The COOLEST yard sale find . . EVER!

I love yard sales, they are treasure troves of marvelous stuff. I am not a professional shopper, and only tote home useable or interesting vintage items that suit my fancy.

Today I purchased an item that I admired for it's sheer "uniqueness" and since I am a graphic artist, it spoke to me in other ways.

While looking at a pile of frames, I found a framed gravestone rubbing. You could tell the gravestone it came from was very old and English (written in middle english -- Chaucer style).

It was well framed and I thought it would look cool in my office. The old guy that had it said "I tried to read it but I don't understand most of the words". (Middle English contains a lot of odd spellings and the "u's" were printed as "v's")


So I read it to him:
In modern English, retaining the literary style it says:
Good friend, in Jesus sake forbear (forbear meaning refrain in modern times)
To dig the dust enclosed here
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
and cursed be he that moves my bones

He was like "that's cool, I didn't know what it meant" and said he really like the way it looked when he bought it at an auction awhile back.

I took it home, removed it from it's frame and cleaned the glass. The rubbing is done in black crayon which in 1962 was most likely the preferred medium . . it flakes slighty when you scrape it with your fingernail. Wedging it tight into the frame were old pieces of rolled up newspapers (dated 1963)

On the back, in pencil is a note that says: "Grave Stone Rubbing" Edwina Powell did this rubbing all morning in the winter of 1962 at cemtary [sic] near Westminster Abby"

The saying on the rubbing nagged at me all the way home, so I started looking for pictures of gravestones at Westminster Abbey to see if by chance there was a photo . . no luck. So, on a whim, I typed in the last line on the rubbing and BINGO!! I found it at Trinity Chapel NEAR Westminster Abbey!

And . . here's the bonus part . . . this rubbing is of the gravestone of none other than William Shakespeare who died April 23, 1616 at his home in Stratford Upon Avon.

How flippen' cool is that?

I paid $2.00 for it . . . my favorite yard sale . . . so far