Hi,
My grandfather died recently and we've been clearing through his belongings. We found the piece of wood shown in the attached photo in his garden shed - it's really beautifully carved and intricate (the photo doesn't really do it justice). It's about a foot wide and in surprisingly good condition considering how it's been stored for the last few decades! The workmanship is finer than the photo suggests, and the design is really very beautiful indeed. There is also a bottom piece which has come away but is identical to the top part of the main carving.
This is obviously a long shot, but I was just wondering if anyone's seen anything like this before. We're not sure what it would have been meant for. My grandfather and his father were both carpenters, but as far as I'm aware they did your standard furniture/house building and didn't produce craftsman's pieces like this. There is one exciting possibility - we know that my Granddad's father worked as a carpenter in Ireland in the early 1910s and helped build the grand staircase in the RMS Titanic. I expect it's probably impossible to say now with any certainty, but is there any chance this piece of carving may have been meant for the Titanic?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
