James H Cohen & Sons

Lonely Planet review

From the sidewalk windows, you might be inclined to pass this one by if you're not interested in guns. To be sure, 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. Suitable for that manly room in the house where Grandpa likes to drink his sherry.

But weapons are not all there is here. The place is a repository of relics and historical curiosities, with many fascinating artefacts 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 notorized bills of sale for the transfer of human chattel. The store's unique selection of campaign buttons for US presidential elections spans back to the 1900 contest in which incumbent William McKinley outlegged William Jennings Bryan. (Incidentally, McKinley was shot dead a year later by Leo Czolgosz with a .32 caliber Johnson revolver.)