Find of the week: Asparagus bunching tool

A really great, feel-good story happened at Gallery on Main today, giving us a new twist on "find of the week." A woman named Norma walked in the door and said she saw something that we had online for sale, and she points it out. It was mounted on the wall, and she says she wants to purchase it: It's an antique farming tool that bunches asparagus. Norma proceeds to tell us that her great, great grandfather — Elias R. Watts — invented it, patented it, and made it in his blacksmith shop in Keyport, New Jersey in 1887.

Norma was only aware of two that were ever made. One was with the Historical Society in Keyport, and one was at a museum in South Jersey that got wiped out during Hurricane Sandy, so that one she believed to be lost forever. She was doing research on Elias for genealogy purposes and stumbled across our listing of the item for sale in our Etsy shop. She found out our business address and drove to the Gallery to purchase and acquire it for the family. I have NEVER seen someone so happy to acquire a piece of family history before. We are sooo glad it is going the the right home and will be cherished. And Thank you to the Golden Nugget Flea Market dealer for finding it and selling it to us, so we could get it back "home!"

— Shaun Daley