Watch: Heirloom carving returned to family thanks to social media search

May 14 (UPI) -- A New York woman was reunited with a precious piece of family artwork thanks to a Facebook post that was shared hundreds of times.

Celia Bashaw of Plattsburgh said the piece, a wood carving of a leopard resting on a tree branch, was hand-carved by her uncle, Charles Perkins, in 1980.

Bashaw said the carving was beloved by her mother, and she started to think about it again after her mother's recent death.

"I have been searching for this, and even dreaming of it," she wrote in a Facebook post.

Bashaw said the heirloom was accidentally sold when her grandmother's Burlington, Vt., house was cleared out several years ago.

"It was lost a really long time ago," Bashaw told WCAX-TV. "It was lost when my mom was still alive, so she was also looking for it."

Bashaw's Facebook post, which she put into multiple Vermont-area groups, featured photos of the artwork in the hopes that someone would recognize it.

"I desperately want to keep this in my family," she wrote.

The post was shared hundreds of times, eventually coming to the attention of Chris McKirryher and Phil Matte.

"I finally got a message from this man. And he's like, 'Hey, it's so funny that you posted that because we have one just like it,'" Bashaw said.

McKirryher and Matte, who live in Rutland, N.Y., said they bought the artwork a few years ago at a moving sale in Pittsford, Vt.

The couple said they were happy to be able to help reunite Bashaw with the carving.

"With all the bad news and everything going around, it's good to see something really nice," Matte said.

Bashaw said she hopes to one day pass the artwork down to her daughter.

"I wish I could tell my mom about it right now," Bashaw said. "She would be so elated. Like she was looking for it forever."