We recently welcomed Burke’s Antiques to the Manhattan Art & Antiques Center. Located on the First Concourse (street level) of the Center, Burke’s Antiques is a cozy, elegant shop remniscent of an old-fashioned English manor; bright brass curios cast dancing shadows on the walls, tall vases of flowers decorate gleaming wooden tables full of treasures. Below, gallery owner, Diana Calamari tells us about her new shop.
1) Your gallery has a very distinct aesthetic. What period and style of antiques do you specialize in?
Diana Calamari: My antiques are from England and date from 1800 through about 1930. I deal Victorian and Edwardian decorative accessories and objet d’art such as brass, porcelain, paper mache, and cast iron. I also deal in unusual decorative furniture.
2) Unusual decorative furniture like these striking brass and silver prancing horses? Can you tell us about them?
Diana Calamari: The horses were actually done in the 1800s to be used as decoration for the base of a country kitchen fireplace! Now they make great door stops or bookends.
3) We noticed your “store cat” perched above the cabinet. What’s his story?
Diana Calamari: The cat was purchased on my first buying trip to England, 28 years ago. It is a reproduction door stop and I was going to sell it to special order from England. However, whenever I quoted the price everyone said “That’s expensive!” So after a while I said “OK, cat, you’re mine!” and I would not consider selling it for any price now.
5) We hope you don’t sell it–you’re our first dealer with a totem animal! What originally drew you to the antiques business?
Diana Calamari: After 25 years as an interior designer, I had finally burnt out and turned to my first love, antiques. Antique accessories have such a wonderful story to tell about a life and time never again to be seen, and to keep this history alive is what I do. No one gets away with just buying something from me they get a history lesson thrown in….even if they don’t buy!
6) This is like asking you to pick your most beloved child but do you have a favorite antique here?
Diana Calamari: The vintage mail box is a favorite of mine as it has an original name card: Group Captain H.E. Tansley, Royal Air Force. It also has the original mini lock and key, and a holder for a town newspaper at the base–what detail! I love it.
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You can find Diana Calamari and her longtime feline companion at Burke’s Antiques, Gallery #4 at The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center, 1050 Second Ave. She can be reached at (212) 570 2964 or burkesantiques@verizon.net. You can also visit her website burkesantiques.com. Since Father’s Day is fast upon us, it seems a good time to note Burke’s Antiques has one of the Center’s best collections of elegant antiques for gentleman. See some of our favorites below and more on her gallery page.
Paperweight in the form of a steer head, silver plate, England, circa 1870.
Glass and silver mounted square fluted Art Deco decanter, English, c. 1930.
Brass royal note holder with an oak tree & shield design, England, circa 1860.
Brass nut cracker in the form of a cat, England, circa 1890.
Brass bank in the form of a Beefeater, England, 1891.
