Antiques shopping in The South
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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…
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.
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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.
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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.
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F
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.
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G
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.
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H
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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I
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.
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J
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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K
Magazine Antique Mall
Hard-core rummagers are likely to score items of interest in the dozen or so stalls here, where independent dealers peddle an intriguing and varied range of antique bric-a-brac. Bargain hunters aren’t likely to have much luck, though.
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L
David’s
Squeezed in among the numerous antique stores and clothing boutiques along lower Decatur is this small rummage shop filled with found objects, collectibles, funky lamps, swanky duds, bar accoutrements, jewelry and other odds and ends.
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M
Greg’s Antiques
Besides rooms full of salvaged furniture and antiques, Greg’s regularly exhibits works by New Orleans underground and outsider artists, which can also take the form of found and folk art sourced from across the city.
reviewed
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Jefferson Street Market
The storefront Jefferson Street Market, downtown, has arts and antiques vendors, as well as a health-food store and take-away.
reviewed