Oscar's Antiques: an amazing maze of one-of-a-kind treasures for home or gift giving
By María Eugenia Guerra
If you've never taken the time to visit Oscar's Antiques at 1002 Guadalupe, carve out a couple of hours to work your way through the maze of old saddles and tack, spurs, folk art, rustic furniture, Mexican primitive antiques, old wooden doors, and religious objects that include carved statues, retablos, devotional altars, milagros, crucifixes, and virgenes of all sizes and manifestations.
The set makers for the recent release of The Alamo visited Oscar's Antiques over several months and left with a quarry of altars, nichos, furniture, gourds, bateas (large wooden mixing bowls), antique hardware, and crucifixes. “They came back, and came back again,” said store owner Bertha Cardenas.
No doubt they saw what other decorators want to see -- one of a kind individual pieces that look none the worse for the wear of decades or centuries. You won't find anything made of particle board at Oscar's. You'll see a lot of weathered wood on the very old pieces and beautiful grain on the newer pieces.
In the area that holds trasteros for the kitchen, you might be standing in the middle of 20 trasteros, but they are all different, as are the milking stools (three-legged for cow milking, square legs for goat milking).
Oscar's carries old ranching implements and tools, oxen yokes, large copper pots, holsters, cowboy hats, and boots and spurs, as well as hardware and pulls for cabinets and furniture.
In addition to the 10,000-square foot Guadalupe Street location, Cardenas has an additional warehouse filled with unfinished furniture from Michoacan, Guadalajara , and Guanajuato. “It's pretty easy to put together a dining room set from this warehouse. We also have sideboards, chests, desks, and end tables,” she said.
“Our customers include individuals who are building homes or offices. They want those spaces to say something defining about them. We work with decorators who help them find the right piece,” Cardenas said.
“We've sold quite a few of those,” Cardenas said of the massive buffalo head mount that dominates one of the rooms at Oscar's.
“A lot of people who are furnishing their homes or ranch houses don't want a uniform look to a room. They want it to have character and so they mix and match. You can see that look in the home we furnished for Millennium Homes for the Parade of Homes,” Cardenas said.
Oscar's Antiques is open Monday through Friday from 9 a .m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday by appointment. Early bird and after-hours shoppers can call Cardenas at (956) 723-0765.
