We are always looking. Most of what fills the shop arrived because somebody thought of us first — a clearance, an estate, a box in a basement nobody knew what to do with.
What we’re drawn to
Natural history and specimens · medical and scientific antiques · the apothecary · mourning pieces and memento mori · circus and sideshow · antique photography · ephemera and paper · taxidermy · oddities that resist description. If it made you look twice, it will probably make us look twice.
Worth knowing before you write
- Photographs help more than descriptions. Even a phone snapshot in bad light tells us more than a paragraph.
- Tell us what you know about where it came from. Provenance affects what a piece is worth, and for some categories it decides whether we can handle it at all.
- Some things we can’t take. Protected species, ivory, human remains and culturally sensitive material are subject to real legal restrictions — see Ethical Sourcing & Provenance. If you’re unsure, ask anyway; we’d rather tell you than have you not ask.
- We buy outright and occasionally take things on consignment. Which makes sense depends on the piece.