I pried ours off, but I don't remember how! It was 15 years ago, when we bought the house (and I stripped the godawful paint off the mantel -- maybe that loosened the glue?).

The fireplace mantle in our new home has a very traditional wooden applique on it and it just doesn't match our style. Is there an easy way to remove this? Just pry it off with a putty tool or should I try something to dissolve the glue? Surprisingly google wasn't much help!