THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511180591
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SAM MARTINETTE
CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Bill Hoover has been collecting military antiques since he was 9.
Hoover, who is now 50 and owns Virginia Turf and Ghent Gardens, amassed such a large collection of ``stuff'' that he finally took the ultimate step. He bought a one-story frame house next to his Granby Street businesses to house the overflow and opened a toy store for grownups called Replicas.
``It's a mix of original artifacts and replicas,'' Hoover said during a recent tour. ``My wife Patty came up with the name. She thinks I've cluttered up the house with pictures, models and books, so I finally bought the land and buildings adjacent to my property and have a place now to put all of my junk.''
Replicas is chockablock with handmade ship models, battle-axes, miniature cannons, ceramic lighthouses, replica firearms and other artifacts that bring out the boy - or girl - in the oldest of collections.
Take, for example, the plane models made of Philippine mahogany and painted by hand to the original specifications. A nine-inch-long Sopwith Camel from the Great War, with a 14-inch wingspan, gaily decorated in gray, orange, red and white sells for $159, while an F-14 Tomcat is $139. For an additional $20, Hoover will have it personalized - that is, have the actual pilot's name and numbers painted on the model. Other scale models include an ME-109 Messerschmidt and a Japanese Zero, and a model of the ``Enola Gay,'' the B-29 that carried the atomic payload to Hiroshima.
There's a scale model of Dr. Gatling's gun, with a limber to transport it, made of wood and metal, with eight revolving barrels and a crank that moves them.
Nearby, a replica of a Roman Legionnaire's 7 1/2-foot spear rests against a wall. The Legionnaire's helmet sits nearby.
``I can order a full-size suit of armor for $1,200, with a beautiful quality suit running around $5,500,'' Hoover said. ``A replica of Henry VIII's armor is $28,000.''
Replica firearms include a Civil War Springfield rifle that fires only blanks ($469.99), a re-creation of Napoleon's pistol, George Washington's flintlock and another Civil War workhorse, the Colt Navy Revolver. The replicas fire blanks, and Hoover said they are much in demand by re-enactors. There are miniature weapons, including an 8-inch M-60 machine gun, complete with tripod and ammunition box ($41.99), a miniature bayonet for the standard-issue K-98 carbine carried by German soldiers during World War II ($16.99); there's even a tiny U.S. Marine K-Bar fighting knife.
Not all of the items for sale are replicas. Handmade ship models by such artisans as John Seay and Dan Elliott are miniaturized versions of the real thing. A 50-year-old two-masted schooner by Seay carries a $359 price tag, while Elliott's 1920s-era tugboat Bertha, complete with water buckets to put out fires set by errant coal cinders, costs $990.99. There are handmade rowing skiffs and Chesapeake Bay dead-rise fishing boats, as well as the ``Guiding Lights'' miniature lighthouse collection, featuring Hatteras Light, as well as the Cape Henry Lighthouse and others.
Vintage artifacts not for sale include the World War II Navy pilot's logbook of Hoover's father-in-law, Paul Dickson, who flew an Avenger from the deck of the Bunker Hill. A World War II tanker's helmet belonged to Patty Hoover's uncle. Customers have brought him such items as an army haversack (or field pack) dated 1887, and a World War II ``dummy'' Springfield rifle, made of painted wood and used to train sailors during boot camp when there was a shortage of weapons.
On a wall across the room is a flag flown on an Apollo mission. A clock from a Soviet submarine still marks time even though the empire that created it has ceased to exist. Mounted half-models of famous ships of the U.S. Navy offer a seabag of memories to old salts who may want to adorn their den walls.
``I opened the place for people just like me,'' explained Hoover, a history buff who taught industrial arts at Granby High for a stint after graduating from Old Dominion University. He lives in Colony Point, next door to the house he grew up in, having moved to Norfolk during World War II, when his physician father took a post with the Public Health Service.
Hoover opened Virginia Turf 22 years ago, then Ghent Gardens seven years later. But part of his future seems rooted in the past. Next spring, Hoover plans to open a gift shop and tea room next door to Replicas, in a 100-year old house. And, yes, it will be full of historical artifacts.
``I enjoy the ideas of miniatures and replicas,'' Hoover said. ``It's a way of picturing and presenting the past.'' MEMO: Replicas is located at 110 E. 17th St. The phone number is 627-8873.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Bill Hoover has purchased a one-story frame house next to his Granby
Street businesses and opened a toy store for grownups called
Replicas. by CNB