Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993 TAG: 9305100351
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 48 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A few years ago, the valley's antiques stores almost could be counted on your fingers.
Now there are antiques malls in the valley and Wytheville, and rows of shops in several towns for those who love old quilts, antique toys, fine china, etched crystal and furniture from an earlier era.
Instead of the knickknacks that some shops used to label "antiques," most of these shops have a range of fine furniture and collectibles that can satisfy the serious buyer as well as those on a stricter budget.
For the local browser or the visiting tourist, a day spent meandering across the valley, dropping into tiny shops and huge antiques malls, poking around for just the perfect curio or chest or set of china is a delight for those who like surprises.
To see what a day of antiquing in the New River Valley might turn up, I headed off one day with notebook in hand, and credit cards left behind under lock and key.
Christiansburg
The first stop uncovered some wonderful curiosities - from a fold-up bathtub (yup, that's as in Mosely Folding Bathtub Co.) to a giraffe carousel animal. These items and more were in the newly opened Virginia Inn Antiques in downtown Christiansburg.
The late 1800s tin bathtub complete with a tin water tank and heater folded up into a handsome oak cabinet. It sold for $1,800. The more recent, '50s-era giraffe went for $3,000.
But many of the small chests and boxes would have fit a smaller budget, too, as they ranged from $85 for a carved "tramp-art chest" made during the Depression to $350 for a handsome oak ice chest.
Mary Beazley, manager of the small mall that has 13 dealers, also pointed out an unusual printer's desk, fragile Haviland china from France and a wooden antique butter churn dating from the mid-1800s.
Another place to prowl for antiques in Christiansburg is Martin's Antiques, one of the oldest dealers in Southwest Virginia, according to Powell Martin. He has followed his parents as the owner and operator of the store on Roanoke Street.
Looking through their rooms stuffed with antiques, a shopper can spot an old mill desk, black with age. Its lid swings down on huge hinges to display a stack of cubbyholes for filing bills, and large bins take the place of drawers. Alongside it leans a primitive cradle still sporting old green buttermilk paint. The desk sells for $450, while the cradle sells for $260.
A Seth Thomas clock, a wall of old kitchen utensils and an old cherry pie safe are among the other items that draw the collector's eye.
A few blocks away, sitting across the street from the historic Cambria train station, is the Cambria Emporium, another mall that has a variety of items on display by 20 antiques dealers.
The mall has a good selection of china and furniture at reasonable prices.
Perhaps the mall's most unusual booth is one of railroad memorabilia. As the Norfolk Southern trains roll and rattle by just outside the windows, the visitors can look through a collection of railroad locks, china from the B&O and Wabash railroads and train lanterns.
Another shop in the Depot Street area is Sidney's Trading Post.
Radford
Mud Pike Road has the sound of an 1800s stagecoach route - a nostalgic and fitting address for one of the area's finest antiques stores, the New River Valley Antiques Mall.
Jan Fralin has gathered under one huge roof beautiful furniture dating from the 1800s, fine quilts, curios from an apple ladder to toy trains. The store sits just off Interstate 81's Radford exit.
The serious collector will find much to look for, from a 16-pane walnut corner cupboard of Virginia origin dating from the 1830s to an unusual American watercolor that caricatures post-Civil War characters.
The pieces of fine furniture are too numerous to list, but include an 1810 pine pewter cupboard for $4,200, a walnut plantation desk, painted primitive furniture and numerous corner cupboards with the beautiful wood patina that comes only with age.
About 40 dealers specializing in such things as antique tools, wicker and English antiques have filled the metal warehouse with enough treasures that an antiques lover could easily get stuck here for the entire day.
In downtown Radford, Grandma's Memories Antiques Shop, on First Street just west of the New River bridge, is well named.
A visit to this shop owned by Wayne Haymaker is like poking around in your grandmother's attic. You'll spot items that are familiar from childhood days - old kitchen implements and furnishings. It's a relaxing stop that offers a roomful of curiosities.
Uncle Bill's Treasures is another local antiques store, at 1103 Norwood St.
Pulaski
Hardly a day goes by that Pulaski doesn't announce a new antiques store in its downtown.
Anchoring the new boom is the Pulaski Antique Center on West Main Street near the county's historic courthouse.
The store, managed by Nat Copenhaver III, has a wonderful range of unusual pieces from a Victorian-era croquet set with its old wooden mallets for $175 to an old apothecary stand with stacks of small drawers that stretches along a back wall. It sells for $3,680 - and could hold every odd and end in your house.
A vintage late-1800s child's wagon with metal wheels sits next to a croquet set.
Copenhaver has assembled an interesting collection of fine furniture ranging from a 16-pane cherry corner cupboard selling for $3,500 to a handsome old oak bolt cabinet with four sides of small drawers.
He also has a range of fine antique wicker, including a dining room set from Bar Harbor, Maine, the site of luxurious vacation homes for wealthy New Englanders during the Victorian era.
Copenhaver, who has been in the antiques business for four years, shows pieces for other dealers in his mall, but most of the furniture and items on display are his own.
Down the street, Nancy Gibson has opened Gibson Girl Antiques and has an interesting collection of china, crystal and jewelry along with some handsome furniture pieces.
A handsome New England linen press sells for $1,395. A Wythe County jelly cupboard dating from the 1860s is another of the interesting pieces in her shop.
Around the corner in downtown Pulaski are Memories and Briarpatch Antiques and Collectibles Center, two other new and intriguing additions to the town's antiques market. These two stores are open mainly on weekends.
Summerhouse, Court Square Antiques and Believe It or Else are also in downtown Pulaski.
Blacksburg
On Main Street, family history and antiques combine in a shop full of stunning crystal pieces, antique china and furniture.
Martha B. Heiskell has operated Heirloom Originals for 25 years out of the quaint 1870s frame house where her grandmother used to live.
Today, her grandmother's living room is filled with a long row of display cases filled with crystal and china open salts. You've seen these tiny bowls for serving salt on your mother's dinner table when big family dinners called for pulling out the fine china and crystal. Today, open salts are collectors' items, and Heiskell has collected hundreds of them in different shapes and sizes.
The shops also has tables full of beautiful crystal, including an unusual set of sherry glasses, needle-etched with detail that extends down the stems.
Several handsome corner cupboards dominate the rooms. Another interesting piece is a fine spool cabinet with six drawers. Most such cabinets are made of oak, but this one, which Heiskell says came out of Marshall Field's in Chicago, is made of walnut and has unusually handsome original pulls.
On South Main Street is the town's newest antiques store, Golden Oldies Antique & Furniture Exchange.
Five dealers, including store owner Todd Smith, have assembled a collection of interesting furniture, china, records and toys.
Anyone with a nostalgia for old-fashioned kitchens would love the 1927 Sears Roebuck kitchen cabinet. It's in mint condition, with original paint, wire dish racks inside and even a recipe booklet still on the inside of the cabinet door. Its price: $1,100.
Next to it sits a 1901 wood cooking stove that begs to sit in a country kitchen.
One set of furniture you won't find in every store is a walnut Victorian altar set and chairs from an old church. Price: $2,200.
Hanging on the wall is a small parade of children's pedal cars from the '50s and '60s, including an old tractor and a Mustang convertible.
Smith even has the original "Highty-Tighties on Parade" album, a must in any loyal Hokie home in the '50s. It sells for $60.
Other Blacksburg shops include Grady's Antiques, an easy stop if you're strolling downtown in the 200 block of North Main Street. Its windows are full of curios, china and old signs.
Other Times Ltd. is at 891 Kabrich St., just off Main Street if you are heading north after passing the Prices Fork Road intersection.
Wytheville
The Wytheville-Fort Chiswell area has become a popular stop for shoppers - both area residents attracted by the shops and tourists passing through on the interstates that intersect there.
The Colony of Virginia attracts shoppers by specializing in Wythe County antiques such as pie safes and blanket chests, which have become popular with collectors because of their beautiful shapes and fine craftsmanship.
Store owner Debbie Jonas said the Pennsylvania Dutch who originally settled the area brought with them expert craftsmanship that has been compared to Amish work in its detail and skill.
The store in Old Fort Mall at Fort Chiswell between Exits 77 and 80 off Interstates 81 and 77 also sells authorized reproductions by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation at outlet prices, Jonas said.
By the end of May, Jonas plans to move her shop to downtown Pulaski across from the old courthouse.
Also in the Fort Chiswell area off the interstate is Snoopers, a large antiques mall.
Jeff King, the manager, has 105 dealers showing under one roof. Visitors can browse for hours, sorting through everything from furniture to china to whatnots.
Right below Snoopers, Ron Kime opened the the Old Fort Emporium in October and has about 20 dealers exhibiting there.
The mall stocks corner cupboards, oak washstands, beds and dressers, trunks, kitchen cabinets, old advertising signs, clocks and other collector items.
On Main Street in Wytheville, James Green offers furniture, china and crystal bought from local estates in his Old Towne Antiques & Estate Sales. One of his favorite pieces in the store now is an unusual brass bachelor's bed.
On U.S. 21 south of Wytheville, Tom and Linda Crockett operate Crocketts Antiques in a shop near their home. They specialize in oak and primitive furniture. The store is open by appointment.
by CNB