Aug. 5 (UPI) — A North Carolina thrift store employee cleaning an antique print found a nearly 150-year-old marriage certificate hidden inside the frame — and the store is now hoping to return it to family members.
Pam Phelps, an employee at the Hope Chest Thrift Store in Bolivia, said she was cleaning an antique 1889 print of a painting depicting a small girl and a dog when she found something hidden in the back of the frame.
The concealed item was a marriage certificate issued in 1875 to groom William and bride Katey in Bordentown, N.J.
Karen Smith, executive director of Hope Harbor Home, the charity that runs the thrift shop, said the last name on the faded certificate is difficult to make out, but the group is hoping to find living relatives of the certificate so the family heirloom can be returned.
“We’re going to try. In fact, we’re trying now,” Phelps told WWAY-TV. “We’ve got it on Facebook, so, we’ve got the word out. If anybody has any idea or can help us at all, that would be great.”