Late 16th Century German Deacon's Bench

I got it from one of my customers as a tip for repairing her windshield. She couldn't sell it at her garage sale and asked me if I liked it and it was mine. She said that she and her husband were stationed in Germany and had purchased the bench at a church sale. The church was being demolished and they were selling all furniture from it. She said that the arm rests had a gargoyle face on them at one time but she took them off while still in Germany and never kept the original faces that were on it. She said the faces looked like medieval lion heads and they had a brass colored ring of unknown metal in their mouths. I had a friend that ran an antique store take a look at it and he believes that it is over 400 yrs old but has had repair done about 100 years ago. No mop marks on the legs exist, but the bench could have been in a church that never mopped...lol. Has had structual repair done to the lid on the seat.