THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601040147
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JEWEL BOND, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 164 lines
SOME ARE cartoonish, some are cleverly designed, and some are just plain tacky. But whatever the style or personality, antique shops offer a glimpse of things past and a chance to own a part of history.
There are about 40 antique shops and galleries throughout the the Albemarle area. Along a six-mile stretch on U.S. 158 in Currituck County, they tend to cluster together. Where you see one, you'll soon see another - and a mile or so farther, yet another.
Jim Lammers, of Lammers Glass and Gifts in Powells Point, said there is a reason for that.
``One feeds off the other,'' he said. ``There's a lot of networking with other dealers. We try to know what other dealers have and we reciprocate back and forth.''
Diversity of interest among the dealers reduces competitiveness.
Most specialize in some area of their trade. One dealer may repair old clocks or old dolls and keep a bigger selection of these items in addition to other antiques or collectibles. Some have a passion for linens, old quilts or even baby clothes.
Lammers' area of expertise is stained glass. A former illustrator and graphic artist, Lammers acquired his interest in antiques through restoring old stained glass.
For six years, Lammers owned a small antique shop in New Jersey. Each year as he vacationed on the Outer Banks with his grandparents, he became more convinced this is where he wanted to live.
``I've been here now and at this location for 17 years,'' he said.
This past year, Lammers added several additions to his shop: the Collectible Court, the Sign Shed & Driftwood Gardens and the Cobweb Cottage. There are old books, old cameras, old signs and an old doctor's buggy, but there are no cobwebs.
You can browse the day away without a sneeze. Lammers, his wife Teri and daughter Kristin, 17, keep a shipshape shop.
Lammers calls himself a ``smalls'' dealer, one who sells both antique furniture and collectibles such as thimbles, old tobacco items, kitchen items and vintage toys.
These items are known as nostalgia-based collectibles, which appeal more to collectors under 50 because most older folks have all the trinkets they need.
People are more apt to buy collectibles based on the memories the objects evoke. An old rusty toy has no intrinsic value but could strike a customer who remembers playing with a similar toy as a child.
Lammers' shop is about 60 percent antiques. Nearly all of what you see in antique shops is 30 to 75 years old.
``These items sell well,'' said Lammers, ``but the rule of thumb for antiques is 100 years.''
Among the 100-year-old items in Lammers' shop is an 1890s five-leg oak table and an 1840s sea chest.
``The immigrants put all their worldly goods in those chests for sea travel,'' Lammers said. ``These should sell well to people who like unusual antiques, and the sea chest would make a great conversation piece.''
The ``smalls'' shops don't usually put a full profit margin on their items, Lammers said. They are more concerned with moving merchandise quickly, because they are continually buying and selling.
``The better I buy, the better I can pass on to the consumer,'' Lammers said. ``That's the whole mission of the antique buyer - to buy right and pass it on to my customers.''
Dealers are not required to be appraisers, but they do have to know about the market and what each piece they purchase would command at a retail level. They don't always buy 100 percent right, but most dealers agree they would sell an item for what they paid for it to move it.
Customers often make special requests, and some dealers will try to find elusive items at sales or estate auctions. Lammers said he keeps a ``wish list'' for his customers.
``I have about 70 percent success rate for finding oddball items collectors like,'' he said. ``The fun of the hunt is hooking people up with the stuff they really like.''
Less than a mile away, the hunt is on at The Mermaid's Purse for an old oscillating fan. Lori Hollenberger, who owns this antique mini-mall, is on the phone networking with other dealers for her customer, Steve Davis from Virginia Beach. While she's waiting, Davis' 9-year-old daughter Rebecca curiously checks out the many kitchen gadgets on display.
A 1900s tin bucket that reads No. 8 Universal breadmaker, price tag $125, is clamped to a cabinet ledge. An enormous handle on the top is attached to two dough hooks that crisscross inside the bucket as you turn the crank. A modern-day breadmaker pales in comparison.
Kitchen gadgets, picture frames and old trunks are just a few of the items replaced monthly by the dealers who rent space in this mini-mall.
``We sell a lot of small items here,'' Hollenberger said. ``Tourists stop in and want items they can carry with them, some memento of their trip to the Outer Banks.''
Tourists also stop in at The Currituck Antique Mall in Grandy. So many tourists, in fact, that owner Jean Turner started keeping a diary.
``I tried to remind everyone as they came in to sign the book,'' Turner said. ``I didn't want to miss anyone.''
In October, there were 220 names listed from all across the country.
Turner and her husband, Jim, specialize in antique oak furniture and primitives. The primitives are old, handcrafted artifacts, 1790s to 1800s, such as chopping blocks, farm tools, and blacksmith iron pieces. These items are a big draw to antique lovers and very difficult to come by.
The Turners stock the lower part of the mall with antique furniture and collectibles. The upstairs is stocked monthly by dealers - with specialties in jewelry, automotive, old decoys - who rent their display space.
Some dealers rent space in several of these antique mini-malls at a time and concentrate on buying, restoring or refinishing the many items they stock.
Martha and Bobby Allen from Manns Harbor stock three locations. One is the Bermuda Triangle, owned by Edith Deltgen and Jim Fincher. The Allens and 15 other dealers will occupy space in Bermuda Triangle's new Nags Head location when it opens next week.
Not all antique locations are mini-malls. Many, like the Beacon Hill Antique Shop in downtown Elizabeth City, are small, quaint places that enthusiastic shoppers rub shoulders in while squeezing from item to item.
The entrance into Beacon Hill is through a jewelry store. And although customers pass back-to-back in the narrow shop, owner Ed Fearing is a ``bigs'' dealer. He sells antique furniture, and no small collectibles.
Fearing grew up in Elizabeth City and has a loyal following of customers from his hometown. He understands what they like, and they trust his judgment.
``I buy what I like at the best bargain I can get,'' Fearing said. ``The average life-span for an item to remain in the store is about a month.''
Fearing's best-selling item lately has been chandeliers. The last one in his shop, a French bronze and crystal piece from the early 1900s, already has a sold sign on it.
``I sold 12 from the first of November to the end of the year,'' he said. ``They sell from $200 to $1,200.
``People love these old chandeliers. They are really popular. Ten years ago, I would sell every brass bed I could find. Now there's no demand for them.''
What are in demand, ``and have always been,'' Fearing said, are pieces that were made in the Albemarle area. Although there were few furniture makers in the area during the first half of the 18th century, a number of chairs, tables and chests were made.
``But,'' Fearing said, ``they aren't easy to find.''
Barbara Schmidt, an accredited senior appraiser from the Outer Banks, said old Albemarle items are more likely to be found in the larger North Carolina areas, like Raleigh or Chapel Hill.
Schmidt says locally made items, and scarce items, are more valuable; 18th century furniture made in the Albemarle could be quite expensive here.
``The fun of antiquing is trying to find these obscure pieces of furniture or collectibles,'' Lammers said. ``That's what appeals to most antique people - the hunt.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by JEWEL BOND
Jim Lammers, co-owner of Lammers Glass and Gifts, says antique
dealers network and reciprocate.
An antique fire engine beckons customers from the road into Lammers
Glass and Gifts in Powells Point.
Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
Winton Thompson, 80, of Currituck, found a 50-year-old decoy that he
made at the end of World War II at the Oldies but Goodies Shop in
Powells Point.
Gadgets, contraptions, tools and signs adorn the walls of the Oldies
but Goodies Shop in Powells Point.
David Power, co-owner of Oldies but Goodies Shop holds an 1858 Mason
jar.
by CNB