At Faerie Beads a pair of small abalone shells were displayed on a beautiful Noritake plate that looked like a copy of Meissen or Rosenthal. The trio made an "ensemble" but the plate belonged to the owner's mother and she wouldn't sell it. She sent me to Craig's to see if he had something.
Craig's is the real thing. Tall display cases alternate with items less-purloinable carefully piled in-between.
He told of having graduated in the early '70s when his degree in Business Management was useless. Needing employment, he worked at logging until, eventually, a lumber company hired him to manage their business. Interaction with customers was sometimes difficult prompting him to quit a number of times; but they always managed to lure him back.
He described driving down the street one day when God turned his head so he'd notice the empty storefront for sale. Leaving the lumber sales business, he said he came to realize it was his "job" to be there for all the people who come from all over the world. He has friends from the Marshall Islands to Portland and while I was there a steady stream came through. A couple spoke of their visit several years earlier and how much they'd enjoyed it; a woman came to invite him to a funeral; I watched as he coaxed a tidbit of info from another that enabled him to connect one of his nephews with her sister-in-law; it was heartwarming, a kind of interaction that I gathered is not all that uncommon in rural towns.
The shop is over-flowing and most of it is older than I. Whilst standing in front of a case perusing, a man came up and pointed out some Murano glass from Italy; I recognized a long-barreled pistol from my preschool days when I sported twin holsters and put in a hard day on the range before my afternoon nap.
He was completely opposed to photos of himself or the interior and NO means NO so you'll just have to go see. It's a destination. He did, however, express enthusiasm for a photo of the exterior.
The only signage is a handwritten note at eye level on the door that reads, "Craig's Antiques."
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