MISSION VIEJO – How much would you pay for an old, wooden chair that you can’t even sit in? Resident Lou Balducci is hoping at least $25,000.

Balducci has listed an old patio rocking chair, purchased at HomeGoods some 10 years ago, on eBay with a starting bid price of $25,000. But this isn’t just any old rocking chair; it’s one that bears the image of what Balducci believes to be Jesus Christ.

Balducci first noticed the anomaly in February as he and his wife were preparing to throw away a pair of rocking chairs that had sat in their backyard for years. The chairs’ wood was rotting and their supports were broken. White paint flaked off anytime the chair was moved or touched.

His wife had thrown away the chairs’ rain-soaked cushions a few days before. Balducci stood outside on the back patio, smoking a cigar and staring at the pair of barren, unusable chairs when something caught his eye. In a paint-chipped, rotting knot of wood near the base of one chair’s backrest, Balducci saw the face of Jesus as he knows him to be.

Balducci is not “super religious,” he said, though the experience has led him not to doubt the existence of God. But he said he knows there are others out there who might be able to appreciate more than he does what some have come to call “the Jesus chair.” Additionally, he said he was hesitant to give it to any of his children, who all have young children of their own.

“I really have no place to keep it,” Balducci said. “I didn’t want to leave it outside with the bad weather and let it go bad. I have it sitting in my living room.”

So Balducci teamed up with Mission Viejo Mayor Dave Leckness, owner of Kwik Kopy Printing and the company’s Sell It Now on Ebay division, to create the listing. The auction is set to end at 8:44 p.m. on Sunday. So far, no one has bid on the chair, but there is definitely interest, Leckness said.

“The calls we get are people who are excited about it. It’s just unusual,” Leckness said. “You look at this chair, and Lou’s got a chair with Jesus on it – there’s no doubt about it.”

Leckness said the chair would be relisted if it didn’t sell before Sunday.

Since the discovery of the chair, the Balduccis have received inquiries to see the chair from media, religious officials and regular folks who say they are highly religious. Balducci said he was unable to entertain all the requests in his own home, but hopes that someone in a more public venue – perhaps a church group or the Mission San Juan Capistrano – might be able to put it on display.

“My main wish is that it’s inspirational to a lot of people,” Balducci said. “I hope someone who buys it isn’t just a collector. I hope it’s someone that it would mean something to.”

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Contact the writer: 949-454-7343 or kchu@ocregister.com