Man I do like all the mantle pix. I love to old wood styles. I tried to find a old carved Bar back for our bar but did not realize how much they cost. Holy smokes they were pricey!
That's what's nuts.
These people come in and don't even try to salvage the stuff for resale. it's just old junk to them.
There was a decdae or so in the 90s here where developers were gutting houses of this type of stuff at the same time theives were breaking into occupied homes to steal mantels, windows, dor knobs, etc for buyers - presumably out of state.