October 25, 2007 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Antique Gallery overflows with handpicked goods
With the amount of knick-knacks, valuable antiques and collectables that cover every inch of shelf and floor space at the Antique Gallery, 8523 Germantown Ave., it is hard to imagine that the store sells anything. But the number of interesting pieces on the store’s shelves doesn’t reflect a lack of sales, but rather a genuine love of beautiful old artifacts by the company’s co-owners, Barbara Caplen and Gerald Schultz. “He loves anything beautiful,” said Caplen, sitting in the gallery’s back office, with walls that are as covered with family photos and images as the store’s shelves are covered with items. Ever since the gallery’s beginning — 25 years ago in November — its collection of items have been handpicked by Schultz or Caplen. In fact, when the store opened it was Schultz’s private collection that was for sale. In 1982, Schultz, formerly a partner in a steel warehouse, decided to sell pieces of a collection that he had been accumulating during his travels around the country. He had collected so many pieces, chosen on the recommendation of a retired museum consultant that he hired as his mentor, that his house was getting too full. “So I thought, ‘You know what? I’ll open a store!’” said Schultz, who had sold his part of the company and retired. Being a frequent patron of the Chestnut Hill Cheese Shop and the former Orvis Sporting Goods Store, which used to be located at 8605 Germantown Ave. (currently Osaka restaurant), he thought Chestnut Hill would be the ideal community for his collection. The items at the store have never strayed from the handpicked, personal collection quality. Just as he was taught, Schultz has educated Caplen during the 20 years she has worked at the gallery in what to look for in pieces for sale. Caplen said they would go to houses and Schultz would hold up a piece and ask what it was and why it was important. “I’d start to sweat because I didn’t want to be wrong,” Caplen recalled. He used to have about 3,000 books and still has about 1,000 on everything from glass and silver to more specific topics such as Chinese Armorial Porcelain. Unlike many antique and collectable dealers, Caplen and Schultz never use the Internet to buy or sell their products. They don’t go to auctions either, preferring to wait for walk-ins or explore homes of the deceased or elderly persons who are moving to a smaller home. After 25 years in the business, Caplen said people know to come to them. “We never say no [to a lead] because you never know what you’re going to find,” Caplen added. Because of their exploration, the items at the gallery are so varied and numerous that Caplen confidently described the firm as “the most eclectic shop in Philadelphia. “There’s nothing to compete with it.” The gallery caters to interior decorators and collectors, but Schultz also prides himself on having a gift for everyone — especially those hard to buy for people. Such as the old-fashioned day-of-the-week straight razors a baseball agent purchased for one of his players, who, the agent told Schultz, had “everything.” The store has collections of inkwells, bells, playing cards, chess sets and a nearly infinite number of kitchenware items and vases. Even the basement, which is used for storage and not open to the public, is filled with shelves and shelves of dishes, plates, vases, cups, statues and more from a range of generations and cultures. “I have great, unusual specialty items that someone would never buy for themselves,” Schultz said. “My stuff is not ordinary in any stretch of the imagination.” Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com.
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