St. Augustine....
ALIVE AND WELL

By: Fred Taylor
As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, December, 2004

The harsh wire brush of the Hurricanes of 2004 that scoured much of Florida was kinder to her oldest citizen, St. Augustine. The antiques and historic districts in the heart of town were largely unaffected by the storms that seemed to roll through on a weekly basis in September. A recent visit to do some antique snooping in the city turned up some optimistic and friendly people, some interesting artifacts and some good buys.

Just north of town, in the Tall Pines Industrial Park, 6370 North US 1, about two miles from the St. Augustine Airport, is Antique Warehouse of St. Augustine. Owner Suzie Johnson has 5,000 no frills square feet of warehouse packed floor to tall ceiling with mostly English furniture that is shipped by her partner in London on a monthly basis. Row after close packed row of armoires, desks, sideboards and bookcases, offered at very affordable prices, fill most of the space, in styles ranging from classical to Art Deco. In addition she offers custom size large pine kitchen type tables in antique styling. If you need to take a closer at something Suzie's tall and friendly helper, Gabor Janossy, can single handedly move anything in the store.

Down the road a bit, just west of US 1on SR16 is another antiques establishment with a European flair. The Antique Market at 325 SR16, owned by Mike and June Pennington, not only has a large selection of international goods, it offers guided antique buying tours of England and will soon be offering reverse tours, bringing English buyers to American markets. The current inventory features furniture, textiles and accessories from England, France and India. I even saw two 19th century American pieces there.

Uptown Antiques at 63 San Marco Ave. has been owned by David and Susan Stansell for the last eight years. The mall accommodates over 50 dealers who specialize in estate jewelry, Depression glass, autographs and movie memorabilia. You can have George Raft's signature for $35 and Gene Tierney's for $75. A large display cabinet holds a sample of the several hundred Majolica articles on hand. Another cabinet holds a specialized assortment of Limoges and Majolica oyster plates, ranging in price from $125 to $395.

Just across the street at 62 San Marco is the St. Augustine Antique Emporium, owned by Bill and Mary Ann Rosenthal. Their 33 dealers have a little something for just about everybody, from 1950s license plates to Beatle memorabilia to marcasite jewelry to Steubli folk room scenes. Give yourself plenty of time to check out all the nooks and crannies. There's no telling what you might find there.

A Step Back in Time, at 60 San Marco, opened for business on September 1, 2004, just in time to close back down for the first storm. Undaunted, owners Bill and Joyce Ferrigno, reopened without power after the storm, only to close again shortly for the next one. Fortunately they only lost a few shingles and the inventory was unscathed. The mall has a large selection Flow Blue, Majolica and cameos as well as some nicely chosen furniture like a vividly striped tiger maple rocker from the mid 19th century, $295, a chestnut three piece Eastlake style bedroom suite, circa 1880, $3,295 and a large turn of the century oak buffet with mirror that was rescued from the old James Oglethorpe Hotel in Brunswick, GA just prior to its demolition, $3,595.

Recently relocated from downtown to the San Marco area is Jena's Antiques & Gifts, now at 56 San Marco. Owner Jena Baker has assembled an eclectic assortment of furniture, art, jewelry and glass to show off her new spacious store. She has a large selection of vaseline glass and a prominent sign explains to the uninitiated what makes the glass ware glow in its unique fashion.

While this certainly doesn't cover the entire antiques community in St. Augustine, it does give you a quick look at some fun places to visit, learn something and snag a bargain here and there. Enjoy the trip.

This room at Uptown Antiques is devoted to movie memorabilia.

Another rack of leaded glass windows enters Antique Warehouse of St. Augustine.

This teak hope chest originated in Victorian India.  It was marked $1,550 at The Antique Market.

The Beatles are now at St. Augustine Antique Emporium.

Vintage license plates are available for $20-30 at St. Augustine Emporium