For over 30 years, David Taylor has been dabbling in antiques. While he wasn’t always interested in antiques, he now calls them a labor of love.
“You don’t move big, heavy pieces of furniture unless you love it,” he said. “I grew up with antiques, that’s what my grandparents and parents had, so I was always around them.”
When Taylor bought his first house, he received items that were passed down from family members such as a chest of drawers, dresser and a bed.
In the mid-80s he became interested in buying antiques for himself. While researching antiques, he found items he felt were undervalued and he began looking for a place he could sell them. Taylor said the next thing he knew, he was in an antique mall and that led to him doing local and state shows.
“Next thing I know I went out of town for shows,” Taylor said. “My dealings with antiques kind of evolved when I retired from teaching and I opened my own store.”
Taylor’s store is downtown at 119 W. 3rd St and has been open for about four and a half years.
“I am very specialized with my antiques,” he said. “If someone comes in my store and is looking for glassware or china, they will quickly know I do not have what they are looking for.”
In fact, people might not even get both feet in the door before knowing if Taylor’s store has what they want.
That’s because David Taylor Antiques is 12×18 feet.
While the space may be small, Taylor said it’s the perfect size for him. He said he was used to small spaces from his years of selling out of a booth at malls and markets, so this location made sense to him.
Taylor’s space is filled with his findings, but most are a specialization of cherry and walnut antiques from Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio with a focus on 19th-century Kentucky art.
“My wife jokingly says I like heavy things,” he said. “Big paintings in big frames and heavy beds.”
Taylor said he gets a lot of inventory from estate sales or in dealing before shows, but he also finds pieces on the internet or through connections of customers and friends.
One of his latest acquisitions began in 1997 when Taylor was contacted by a couple in California about a painting they owned. The man and wife died and their daughter possessed the painting. Two months ago she contacted Taylor because her parents had said they wanted him to have the painting before it went into an estate sale.
“Any time you think you have this business figured out, you don’t, because the business changes daily,” he said. “The best time to buy an antique is when it speaks to you.”
