Want to relive the excitement of the California Gold Rush of the mid-19th century? Or the grandeur of the Victorian era? If your answer is ‘Yes’, try installing an antique sink in your kitchen and reflect on the glorious past of your ancestors while you eat.

Getting an authentic antique or vintage kitchen sink is not going to be easy. The kitchen sink from the pages of the history book has likely developed cracks or crevices and the one you are lucky enough to find may not have the necessary accessories, such as faucets, to make it work in today’s kitchen.

Kitchen sinks in the mid-19th or early 20th century were made of marble, porcelain, fireclay, or copper. Most of them came from continental Europe: France and Italy.

Kitchen sinks from the early 20th century are quite difficult to find in original usable condition. This helps drive up the price.

To take an example, a classic 1900 model marble sink, manufactured in Chicago by Wolff Mfg. Co, which Los Angeles-based Vintage Plumbing has put up for sale, has a 4-foot-tall heavy French plate beveled mirror backsplash. It has the complete original faucet hardware and complete supply and drain hardware under the sink. It has nickel-plated brass cabriolet legs and a soap dish carved into the slab with drains in the basin. The store has appraised it at $8,900.

According to Vintage Plumbing, kitchen sinks from the 1920s and 1930s are very popular with customers, so they have a pretty good stock of them. The store features vintage farmhouse kitchen sinks made by Kohler’s, Standard Sanitary Mfg Co, as well as Wolff Mfg. Co. However, the store admits that sinks in good condition are hard to find.