May 1, 2021 at 4:27 a.m.
Artistic antiques
Longtime lover of found ‘stuff’ has opened a new antique shop in renovated space in Pennville
Artistic antiques
When he was young, Frank Webber liked to dig through the dump.
That’s where his love for art and antiques started.
“Oh, my god, the stuff I found,” Webber said. “I’ve been hooked ever since I was a kid.”
He recently opened his antique store, Artrageous Finds, in Pennville.
Webber has lived in nine different states. He spent 34 years in Florida, where he owned an auction business and a gallery. He moved to Indiana a few years ago after purchasing the two storefronts in Pennville.
His nearly 29 years of background in the construction business also came in handy for repair work after he bought the sites at the corner of Union and Lagro streets. He’s finished with repairs to the southernmost space attached to the former grocery store and opened it for his antique business.
Webber, who works full-time at IQ Fibers of Bluffton, has been working on the building for a few years in his free time.
“I can’t say how much work he has put into that place and how far it’s come,” said Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards.
Some of his work in the building included replacing the windows and adding green trim, chipping mold off the walls, working on gas lines and renovating the bathroom, including fixing it up with a Dutch punched brass mirror and a 1925 sink.
He’s still in the process of repairs to the first floor of the former grocery store. Plans are to use it as an auction house, and Webber hopes to renovate the upstairs to use as his future apartment.
A proud curator of the arts, Webber boasts a variety of paintings along his shop’s walls. He also has furniture, light fixtures, pots and other items from a variety of cultures and time periods, such as French, Italian, mid-century, English, American and Chinese. All pieces in his store have a history and a story behind them.
There’s a Chinese Tang Dynasty horse statue in his window. His oldest item in stock in April was a 1680 coffer chest.
“My business isn’t like this other businesses because my business is 100% interest,” Webber said. “I never know what I’m going to find.”
As a child in South Berwick, Maine, Webber delivered papers for the local newspaper. He wasn’t interested in being a paper boy, though.
“I’m going down the road one day and I look over the side and I see a bunch of old bottles,” he remembered.
He dug through the mud to pull them out and took them home. After a few days of this, he decided one day to toss the newspapers away and fill his delivery sack with bottles instead. His dad confronted him when he returned to the house.
“Frank, did you deliver the newspapers?” his father asked.
He told his father, falsely, that he had finished his job.
That’s where his love for art and antiques started.
“Oh, my god, the stuff I found,” Webber said. “I’ve been hooked ever since I was a kid.”
He recently opened his antique store, Artrageous Finds, in Pennville.
Webber has lived in nine different states. He spent 34 years in Florida, where he owned an auction business and a gallery. He moved to Indiana a few years ago after purchasing the two storefronts in Pennville.
His nearly 29 years of background in the construction business also came in handy for repair work after he bought the sites at the corner of Union and Lagro streets. He’s finished with repairs to the southernmost space attached to the former grocery store and opened it for his antique business.
Webber, who works full-time at IQ Fibers of Bluffton, has been working on the building for a few years in his free time.
“I can’t say how much work he has put into that place and how far it’s come,” said Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards.
Some of his work in the building included replacing the windows and adding green trim, chipping mold off the walls, working on gas lines and renovating the bathroom, including fixing it up with a Dutch punched brass mirror and a 1925 sink.
He’s still in the process of repairs to the first floor of the former grocery store. Plans are to use it as an auction house, and Webber hopes to renovate the upstairs to use as his future apartment.
A proud curator of the arts, Webber boasts a variety of paintings along his shop’s walls. He also has furniture, light fixtures, pots and other items from a variety of cultures and time periods, such as French, Italian, mid-century, English, American and Chinese. All pieces in his store have a history and a story behind them.
There’s a Chinese Tang Dynasty horse statue in his window. His oldest item in stock in April was a 1680 coffer chest.
“My business isn’t like this other businesses because my business is 100% interest,” Webber said. “I never know what I’m going to find.”
As a child in South Berwick, Maine, Webber delivered papers for the local newspaper. He wasn’t interested in being a paper boy, though.
“I’m going down the road one day and I look over the side and I see a bunch of old bottles,” he remembered.
He dug through the mud to pull them out and took them home. After a few days of this, he decided one day to toss the newspapers away and fill his delivery sack with bottles instead. His dad confronted him when he returned to the house.
“Frank, did you deliver the newspapers?” his father asked.
He told his father, falsely, that he had finished his job.
Being covered in head to toe in dirt and having a sack full of bottles and other glass items didn’t do much to sell his story.
It also didn’t help that his customers had already blown the whistle on him.
“Well, I didn’t know people would call,” Webber recalled.
He also didn’t know at the time that the treasures he dug up were Keen (Sunburst) flasks. (Today, those bottles sell anywhere from $800 to $1,500, Webber noted.)
He would clean his loot and take it around town to sell, and he generally made more from his side business than he did working the paper route, he recalled.
Webber’s father was also an auctioneer and antique seller.
“I was born into the industry,” Webber explained. “Our whole hustle when we grew up was oriental rugs, killer Queen Anne tables …”
Webber’s store hours may change but are set currently from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Once the auction house opens –– there is no date set for that yet –– he hopes it will bring more people to his business.
A couple walked in one Saturday morning in April and bought two furniture items he’d brought in just the day before.
They didn’t know the little boy who used to sneak away to search for buried treasure at the dump.
It also didn’t help that his customers had already blown the whistle on him.
“Well, I didn’t know people would call,” Webber recalled.
He also didn’t know at the time that the treasures he dug up were Keen (Sunburst) flasks. (Today, those bottles sell anywhere from $800 to $1,500, Webber noted.)
He would clean his loot and take it around town to sell, and he generally made more from his side business than he did working the paper route, he recalled.
Webber’s father was also an auctioneer and antique seller.
“I was born into the industry,” Webber explained. “Our whole hustle when we grew up was oriental rugs, killer Queen Anne tables …”
Webber’s store hours may change but are set currently from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Once the auction house opens –– there is no date set for that yet –– he hopes it will bring more people to his business.
A couple walked in one Saturday morning in April and bought two furniture items he’d brought in just the day before.
They didn’t know the little boy who used to sneak away to search for buried treasure at the dump.
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