A Small Treasure from the Antique Market

Open “sesame”!

Open Sesame!

Today I would like to share one of my favorite items from the "treasure hunts"

On my last visit to the antique market in Tuscany, I found this cute little stool; not very old, but it seemed perfect to use as a kitchen stool. So I asked my friend Lili, a dealer specializing in antique restoration, how much it would cost. She smiled and said, “Well, it is not just a stool; it has a little trick to it!”.

The top of the stool has a lid, and inside is a toolbox with a partition and a long, thin board in the center that flips down to the ground. Oh, this must be a stool for shoe polishing!

As shown, this little stool was an old shoe-shine stool!

I am attracted to old furniture and props that tell stories and histories of the usage/users and practical objects that can be used in daily life rather than antiques as decorative objects to be polished and admired. It is even more fun if there are little tricks to it. With this in mind, I immediately asked Lili to restore it by removing the surface paint, returning it to the original wood, and applying a coat of paint.

The finished product is shown below. The color blends well with the terra cotta floor in the entryway, transforming the beaten-up looking stool into a quite elegant look. To give it more complete “flavor”, Lili filled the inside with antique-style shoe polish supplies to put inside.

What I learned in Italy is the European mind that values old things makes history. If you give it a little makeover, old junk is still going strong, and for me, it's a treasure I can't buy anywhere else.

It is a culture of taking good care of old things and using them for a long time. I was awakened by this little stool.