Antiques shopping in North America
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A
James H Cohen & Sons
From the sidewalk windows, you might be inclined to pass this one by if you’re not interested in guns. Cohen & Sons does sell antique guns for people who like to play cowboys and Indians with authentic hardware. The choice of firearms here includes some remarkable specimens of flintlocks, colts, Winchester ’73s and even a French musket or two. Beyond weaponry, the place is a repository of relics and historical curiosities, with many fascinating artifacts on view in glass display cases. Duck in for a look at the ancient coins from Celtic and Hellenic cultures worn smooth by human hands millennia ago. Or disturbing slave documents and notarized bills of sale for the transfe…
reviewed
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B
Collectible Antiques
You never know what you’ll find between the piles of old furniture stacked along the walls of this large, garagelike emporium of tantalizing junk. Perhaps you collect old photographic portraits from long defunct studios. You might find everything you need for that tiki bar you’re slapping together in the basement. Or maybe you’re just after an art-deco martini shaker, an old dented trumpet, a Pewee Herman doll, a heavy army-surplus coat or some silverware. Remarkably, the entire assemblage is not just a heaping mess. Every piece is lovingly contextualized to add interest. Browsing through the wares here is somewhat like a visit to a grab-bag museum.
reviewed
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C
MS Rau Antiques
With a massive 30,000-sq-ft showroom (you’d never know it passing by on Royal St), and after nearly a century of doing business, MS Rau ranks among New Orleans’ most venerated dealers of antiques. It’s a bit serious – these are the sort of frosty antiques that require their own insurance policies – but it’s a family business and the professional salespeople are quite approachable. You’ll find fine art, jewelry, music boxes, clocks, Judaica, 19th-century globes – all in impeccable condition and unbelievably expensive. Nothing’s keeping you from just having a look, though.
reviewed
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D
Lucullus
Peeking in the window, you’ll see a battery of ancient copper pots that appear to have generations of dents tinkered out of their bottoms. Owner Patrick Dunne is an advocate of using, not merely collecting, culinary antiques. Follow his advice and add more ritual and elegance to your life with an antique café au lait bowl or an absinthe spoon for creating your evening cocktails. Don’t just pop open your champagne and pour it; chill it in a silver bucket. You get the idea. A visit to this shop can turn an ordinary dinner party into the classiest, most exotic to-do.
reviewed
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E
Le Garage
Got to admit, we liked the name better when it was simply ‘The Garage.’ But why quibble over a little ironic Frenchness? The place is still a garage loaded with interesting stuff to paw through. Things for sale here include odd items of clothing, hats, army surplus, curtains, yellowed pool balls, tattered Mardi Gras costumes from yesteryear, knitted Coors-can caps, furniture, and oodles of objects d’art to ogle or even buy. Treasures galore, we tell you. Dive in.
reviewed
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F
Chicago Antique Market
This market has become quite the ta-do in town. It takes place inside the beaux arts Plumbers Hall, where more than 200 dealers hock collectibles, costume jewelry, furniture, books, Turkish rugs and pinball machines. One of the coolest facets is the Indie Designer Fashion Market, where the city’s fledgling designers sell their one-of-a-kind skirts, shawls, handbags and other pieces. Hard-core antique hounds can pay $20 and get first crack at the goods from 7:30am to 9am on Saturday.
reviewed
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G
Architectural Artifacts
This mammoth, 80,000-sq-ft salvage warehouse, located a bit northwest of Lake View proper, is a treasure trove that prompts continual mutterings of ‘Where on earth did they find that ?’ Italian marionettes, 1920s French mannequins and Argentinean cast-iron mailboxes rest alongside decorative doors, tiles, stained-glass windows, fireplace mantels and garden furnishings. Be sure to step into the free attached Museum of Historic Chicago Architecture (a work in progress).
reviewed
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H
Brass Knob
This unique two-floor shop sells ‘rescues’ from old buildings: fixtures, lamps, tiles, mantelpieces and mirrors. The store’s raison d’être though is the doorknob – brass, wooden, glass, elaborate, polished and antique. The Brass Knob is an absolute fantasyland for anybody renovating (or even just living in) an old house or apartment. Staff can help you find whatever you need, and the classical music overhead adds to the charm.
reviewed
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I
Antiques Garage Flea Market
This weekend flea market is set in a two-level parking garage, with more than 100 vendors spreading their wares. Antique-lovers shouldn’t miss a browse here, as you’ll find clothing, shoes, records, books, globes, furniture, rugs, lamps, glassware, paintings, artwork and many other relics from the past. Other weekend antique hunters should visit the affiliated Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market.
reviewed
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Morning Star Gallery
Of all the Canyon Rd shops dealing Indian antiquities, this remains the best: weavings, jewelry, beadwork, kachina dolls and even a few original ledger drawings are just some of the stars at this stunning gallery, which specializes in pre-WWII Plains Indian ephemera. Some artifacts here are finer than those in most museums – like the 1775 Powhoge ceramic storage jar that sold for $225,000 and the 1860 Nez Perce war shirt that went for $220,000.
reviewed
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Not Just Antiques Mart
At this one-stop antique-shopping extravaganza positioned in the lowly shadow of the interstate, keep a sharp eye out for art-deco estate jewelry, casino memorabilia and vintage tiki-ware. This mini-mall gathers dozens of dealers into a 12,000 sq ft warehouse. Upstairs is a quaint tearoom serving civilized cucumber sandwiches. It’s tricky to get here: by car, take Wyoming Ave west across the railroad tracks, then turn right onto Western Ave.
reviewed
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L
Modern Times Antiques
The assortment of furniture, lamps and mirrors is as dichotomous as the name. It’s got a bit of everything – old and new, local and global (particularly items from Thailand and Indonesia), Buddhas and Bugs Bunny collectibles. The kind of place you’ll find a great stained-glass window that won’t fit in your suitcase, it’s one of several antique stores lining the ‘Antiques Row’ section of Main St.
reviewed
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M
Centuries
OK, it’s a little stodgy, but flip through the inventory (all of it well organized by theme, date or locale) and you’ll realize browsing in this shop is like delving into a historical coffee-table book, with no cheesy reproductions. Particularly interesting are the ancient maps, beautifully drawn with outdated demarcations and the occasional glaring cartographic error – why yes, Asia is apparently half the size of Europe.
reviewed
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Toronto Antique Centre
A stroll through the well laid out Antique Centre is a welcome respite from the busy streets – and from your run-of-the-mill junk shops and overpriced antique dealers. From low-end collectibles to high-end valuables, connoisseurs have been known to locate some very undervalued treasures from other parts of the world amid the stalls, booths and showcases of this treasure trove. If you have the time, this place is well worth a visit.
reviewed
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Twentieth Century Ltd
Not just jewelry, but vintage jewelry, especially bakelite, silver and art-deco designs. This place sells the stuff that we wish we would inherit from our grandmothers… costume jewelry made by the great designers of yesteryear. The selection is overwhelming, with something to fit everybody’s price range (eg the $10 bin for the budget-conscious). This is where to come, princess, if you need a tiara for that upcoming ball.
reviewed
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Chíc by Accident
Featured in stylish wallpaper* magazine, French owner Emmanuel Picault has a fascinating collection of 20th-century furniture and objects here, ranging from a quirky giant walrus to a sumptuous abstractly designed quilt. Picault has published a book on contemporary furniture with Philippe Starck (Book by Accident) The adjacent showroom, Sex By Accident, concentrates on the erotica in art and sculpture.
reviewed
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Q
Quarter Past Time
This quiet little shop carries a selection of beautiful timekeepers. We didn’t see any grandfather clocks, but they seemed to have everything else covered – wristwatches, pocket watches, wall-mounted clocks etc. Also, some nifty old radios of Jack Benny and the Brooklyn Dodgers vintage. You can buy, sell or trade here, and if your watch ain’t winding properly they’ll fix it for you.
reviewed
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R
Polk-A-Dot
Only pirates discover as much treasure in a lifetime as store owner Michelle Callarman, who scours warehouses of weird dead stock to fill doll-size chests of drawers with small wonders: antique mah-jong tiles, wooden nuns, badges for diminutive sheriffs. Dig around and you might find a porcelain knuckle-shaped brooch, an original book plate from Ozma of Oz, and Kimba the cat (sorry, not for sale).
reviewed
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SF Rock Posters & Collectibles
Anyone who hazily remembers the ’60s may recall long-lost bands (and brain cells) in this trippy temple to the rock gods. Nostalgia isn’t cheap, so expect to pay hundreds or even thousands for first-run psychedelic Fillmore concert posters featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company or the Grateful Dead, but you can still find deals on handbills for the Dead Kennedys, Talking Heads and Black Sabbath.
reviewed
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Universe Trading Company
Universe Trading Company 'Bric-a-brac' doesn't begin to cover the contents of this cluttered salvage and antiques emporium. Walking through this place is like taking the world's deepest dumpster dive. The wares include lawn ornaments, used shoes, vinyl records, cigar-store Indians, life-size Blues Brothers statues and a fake shark head with '$185 firm' on the price tag.
reviewed
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Moss Antiques
Watch your head when you enter this gallery of low-hanging chandeliers. Oof! Too late! Moss is a Royal St institution in the local antiques trade. Only the finest quality antiques and objets d’art are sold here. You’ll find the perfect thing for your Garden District mansion. Or perhaps you can take home the busted chandelier they made you pay for.
reviewed
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V
Christopher's Discoveries
Time spent in here might inspire you to rethink the layout of your pad back home. The shop has a loosely connected inventory that can only be attributed to the owner's cool sensibilities. Two large rooms in an old converted house are filled with choice artefacts, paintings, groovy lamps and exotic art (mostly of olive-skinned women) from Asia and the Middle East.
reviewed
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Past Perfect
So this is how Pacific Heights eccentrics fill up those mansions: Fornasetti face plates, Danish teak credenzas and Lucite champagne buckets. The store is a collective, so prices are all over the place – some sellers apparently believe their belongings owe them back rent, while others are happy just to unload their ex’s mother’s prized spoon collection.
reviewed
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Eugene Galleries
This tiny shop has a remarkable selection of antique prints and maps, especially focusing on old Boston. Follow the history of the city’s development by examining 18th- and 19th-century maps; witness the filling-in of Back Bay and the greening of the city. Historic prints highlight Boston landmarks, making for excellent old-fashioned gifts.
reviewed
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Y
Off the Wall Antiques
This mini-warehouse is filled with wacky collectibles and feels somewhat like a movie studio prop room (quite possibly the source of the bric-a-brac) verging on a curio shop. Depression-era radios, a roulette wheel, pool tables, a bear skeleton or life-size plastic penguins - you never know what you'll find. Just don't feed it before midnight.
reviewed
