IF AN ITALIAN FORGER OF MY ACQUAINTANCE HAD THIS FIREPLACE, HE WOULD SELL IT FOR INSANE SUMS OF MONEY, OBVIOUSLY PROPOSING IT AS BEING FROM THE “ANTIQUE PERIOD,” AND ADDING THAT HE HAD DISMANTLED IT IN AN “ARISTOCRATIC PALACE” OR IN AN ANCIENT CASTLE OF THE MEDICIS (OR THE GONZAGAS, THE FIRST ONES THAT COME TO HIS MIND, IN SHORT)!!!
THEN HE WOULD ADD THAT IT IS FROM THE 400'S (BUT NOT THE “400'S” MEANT AS 1400 , BUT RATHER THE 400'S ANTE CRISTHUM NATUM), OR HE WOULD SAY (IT HAPPENED, WHOEVER DOESN'T BELIEVE ME, GO READ THE RELEVANT ARTICLE IN THE MAGAZINE “CASANTICA”, PUBLISHER TRENTINI) THAT SAID SPLENDID FIREPLACE IS CERTAINLY ANTIQUE ... ETRUSCAN !!!
THE FACT IS THAT CERTAIN MANTELS (LET'S SAY FROM 1400 TO MID 1700 INCLUSIVE) JUST CAN'T BE FOUND, AS INDEED IS LOGICAL, GIVEN THAT CERTAIN MANSIONS ARE RIGHTLY PROTECTED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND GIVEN THAT, EVEN ASSUMING THAT CERTAIN HISTORIC HOUSES HAVE ESCAPED (BUT IT IS DIFFICULT, BELIEVE ME) MINISTERIAL CONSTRAINT, DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT THEIR OWNERS ARE SO STARVED AS TO COME TO THE POINT OF SELLING TO ME (OR ANY OTHER DEALER) FOR TWO LIRAS THE FIREPLACE OF THEIR ANCESTRAL CASTLE?!
HAVING SAID THAT, KNOW THAT, UNLESS YOU BELIEVE YOURSELF ANOINTED BY THE LORD, YOU WILL BE VERY HARD PRESSED TO FIND A RENAISSANCE-STYLE FIREPLACE (BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THIS MANTEL IS IN THIS STYLE) OLDER THAN THIS ONE, WHICH IS DATED ... ONLY..... BETWEEN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1700) AND THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY (1800).
IT COMES FROM THE SAN SEPOLCRO AREA, WE SHOW IT TO YOU BEFORE ITS DISASSEMBLY (TRY ASKING THE MANY SELLERS OF RENAISSANCE FIREPLACES IF THEY HAVE PICTURES OF THE FIREPLACES THEY PUT UP FOR SALE BEFORE THEY ARE DISASSEMBLED.. ), IT IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION (THE ONLY “DAMAGE” WAS DONE BY US WHEN WE DISASSEMBLED IT: A VERY SMALL PART OF ONE OF THE CAPITALS CAME OFF, AS SHOWN IN THE PUBLISHED PICTURES. BUT IT WILL BE VERY EASY TO PUT IT BACK IN ITS PLACE WITHOUT ANYONE NOTICING THE MISDEED...) AND IT WAS CARVED IN PIETRA SERENA.
ITS PRICE, THEN, AT LEAST COMPARED TO WHAT SOME FORGERS ARE ASKING AROUND (35,000 ON AVERAGE), IS REALLY OFFENSIVE FOR SO MUCH RARITY AND SO MUCH TUSCAN HISTORY.
JUST THINK THAT, FOR THE DISASSEMBLY ALONE AND BECAUSE OF ITS SIZE, YOU NEED AT LEAST 4 PEOPLE (STURDY ONES, EH..), AND THEN THERE ARE THE WALLS TO RESTORE, IN SHORT, A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MONEY IS SPENT JUST TO REMOVE IT FROM THE WALLS THAT HAVE HELD IT FOR ALMOST THREE CENTURIES..
I DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF THE LINEAGE TO WHICH THE COAT OF ARMS REFERS, BUT I DID SOME HERALDIC RESEARCH AND FOUND OUT SOME VERY INTERESTING (AND MOSTLY CERTAIN!!) THINGS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL FAMILY.. I KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THIS FAMILY NUMBERED AT LEAST TWO VERY HIGH PRELATES (FROM BISHOPS ON UP) AND THAT THE “LIVELIHOOD” OF THIS SAME LITTLE FAMILY WAS DUE TO THE PRACTICE OF LOAN SHARKING.... FIRM EVIDENCE, EH, WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU IF YOU COME TO SEE ME.
