We don't just sell antiques — we curate provenance. Each piece in our collection arrives with its story intact: where it lived, who held it, what it witnessed. The narrative is half the treasure.
"The past is not dead — it is not even past. It comes to us through objects that carry memory in their wood grain, their worn edges, their careful repairs. We are merely the latest chapter."— William H. Bassett, Founder, Antique Bazaar & Co.
Each piece listed with its complete provenance and verified story
"Fifty-two keys, each engraved with a room number. Acquired from the estate of the last concierge of the Hotel Kaiserhof, which operated from 1876 until its bombing in 1945. He kept the keys as a reminder of every guest he'd greeted. His granddaughter found the ring when clearing his Salzburg apartment in 1999 and donated it to us personally."
"University of Berlin observatory surplus, sold to a professor of mathematics who used it from his Berlin apartment roof until emigrating to New York in 1938. His son donated it, noting it was the one possession his father refused to leave behind."
"Found beneath floorboards during a renovation of a pre-Civil War kitchen. The potter's mark is consistent with a Charleston workshop active 1835–1855. Five generations of a family stored their flour in this crock."
"Thirty-seven pages of hand-drawn coastal maps of the Caribbean. Initialed 'R.M.' throughout. Our historian dated the ink and vellum to the Seven Years War era. A cartographer mapping trade routes for the East India Company."
"Inscribed inside: 'To my dearest Hugo — May every minute count.' Still running. Purchased at a Zürich estate sale. The inscription and serial trace it to a Geneva banker who gifted it to his son before the Depression."
Every piece that enters our shop is investigated before it's priced. We spend weeks — sometimes months — tracing provenance. We consult estate records, library archives, and auction histories. If we can't verify a story, we say so plainly.
William Bassett opened this shop in 1987 with a single rule: never sell an object without knowing why it matters. That rule has guided every acquisition since.
"Purchased from a waterfront market dealer who had no interest in the contents — only the trunk itself. Inside: a brass sextant, three charts of the Atlantic coast of Africa, a pressed flower between wax paper, a Portuguese rosary, and a photograph of a woman standing on what appears to be a Lisbon quay. No name. No date. Just the handwritten word 'regresso' — 'return' — on the back. We are still searching."
Our shop is open Tuesday through Saturday. New acquisitions arrive weekly. Every visit is different — some days you'll find a Napoleon-era letter opener; others, a Cold War spy camera. You never know.