Smudged with coal dust, a few pieces of history sat in storage for half a century at Saint Andrews United Presbyterian Church.

Four antique stained glass windowpanes were removed during a construction project and never replaced at the East Jefferson Street church.

The windows are now up for sale with four bidders hoping to purchase them and several church members interested in their history.

"People have known they've been in storage, so it's not like they were rediscovered," said the Rev. Merry Meloy, pastor of Saint Andrews. "I think there was growing concern that they were going to be damaged."

Saint Andrews originally consisted of three connected buildings, according to church member Don Roberts of Butler.

"(The windows) are from 1892, at least, and they may have been moved from a previous building," Roberts said.

In the late 1950s, the church added an education building onto the back of the third building. One of its outside walls, which housed the windows, was torn down during construction.

The windows were never reinstalled, and the church probably never planned to do so, Roberts said.

"People put them in storage and forgot about them," he said.

Roberts and his wife Ellen appraised the windows, relying on experience gained from more than 50 years in the antique business.

The Robertses took into consideration the windows' age, design and condition.

The three windows measuring about 3 feet by 3 feet are valued at $400 each, and the slightly larger window is valued at $600 — prices Don Roberts considers very competitive.

The colors are typical of windows from the time period, with the amber-hued edges and stained glass "jewels," Don Roberts said.

The windows are all in excellent condition and need no restoration work, he said.

Lifelong church member Bill Douthett remembers going to Sunday school in the 1930s in that end of the building.

"On the Jefferson Street side, there were windows," recalled Douthett, 80. "They were double-hung, with top and bottom halves. What you're seeing now is probably just half of what the window was."

Six or eight windows were sold several years ago in a sale advertised to the congregation, Douthett said. They most likely made a set when combined with the four currently on sale.

The windows are a unique find for collectors, said Douthett, who has operated the Store on Main antique shop for 17 years.

Only three similar pieces have come through the store in that time, he said.

"I hope they go to somebody who really appreciates them for what they are," Douthett said.

To learn more about the history of the windows, Don Roberts has dug into the church's records, searching for the name of the original artist.

He hopes to locate some information in the handwritten church records, spanning the years when the windows would have been placed in the building.

The sanctuary's current windows are made in the same style as the windows on sale, which could offer a clue.

"It's likely that the person who made the windows in the church made all of the windows," Don Roberts said.

Windows will not necessarily go to the highest bidder, said Meloy, who plans to hold a drawing in the near future.

"Whoever's name is pulled out of a hat gets first choice, and so on," she said.

Money raised will go toward the church's ministries, although making a profit is not the motivation, Meloy said.

"It just seems like good stewardship for us to move them into hands where they might be used and displayed," Meloy said. "I hope that they can go to homes where they'll be treasured and where folks will appreciate the connection to the church and the history that they represent."