HOUSE The Yard Sale Find of the Century

Can I tell you a tale?

A story that begins with this yard sale find.

I found it in Sandwich when I was yard saling at the Cape. I gasped when I saw it. I had no idea what it was or where it came from. But I didn’t care.

It looked like it needed a home.

It looked like it was once part of something beautiful and majestic.

It looked like it came over on a boat from England in the 1800s to decorate the house of someone whose last name rhymes with Splandervelt.

The Gilded Age called and they want this vintage piece back.

I just knew that I knew that I knew that it was going to be expensive and unaffordable and out of my reach and completely and utterly unattainable.

And then?

I looked at the price tag.

$20.

And that was before I started bargaining.

This piece came home with me (along with three other amazing finds) but now I need your help. First of all, I need to figure out what it is and then I need to tell you what I’m going to do with it.

Here’s what the entire piece looks like.

I couldn’t believe when I walked up to the yard sale and saw something I never knew that I needed sitting there.

Raise your hand if those words made your heart beat faster. See–that’s the thing about yard sales–you never know what you’ll find.

Sometimes there’s a bargain.

And sometimes not so much.

And sometimes you go and you find a random piece that you aren’t even sure what it is and you discover it used to be a balloon mold and you bring it home and hang it on the wall as artwork.

Total bargain jackpot.

The entire piece is about 36″ long.

It looks like it used to be in some sort of box and there’s this label on the back.

The knobs on the front pull in and out so maybe it’s some kind of musical instrument? My first thought was that maybe it was the front of an organ? Or maybe an old radio front? Or maybe some sort of telegraph instrument?

The front of it has these beautiful gold letters that say, Daniel F. Beatty, Washington New Jersey.

And here’s a close-up of the knobs.

I’ve searched online and I keep coming up short.

If you have ever seen one of these before, I will be your very best friend if you can let me know what it is and what it’s used for.

And now?

Guess what I’m going to do with it?

(total aside: if anyone thinks up anything brilliant, too, I am TOTALLY up for a discussion about it).

But the current plan?

I’m going to add corbels to the bottom of it to create a shelf for the butler’s pantry and store my vases on it. Then I’m going to pull the knobs forward—they move out more—to create hooks for keys.

So it ends up being a shelf and key and vase holder.

Fingers crossed it ends up as amazing as I see it in my brain.