A hand-carved throne has been in a local paper's classifieds for 6 years. Someone finally bought it

On Feb. 8, 2013, an unusual "for sale" noticeappeared in theclassifieds section of the Prince George Citizen.

"HAND Carved Throne. $5000 firm," it read.

It stayed therefor the next six years.

The daily paper was, at the time, running a promotion in which "for sale" ads ran indefinitely until a buyer was found. The price dropped, butthe ad kept running. It becamea piece of community lore until last week, whenit was finally purchased by a local pub.

"It's been a part of Prince George for so long,"BX Pub owner Justin Mousseausaid of his motivation for making the purchase, which was finalized on May 4.

"You get up. You let the dogout. You get a paper, you make sure thethrone is still for sale."

Mousseausays he heard customers talkabout the throne one or two times a week, along with rumours aboutwhere it might have come from. Finally, at the suggestion of his wife, he bought it in part so he wouldn't have to keep hearing about it.

"Enough is enough," he said, laughing.

'Absolutely breathtaking'

The ad for what is actually a hand-carved 20th century replica was placed by Larry Johnson.

He bought it at an antiques show in Prince George "17 or 20 years ago" after being struck by its intricate designs, he said.

"I took one look and I thought, 'Oh my god, I've got tohave this chair," he said. "I do woodwork and carving the artwork on it is just incredible."

However, keeping the oversized piece of furniture in his 900-square-foot home wasn't practical,so Johnsonput it up for sale.

He would get two or three calls a year, but no one wasinterested in paying what he felt the throne was worth. Eventually, he dropped the price to $1,000. Hewouldn't go lower than that.

Mousseau agreeswith Johnson's assessment of the chair's beautysomething not captured in the small black-and-white photo in the classifieds.

"It looks way better than I would have thought," Mousseau said. "It's absolutely breathtaking."

Available for birthdays

Mousseau said he's receivingdozens of messages from people who wantto know if he really claimedthe famousthrone. Johnson, and Citizenclassifieds supervisor Derek Springallhave been fielding curious calls as well.

"The first call I got Monday morning was 'I heard a rumour, did that throne sell?'" Springall said.

The ad hasprompted plenty of conversations over the years, he said.Some were fromcustomers threatening to cancel their subscription if it continued to appear. In 2018, an angry letter writer suggested a crowd-funding campaign to buy and burn the throne so readers could stop looking at it.

At its new home at the BX pub, the throne will be available as part of a birthday package.

Mousseau said he's glad to be preserving a piece of Prince George lore, and Johnson said while his living room now feels "a little empty,"he's glad more people will be able to see the throne he fell in love with years ago.

"Everybody gets a chance to go down and take a look," he said.

And for fans of unusual classifieds, Johnson has another item he'll put in The Citizenif they ever run the same promotion: a hand-carved birdcage that looks like the Taj Mahal.

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