20 shops offer a variety of antiques

FREDERICKSBURG The padded rocking chair sitting outside Caroline Square antiques store is an inviting sight for those weary after a day of walking around historic downtown Fredericksburg.

Besides, how can someone turn down the offer written along the chairback, almost pleadingly, for husbands to sit a spell, while their wives continue on inside to check the store's wares.

A resting spot is a requisite for anyone bold enough to spend a day shopping at the more than 20 antiques shops in downtown Fredericksburg.

There are all types of shops for the avid antiques shopper. On the one hand, there's Collector's Den, which is primarily a coin dealer but also sells other collectibles -- baseball cards, vinyl records, magazines, cans and glass bottles.

Or a shopper could weave through the maze of dealers inside the two-story R&R Antiques Shop, described as the largest antiques mall in downtown Fredericksburg, according to a brochure at the Fredericksburg Visitor Center.

"We rent spaces out to different dealers," said Janet Rushing, operator of R&R Antiques. "They come in and take care of their own place, straightening it up. They bring their own items in and we sell it for them."

Inside R&R Antiques, which was formerly an F.W. Woolworth store, is a myriad of dealers specializing in antiques such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, dolls and Civil War memorabilia.

One of the first dealers you see upon walking into the store is Collectors Frame, owned and operated by the husband-wife team of Jim and Karen Bruns. They feature relics from the Civil War era, ranging from currency to bullets to bayonets.

"I started collecting in the'60s with my father, relic hunting, and 15 years ago started the business," Jim Bruns said. "We find some of the relics and get them from other dealers also. We don't find enough anymore."

For keepsakes, the Bruns can place relics in a frame to be displayed and protected.

They even offer relics for newshounds -- newspapers dating to the early 1800s. Flipping through his stack of papers covered in plastic, Bruns pulls out an 1801 edition of the Literary Gazette, a newspaper from New Hampshire; and a 1869 Harper's Weekly front page.

At another end of the store lies Granny's Treasures, operated by Douglas and Debby Hall. They specialize in oak furniture, mostly from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Halls have been in the antiques business for 25 years.

Debby Hall recalled a time last year when a couple from New York was visiting a soon-to-be-married family member attending nearby University of Mary Washington and happened upon Granny's Treasures and a piece of furniture they just had to buy.

"They were here for the day . . . and they bought it as a wedding gift," she said.

For out-of-the-ordinary antiques, Blue Shark Antiques and Collectibles is a must stop. Mary Respass, who owns the store with son Mark, said such shoppers are the store's target market.

"We're trying to really deal with unusual things as well as normal antiques," she said. "We try to find what people are looking for."

One of the main attractions in the store is probably the only thing not for sale. From the sidewalk, passers-by can't help noticing the large, blue shark hanging from the ceiling. Although people have inquired about purchasing the store's namesake, Respass and her son won't part with it.

But items on sale run the gamut of Star Wars action figures -- the originals from the 1970s as well as the more recent movies -- to a 1945 Admiral TV set and a Victrola phonograph.

For people looking for the rare artifact, a covered-wagon mobile kitchen and a binnacle from a World War II ship are for sale. Rarer still is an authentic fore-edge book, a 1850 Book of Common Prayer, trimmed in gold. When the pages are fanned out, a hand-painted scene is revealed.

When Respass pulls the book out of its locked display case and fans the pages, a Nativity scene is shown.

This and many other pieces of history await those meandering through the streets of downtown Fredericksburg. And if you need to sit a spell, sidle up to the rocking chair outside Caroline Square and have a seat.

Fredericksburg

Source: Fredericksburg Visitor Center