If, by some quirk of fate you happen to be looking for a replica of the Eiffel Tower, your search is over. Irene Brunette has one sitting in two pieces in the basement of her Moon home.

She also has a steamboat, a barn, rotating dice, a light-up clown, a doll- house, a wishing well, a paddle-wheel house, two castles, two windmills, a water wheel, a lighthouse, a chalet and an oil derrick -- all with enough bells and whistles to amuse both young and old.

Brunette is not a collector of unusual objects, just the keeper of the items which, if laid out properly, will form an 18-hole miniature golf course. Her late husband, Samuel, handcrafted the obstacles over a 20-year period. They are made of chrome-plated brass and heavy aluminum, have never been used and, thanks to Brunette's attention, remain pristine and smudge free.

Samuel Brunette, who died in 1997, had some training as a machinist but for the most part was a self-taught craftsman, a man whose hands could build whatever he envisioned in his mind's eye. The obstacles he built are fully motorized with doors that open and close, features that light up and spin -- such as a rotating rooster atop the barn -- and all manner of movable parts.

"It's a one-of-a-kind set," said Brunette, 76, who is now trying to sell the items to someone who will fulfill her husband's dream of building a miniature golf course. "None of these has blueprints. It was all in his head. He'd go about doing it piece by piece."

Early in the couple's marriage, Samuel Brunette invested in a motel in Florida; as an attraction, he built a miniature golf course out of wood on the property.

"After we sold the motel, he decided he needed a hobby -- something to do," his wife said. "It wasn't all day, just in his spare time."

He headed to the basement and began puttering. Slowly but surely, all of the obstacles for a miniature golf course began to take shape, with each new piece begetting ideas for other new pieces. The largest, a steamboat, is 70 inches long, 40 inches wide and 40 inches high and weighs an estimated 500 pounds. The smallest, a windmill, is 36 inches high and weighs approximately 150 pounds.

"You should have seen the mess," Irene said. "I took bags and bags of metal shavings out."

When the couple was forced to move to a new home 22 years ago because of the development of the new airport, the miniature golf course moved with them. They even added a door to the basement so the obstacles could be moved in and out. Samuel finished the last piece, a 63-inch-high oil derrick, in the basement of the new home.

His plan was to buy property and open a miniature golf course, but he was unable to find a suitable site. In 1985, the couple bought Stonecrest Golf Course on Route 18 in Wampum. Samuel hoped to put the miniature golf course there.

Heart disease, though, interfered with his plans. As he struggled with his illness, the miniature golf course sat in the basement. He was unable to make any additional pieces. The couple thought about selling it but had no idea how to go about doing so.

Samuel died in 1997; since then the miniature golf course, complete with golf-ball-shaped scoreboard markers and a rules stand, has remained in the basement. An accompanying map describes in detail how it should be set up.

Samuel had estimated the set to be worth $65,000, but it's anyone's guess what a buyer might pay, said Fred Peterson of Owl Antique in Crafton. Peterson, who specializes in Internet sales, is representing Irene in her effort to find a buyer for the miniature golf course.

Ideally, Peterson said, someone will buy the set and open a miniature golf course. He's also trying to generate interest among museums and private buyers who may want a miniature golf course on their property.

"It's not something that's going to sell easily," Peterson said. "We've been taking our time."

Originally published online here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05208/544078.stm