BLUE MOON ANTIQUES                              
138 S. Houston St.
Wharton, TX., 77488                                       
979-532-0029   

Our Story:

We came to Wharton, TX, James and I, after 7 years on the road with the antique shows. The shows were good to us, but after 7 years it had become an exhausting lifestyle, the shows were on their way out, and it was just time to try another path.

Wharton offered charm and location; far enough from Houston so that one doesn't have to put up with the annoyances of city life and traffic, and CLOSE enough to make Wharton attractive as a destination for a day trip for Houstonians who have tired of the impersonality of shopping in their home town and are looking for something a bit different.

Our shop is Blue Moon Antiques, and we are certainly different! We have unusual antiques for those who are tired of antique shops that are full of garage sale rejects and for those who are tired of antique shops that seem to have more reproduction antiques and craft items than actual antiques or collectibles. Our stock is ever-changing, and includes items from the most unusual vintage toys to vintage glass and porcelains and pottery to vintage kitchen collectibles and interesting furniture. It was never our goal to pack the shop full from ceiling to floor, and from wall to wall. We have always been more interested in having items to offer that actually ARE something. We firmly believe that you have seen every common piece of trash that you ever want to see, and we don't think you should have to look at that sort of thing in our shop too.

Every antique shop must have a secondary line of stock in order to appeal to those who may not necessarily be looking for antiques, and who are maybe just along for the ride with those who do look for antiques. So Blue Moon elected to appeal to those who have tired of the mundane and mediocre.

I began by adding a group of fine jewelry. I personally select each gemstone for quality and beauty, and they are mounted by my goldsmith, who is unsurpassed in her ability to create mountings for the stones of unusually large size or the unique fantasy cuts that I specialize in.  My jewelry pieces are custom made, not commercially produced.  Perhaps 'fashion jewelry' is good enough for some, but it is not good enough for either me or for my clientele. Layaway is available for any item listed on the site, including my spectacular jewelry.
 

But alas, not everyone is as fascinated by gemstones as I am, so the addition of yet a third stock item seemed necessary, and the decision was made by a complete accident, as are so many of my decisions.

When my son and his wife were beginning to furnish their first house, they discovered that they both had a taste for furniture with an Asian influence. I asked a friend of mine in England to hook me up with someone in Japan who could get me a couple of kimono for these kids as a Christmas gift. And, of course, they had to be VINTAGE kimono. And so it was that I was hooked up with my very first supplier in Japan. The garments that he sent to me were breathtaking in their beauty and incredible workmanship, and I decided that I must have them for the shop. My new contact could not hope to supply me at the level I required, and so he kindly gave my information to several other sources who are in the business of supplying people like me.

I settled on the idea of having several different types of garments; most primarily for wearing in public, but also some that would be worn in the home and those that would make spectacular decor on the walls of better homes. I decided on the standard kimono, the haori (pronounced HOW-ree), the juban, and the uchikake. I decided that the bulk of my stock in this venue should be in the haori, available for both women and men, and in a variety of colors, fabrics, and prices. The two things they have in common is their exclusivity and their ability to fit almost anyone because of the way they are designed, which is to be worn open, not closed or belted.

Each garment is one of a kind, with no duplicate. This takes a bit of getting used to for those who have been so inundated with the department store fodder of endless supplies of identical garments. These garments are not something you can "shop and compare"; there is one of each. If you like it, either buy it today or put it in layaway; I CANNOT get you another like it, because there IS no other like it.