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Religious antiques sale and auctions in the
Antique Web!
Collecting Religious Antiques
 Taking
Stock in the Sacred:
Dealers carve niche in religious antiques market
by
Elizabeth Hanes
You could be forgiven for feeling an urge to
kneel and genuflect upon entering Edward Holgate's antique
store. The lifelike carved crucifixes and images of martyrs
staring down from the walls bid even the most devout person
pause.
Tucked fittingly between the historic San Felipe de Neri
church and an open-air shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the
Old Town district of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Saints & Martyrs
Religious Antiques caters to those whose collecting tastes run
to the sacred. It's a small antiques niche, but Holgate and
his partner, Tim Rodgers, have been successful at it for
nearly six years.
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Ecce Homo: Behold the Man. This carved, painted
wood sculpture with glass and tin is priced $3,600
even in its worn condition. |
The genesis of the idea to deal in religious antiques occurred
during a 1989 trip to Mexico. Holgate and some friends spent
three weeks traveling through Mexico City and the southern
part of the country, buying antique works of art for their
personal collections. A few years later, the idea of becoming
an antiques dealer surfaced again.
"I was dissatisfied with my job in a museum gallery," Holgate
said. It seemed the perfect time to make the transition to
gallery owner.
Aware that the antiques industry is a fickle one, Holgate and
Rodgers took a very businesslike approach to their new
venture, writing a business plan, completing a market
assessment and scouting several locations--including
Scottsdale and Tucson--before settling their shop in the heart
of Albuquerque's tourist district.
"When we were starting up, some friends told us [of two ways
to finance an antiques business]. 'You can either start with a
large fortune and end with a smaller one, or you can do [it
by] hard work and credit cards.' We did hard work and credit
cards," Holgate says with a laugh.
The two knew they wanted to focus on religious antiques, but
in the beginning they stocked an eclectic mix of furniture,
art, and newer items. As their business evolved, they
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The size, quality and artistry of this
carved wood bust justify the $12,000 price tag.
Anime Sola, a Lonely Soul in Purgatory, is made of
polychrome wood with real glass eyes. Mexican, circa
1906. |
dropped
the furniture in order to focus on art and antiques. Today,
they carry primarily Mexican or Spanish colonial religious art
and objects, some as old as 400 years. Holgate balances the
antique items with new books and milagros (charms).
"We want to make the shop accessible," Holgate explains. "We
have items ranging from seventy-five cents to $12,000."
Serious collectors gravitate toward the 19th-century retablos
(oil paintings on tin depicting saints and other Biblical
figures) and carved wood crucifixes and statues. "People
collecting the antiques tend to see them as Spanish Colonial
art" as opposed to holy objects, Holgate said.
And the idea of the sacredness of the objects sometimes
becomes a point of controversy.
Holgate said occasionally someone will enter the store and be
put off by the assortment of religious antiques.
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This large mid-19th-century Mexican crucifix of carved
wood and cloth with gilding and paint retails for
$4,800. |
"Some people feel like religious objects should not be any
part of commerce," he says. He reminds these patrons that
"these [objects] are [acquired] on public markets, like any
other object in the world." Indeed, religious objects have
been bought and sold throughout the centuries. As Holgate
points out, even Michelangelo was paid for his religious
artworks.
Fortunately, most folks who enter Saints & Martyrs are looking
for precisely what the shop offers. Holgate reports an upturn
in clients seeking to create sacred spaces in their home. He
tweaked his inventory to meet this need by stocking books on
the subject of building a home altar. He also serves a
burgeoning group of collectors who want to bring the saints
into everyday life.
"I can't say the religious antiques market is a growing one,
but it's a steady market," Holgate said.
He and Rodgers acquire their inventory through buying trips to
Mexico and, more recently, Spain and Italy.
"As late as the mid-90s, it was still possible to shop on your
own" at flea markets and antique stores in Mexico to obtain
items, Holgate says. "But now we rely on personal
connections--local dealers, most of them without shops--who go
to antique flea markets and get items for us."
Though jetting around the world to acquire religious antiques
for his clientele sounds very exotic, Holgate says he loves
his business for more personal reasons.
"Part of the story to me is the conversations with people.
That's the fascinating part to me, because I collect the
stories."
Saints & Martyrs Religious Antiques is located at 404-A San
Felipe NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, (505) 224-9323. |
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