Thursday, July 21, 2011

Antiques Are Gross!

Just finished cleaning up an antique double-seater school bench.  This was one of those items originally slated for the shop, but then I fell in love and decided to use it in our kitchen.


Love the wrought iron detail on this one . . . and if the stamp on the side is to be believed, it dates from 1887.


So as I'm cleaning the underside, I feel something stuck to one leg.  I take a peek: it's brown and oval-shaped.  A spider egg from those months in the garage?  Nope, couldn't be . . . it's way too hard.

I try to pry it off with my fingers.  And that's when I realize . . . what does every kid sneak in school?  And where does every kid plaster it when the teacher catches them with it?



That's right: GUM.  Calcified, fossilized, 100+ year-old chewing gum.  Eewwwwww.

I rushed inside to Purell my hands.  Hopefully whatever living organisms that gum harbored died a long, long time ago.

Happily, though, the bench turned out cute: