What is this??

Below I’ll give you all the clues I can come up with, but I’ve never seen anything like it before… Maybe it’s a one of a kind piece or maybe you’ve seen something like it before… Help me out, what is this??

The gal I bought it from told me her relative used to be in some sort of salvage business many years ago, and he got this from an old Tudor style house in Minneapolis that was going to be torn down. She said it was sitting out in the garden there, but had no idea what it was. Her salvaging relative gave it to her. She’s had it for several years in her garden, but was wanting a change, so listed it for sale on this site, where I found it, and got it for a small sum, so if it only ever sits here on our patio and looks pretty, forever unidentified, I don’t feel bad about the minor investment. 😉

Here’s the full wrought iron piece:

Isn’t it lovely? I love the curves and old iron details.

It’s very heavy…and just happens to fit perfectly on the brick ledge of our patio in front of an antique iron gate a previous owner of our 100 year old house mounted in the patio wall. (click here to see a little more of this brick patio tucked in back)

The details on this piece are quite lovely:

Like these sharply curved feet.

And the very old joinery confirms the old age of the piece:

On the lower section is a ‘shelf’ area, or so it looks to me. There is for sure a lip around it, I think intended to hold some sort of a shelf… perhaps a slab of marble?

Flanking each side of the front are tall multi level round shelves of some kind… perhaps plant holders?

I’m not positive about them being plant holders though, because most of the old plant holders I’ve seen have just rings for the pots to slip down in, like the two that are on the back of this piece… however, these round shelves that are mounted on this pair of front arms have bottoms around the rings… so maybe they were intended to hold something else besides a pot?

The details on the back with all the acanthus type leaf detail has what looks like more holes to hold something else:

Perhaps plant or candle holders or perhaps some more leaf or flower details.

There is one more at the bottom that is more flat shaped too:

Are you as perplexed as I am?

Or do you have a thought as to what this might be?

I’d love, love, love to hear from you… what is this??

As always, please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest the more the merrier!

I appreciate you stopping by.

One of my favorite places to link up is at Between Naps on the Porch. Susan has a great link party on Mondays. Another great party is The Scoop… with several blogs involved. Marty at A Stroll Thru Life has a wonderful knack with her link party… and decorating too.