When I first walked into Anastacia’s Antiques in Philadelphia, I was immediately lost in a wonderland of Victorian furniture, vintage typewriters, lamps, and clocks, taxidermy, sideshow banners draping the walls, and much more awaiting my gaze. Surrounded by so many oddities, it wasn’t terribly surprising to hear the next customer walk in and try to sell a haunted heirloom. After about a ten-minute story, storeowner Anastacia Fahnestock declined.
As it turned out, the shop doesn’t have a haunted objects department. At least, not officially.
But if you’re looking for anything else strange and unusual, you’ll find it here. Behind the glass shields of antique cabinets and display cases sit glass eyes, frightening surgical tools, books about diseases and artificial limbs, circus memorabilia, creepy puppets, post-mortem photos, Victorian jewelry, stereoview cards, phrenology booklets, haunted decks of cards, and well, the list could go on and on.
Anastacia’s has been welcoming curiosity seekers at 617 Bainbridge Street since 1993, but Fahnestock and her co-owner and husband, Scott Evans, started years before that with sidewalk sales at the corner of 16th and Spruce.
“Right next to the ATM,” Fahnestock noted. “Nice and convenient.”
The couple started the business in 1985 in an effort to earn money for a wisdom tooth removal. They would go trash picking, fix up their finds, and sell them.
“Our first sidewalk sale was successful and we got enough money to have the teeth extraction,” Fahnestock said, “but we realized we were onto something, because we had a touch. We knew what people were looking for.”
As their business grew, they moved from the sidewalk to the basement of an auction house and then to a flea market at a former synagogue. The other dealers traded with them and the scene had good energy, but when the market’s management became overbearing, it was time to move on. That’s when they found their current location.
“A friend of ours asked if we wanted to sublet this place because he was ‘going away,’” Fahnestock explained. “He got caught selling stolen VCRs and wanted us to rent from him till he got out of jail. But there was a big sign saying the building was for sale. So we skirted around him and bought the building.”
Strange and unusual objects have been coming and going ever since. One of the oddest oddities they’ve sold is a tiny, dried fetus in a jar that became known as the alien baby.
“We never quite figured out what it was,” Evans said. “It may have been human, but it was very little. Everyone was amazed by it. It had the tiniest little fingers.”
They had purchased it from another oddities collector who has also sold them a Feejee Mermaid and a monkey’s paw. The alien baby’s new owner loves it so much she tattooed its likeness on her shoulder.
Although everything is for sale, there are certain items that Fahnestock and Evans like having around. They add atmosphere and enhance the aesthetic of the shop. So when a wealthy woman visited from New York City and wanted to buy a set of antique puppets—the “heart of the shop”—Fahnestock tried to dissuade her.
“I threw this ridiculous price out and to my horror she said, ‘I’ll take them.’” Fahnestock explained. “I had this Sophie’s Choice moment, thinking you can’t take them! I never thought I would feel like that. I mean, I have a child. A flesh-and-blood child. But these things are really attached to me. I have an arrangement with her, so when I’m ready, she’ll be the one that I call.”
Evans tries not to fall in love with anything on sale just to avoid the pain of watching it sell. “We had another Feejee mermaid here a few months ago that we had for a few years and we priced it high so it would stick around. But somebody opened a mermaid museum in Baltimore and had to have it. There goes another child!”
Of course, it’s not just about feeling an attachment to an object. “If we sell too much cool stuff quickly it kills the vibe of the entire store,” Fahnestock said. “So there are certain things you just price very high and hope they hang around.”
“People come and they expect to see something neat,” Evans added. “And it’s hard to keep it up.”
They work diligently to continuously unearth new attractions by scouring online for unusual items, going to flea markets (in pre-Covid days) and dealing with other collectors.
“If there’s good buying to be done, we’ll do it,” Evans said. “That’s the most important part. You gotta have the goods.”
And while their home is decorated with oddities too, they bring a lot of favorites to the shop. “This is our living room,” Evans said, “we share it with people. We try to make this place as good as it can be.”
Step one foot inside their doors, and it’s clear they’re succeeding.
Visit Anastacia’s Antiques at 617 Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia, or online at anastaciasantiques.com or on Instagram @anastaciasphilly. All photos by Marc Hartzman.
