Petersons Antiques

Don’t bother. The salesperson was rude and when we asked a question about an item he simply said «no» and walked into the bathroom completely ignoring us and the rest of the customers in the store. We immediately walked out.

The best antique store I have been in for a long time. Upstairs they have lots of smalls but downstairs that is where you will find the best selection of furniture anywhere. New furniture stores will not have this good of a selection that you will find here. Prices are high but the quality is high as well. I will be back!

I judge an antique store by its selection of purses and jewelry and if they are lacking in that, it means they don’t have diverse sources of antiques (people from all over give all kinds of things and the best antique places have lots of everything in my opinion — people look for different things of course).
Petersons didn’t have much of a problem here. They keep their more expensive jewelry in a glass display case up front and store everything else is a wood chest with many drawers just to the right of it. I’m used to walking into a disorganized clutter of this and that where the jewelry is in 10 different locations inconspicuously placed under old hats and dusty children’s books — that’s the kind of antiquing I’ve become accustomed to.
The woman at the front — Mrs. Peterson, I assume — knew where everything was exactly. And she lead me around, no so much to keep an eye on me, but in her own words, «to teach those younger about things older.» I liked the way she put that.
She had a lot of jewelry I like and a lot not worth buying. Nothing was dirt cheap either — which is always a nice surprise if you find a place that doesn’t put much stock in their jewelry sales and end up practically giving stuff away. But this wasn’t the case. She showed me some classic «sets» of brooches and matching clip-​on earrings and I found a rare pink diamond-​like strawberry brooch from Weiss, an old producer of costume jewelry from the 1940s on through 1971.
She was willing to give me the set for $ 50 (and it sells for at least $ 100 on the Internet) and I considered buying it for my friend who coincidentally collects strawberry things — whatever they might be and if it’s jewelry all the better.
I continued on and the lady came around to show me an incredible and also rare hand beaded purse made by Elsie Tu Hong Kong (selling for $ 65). I said I would consider buying both the jewelry set and the bag for $ 75 and she agreed — (I like a shopkeeper who barters).
In the basement — there are many, MANY beautiful wood chests and desks. They were all well-​kept and interesting pieces — if I had the money I would come here for some furniture pieces. She showed me only one dilapidated couch that was also a rare find in that it was made for a duchess of something and there was this long-​winded story about it that I have already forgotten and oh well.
I’ll be back to Petersons — mark my words. If you make a trip — don’t be dissuaded by the initial inflated price — she’ll lower it significantly if you reason with her.