Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007280345
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES PAGE: SMT-1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
On U.S. 220 in Franklin County, shoppers can pay as little as $5 for a knickknack in Ruff's Antiques or as much as $18,000 for an inlaid Tennessee corner cupboard in Franklin Antiques a few miles away.
Hubert Ruff has been selling antiques and collectibles from the same Boones Mill location for 26 years. Visitors are usually met with a handshake from the gentlemanly Ruff, who has been in the business for nearly 40 years.
A profusion of old tools, glassware, second-hand books, picture frames, furniture and miscellaneous items fills the brick shop that he built more than 25 years ago across the highway from a kudzu-covered embankment. Ruff says you can spend anywhere from $5 to several hundred dollars in his shop.
Clyde and Wanda Bryant specialize in what Clyde calls "high country formal" at Franklin Antiques, a few miles south of Boones Mill on 220.
"We concentrate on Southern and regional pieces," Bryant said. "We sold a $50,000 secretary out of this shop. Collector's items are what's selling. Mid-run country furniture is dead."
On a recent day, the Bryants' shop contained a set of six Windsor chairs in the five-figure range; several flat-wall and corner cupboards; a 19th-century secretary, or writing desk, priced at $18,000; decoys; folk-art canes; cobalt-decorated stoneware; pie safes; and a huge carved wooden shotgun that served as a trade sign outside of a gun shop.
Bryant said he plans to add 2,400 square feet to the former gas station and expand his stock of Victorian and oak furniture and early 20th-century reproductions of 18th- and 19th-century formal furniture. The Bryants exhibit at several national antique shows ranging from Texas to New York. But the Bryants, who live at the lake, want ultimately to open a shop on the lake near their home.
Also on 220 are Reynolds Antiques north of Rocky Mount and Fralin Antiques a couple of miles south on the Rocky Mount bypass.
Levi and Vivian Reynolds say they specialize in collectible whiskey decanters, carnival glass, Depression glass and oak furniture. Also in their jam-packed shop, which once served as a car dealership, are fossilized shark's teeth, railroad lamps, a 1904 National cash register, pocket knives and what Levi calls "an awful good collection of White House vinegar bottles."
Out front is vintage farm machinery such as a "buzzard-wing" plow used to plant tobacco.
"We sold a mowing machine that went to Florida last week," Levi Reynolds said.
Wayne Fralin says he's in his two-story brick shop two miles south of Rocky Mount by about 8 each morning.
"I buy oak, walnut, cherry furniture, primitives. You name it; it don't make no difference," Fralin said.
Fralin handles a lot of furniture and sells most to other dealers, he said. There are also shelves of glassware, some shotguns, pictures and a wide variety of miscellaneous items in his shop.
In downtown Rocky Mount, antiquers can find a fairly new shop. Mary Jane Elkins opened From the Heart Gifts and Antiques March 15. The shop carries oak, Victorian and primitive furniture; old and new quilts; prints and accessories. Each month, it features the work of a local artist.
Saturday night entertainment at the old movie theater in Rocky Mount doesn't come from moving pictures. Instead, it comes from auctioneer Jim Jamison, who moves antiques and collectibles through his auction business. Many come just to watch and maybe buy a $2 or $3 item to take home. "I'll have 250 on a good night," Jamison said.
Those who keep their eye on the auction say bargains are known to slip through.
Among other shops in Franklin County are Perdue's Antiques on Virginia 40 east of Rocky Mount, specializing in glassware, frames and mirrors; and Country Antiques and Collectibles in Union Hall, with an emphasis on the country look.
On the Bedford side of the lake, browsers can find a variety of shops that stretch from the Old Country Store one mile west of Bedford to the Peddler on Virginia 854 at Forest.
LuAnne Weidner, the Old Country Store's owner, said she carries a variety of items and furniture. But primitives - plain country furniture, baskets, woodenware, etc., made with no frills - are her first love. The shop is a former country store, and it still has the Rainbo Bread screen doors.
"Before that, it was a gambling joint and dance hall," Weidner said. Although Weidner, a former Indiana resident, prefers primitives, she said she carries a lot of oak furniture.
Visitors to the Peddler are only a few minutes from Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's summer home.
The Peddler is a 1915 school building that houses 11 dealers and therefore a variety of merchandise that reflects different tastes. It opened as a mall in 1976, and many of the original dealers are still there, according to one of them, Gerry Walker. Advertising items, toys, china and glassware, tools, pictures, silver, jewelry and many other items are offered.
In Goode, between Bedford and Forest just off U.S. 221, Virginia Wright operates her Virginia Dare shop out of a former country store. She specializes in oak and Victorian furniture, cut glass and kitchen utensils.
Bridge Street Antiques is logically located on Bridge Street in downtown Bedford.
"We stock mostly 18th- and 19th-century walnut, cherry and pine furniture," said Winston Burks. The price range in the shop is from $1 to $5,200. Two friendly English setters are usually on hand to greet visitors.
Also in downtown Bedford is Hamilton's on West Main Street, which specializes in collectible and second-hand books and toys; and the Peaks Antiques and Collectibles, named for nearby Peaks of Otter.
About nine miles from town in a former pole barn set high atop a hill off of Virginia 122 is H.A.L., operated by Roger Henderson. A former Navy man who likes the mountains, Henderson sells reproduction furniture and antique oak furniture. He also makes several items, including document boxes, wine racks, cutting boards, recipe boxes and trivets.
by CNB