me to make a nice frame for it. I looked it over and asked if she would like the broken piece replaced while it was in the shop.

“Oh! No! This is a valuable antique and it shouldn’t be altered”

I reached under the table and found the pattern from where I made it…

 

[Mike Davis]

It is important to sign your work for many reasons. The signature on a piece of furniture is called a maker's mark.
When we first got married we had very little and my wife wanted a new dining table. There was a big fad at the time for a sort of country table that had fold down pieces the length of each side and painted legs. She really liked the sage green.
Well, the tables sold for $250 and we just didn't have it, so I said I could build it for about $30 and got started on it. That was when I cut the tapered table legs on the radial arm saw since that was all I had. Her father had given it to me since he never used it. That was a very dangerous and scary thing to do and I certainly don't recommend it.
So, I made the table and she loved it. Until the fad faded.
A guy at work had a nice oak table with the standard factory spray lacquer finish and his kids had set glasses of ice tea all over it so the finish had flaked off and he wanted to sell it for $40. I bought it, scraped off the rest of the lacquer with a card scraper, and polyurethaned it. We still have it 30 years later and the finish is still good.
Now you are wondering what all this has to do with a maker's mark, I'm getting there...
I sold the table I made to a flea market near our home for what the material cost me.
We had an old friend who cut hair in his basement shop downtown in a nice older neighborhood. He also sold antiques in his little hair cutting shop. One day we both went to get haircuts and there sat my $30 table with a $300 price tag on it. I complimented his good taste in fine antiques and asked if I could look under the table. When I got it turned over I said hey come look here. There in one corner was my signature and the date of three years earlier.

 

[junquecol]

It is important to sign your work for many reasons.
We had an old friend who cut hair in his basement shop downtown in a nice older neighborhood. He also sold antiques in his little hair cutting shop. One day we both went to get haircuts and there sat my $30 table with a $300 price tag on it. I complimented his good taste in fine antiques and asked if I could look under the table. When I got it turned over I said hey come look here. There in one corner was my signature and the date of three years earlier.

Antiques made while you wait.

 

[Mike Davis]

Antiques made while you wait.

That was the sign I made for my shop in Tuscaloosa.

 

[Mike Davis]

One more and I’ll quit for now…
I had a friend from Nashville that came to Tuscaloosa to work with me for a while.
His girlfriend Debbie helped in the shop some too. He made a nice little window framed stained glass panel for her that was very distinctive.

Years later I drove a friend to see her brother in Nashville and as we drove into the parking lot I spotted that stained glass in one of the apartment windows. The next morning I went over and knocked on the door and a young lady answered the door. I stammered… I uh.. I saw the glass and thought maybe Debbie lived here…

Oh, yeah. She’s still asleep, come back in a couple hours.

It was good to see her and catch up on all our friends.

 

[walnutjerry]

I've sort of had that happen but not quite so elegantly. A friend showed me a turning I'd made years back and given as a gift. He got it at Goodwill

I had a similar experience. I got a phone call from Arizona one day and the guy had a reproduction Moravian lantern I had sold at a craft show somewhere. Funny thing is he did not know what it was but he liked it ----he found it at a thrift store there in Arizona. He did understand what it was after I explained it to him. I had glued a business card on the bottom is how he got contact information. Have no idea how it got to Arizona, I never did a show any further west than Berea, Ky.

 

[junquecol]

Not woodworking, but in early nineties we went to Mall of America on spring break. Go into an outlet store and they had racks of Garner Trojan Baseball jackets. Garner is less than 30 minutes from the house.