"This is what we love," explained Kevin Kleinbardt, who opened Yew Tree House Antiques with Ahna Petersen in the mid 1980s. While other antique shops have shrunken or folded in previous years, Yew Tree House has actually seen expansion in retail space, largely a testament to the owners, who shared with me that their true passion lies with seventeenth and eighteenth century English country antiques.
When I visited in 2015, however, an extremely rare collection of fifty-two carved folk art fish from the early twentieth century took over an entire wall. According to Kevin, each was crafted by a descendant of the Bounty mutineers from Pitcairn and signed accordingly on the bottom. Other pieces that caught my interest were a wood-carved and painted carousel zebra by Karl Muller from Germany, textured nautical prints by British artist Julian Meredith done with elm timber and Japanese rice paper, and an eighteenth Century French mirror.
Kevin's favorite part of what he does is the hunt, searching all over Europe and up and down the East Coast for intriguing folk art and homey antiques. "I do not know what I will come across... but I like a nice patina, and something with character that shows its age." He paused, and then added, "there are so many discoveries to be made out there." As a side street explorer, I have to agree there is always more to be found, and Yew Tree House Antiques is certainly a gem not to be overlooked.
