The Soapstone Chess Set

At last, our very own Antique Roadshow experience. John bought this chess set in the 70's from a roadside stall in Zimbabwe for a few dollars. He'd left it behind in South Africa at his parent's home when we emigrated. When his parents emigrated to Canada, they brought it with them and then returned it to us when they visited us. That was in May, 1993.

It was sitting in this Eggo Waffle box in the closet for all these years. Neither of us wanted it so I had this grand idea to donate it to our local zoo. They have an 'Africa' exhibit that has an Indiana Jones style tent. I thought it would look just great in that tent as a prop. I emailed pictures of the set to them and explained what I thought they could do with it. Gayle, from the zoo, replied and turned down the offer to have it in the tent, but asked if we would consider donating it for their 'Safari under the Starts' fundraiser. It would be an item for the silent auction. It was a fundraiser for the rich. Tickets were $150 each.

What an even better idea! I pledged it right away. I offered to re-package the set to make it look more attractive. I bought a lovely box and a sheet of foam and had a lot of fun trying to get the pieces to fit in the box in their comfy foam bed.

I did some research to find out it's value for auction and tax purposes. It appeared to be a Rhodesian handcarved soapstone chess set, probably by the Shona tribe. I couldn't find anything like it on Ebay. Websites that sold chess sets didn't have them either. I finally happened on this site and found an almost identical set. I emailed the site owner and he very kindly responded and told me that he had bought his set in 2003 for $550 and it had one piece missing. Gulp!

No, we did not renege on our pledge. That would not be the honorable thing to do. And we don't have any regrets at all. Besides, the donation will be tax deductible. The set auctioned for $400. We were very glad to hear that. I hope that person is enjoying the set.

And by the way, Gayle is a man.

Methinks this is a Bench

A stack of construction trash - bits of wood, 2X4 planks, molding, ribar, siding, shelving and plywood lay under the workbench in our garage. All came with the house and probably left over from the original owner. In the spirit of trying to use up whatever I could instead of filling up the landfill, I attached this 2X8 decking plank to the fence and built myself a bench. To anyone who is taller or bigger than myself, it is a plant shelf.

I enjoy sitting there. A cool breeze always seems to blow through the fence. It is situated under the branches of my neighbour's oak tree, so it's the closest I'll ever get to 'sitting under the tree in my garden'.