1898 C. H. SPURGEON. Strange Artifact from Metropolitan Tabernacle Fire of 1898.

This is one of the oddest little curiosities we have ever handled. Its strangeness is not so much due to its mere existence. During the 19th century, an entire industry of "protestant icons" developed. One could buy Pilgrim's Progress bound in boards from the oak of the original Elstow church, a footstool made from the paneling from Jonathan Edwards' church in Northampton, slices of the tree in Africa under which David Livingstone was buried, etc,.

In that light, our strange little fellow makes sense. No problem. But it is the oddity and, frankly, the sheer ineptitude of the execution that seems almost inexplicable. 

In 1898, a fire broke out at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It was devastating, taking the building right down to the foundation aside from the neo-classical columns and portico in front. But the classic interior, the hallowed space where Spurgeon preached for decades, was in cinders. And the cost to rebuild was no less staggering, especially in a church still trying to find its bearings after Spurgeon's death in 1892.

So, apparently to raise funds, bits of wood that could be found were taken and made into . . . I'm guessing a mushroom [?] were made and probably sold or given for a certain donation amount. I suppose the other option is that some enterprising local dug through the rubbish and made these up in his backroom to sell to those who had come to visit the Tabernacle. I like that explanation better; it's easier to understand how this ended up just so patently bad. 

I just don't know how else to say it. This thing is a flop. The proportions lack any sense at all, the wood still has black coming off it with no effort made at consolidation, the wood on top is unfinished and crudely mounted [or remounted]. Perhaps the top is also a part of a banister that was not burned. It's difficult to know. The original label on top of whatever this is reads, " Metropolitan Tabernacle. Memento of the Great Fire. April 20, 1898." 

All that being said, one of the absolute quirkiest pieces of Spurgeonalia we have ever handled. And about all that remains of the original space Spurgeon preached in for so many years.