Our gallery was born slowly and without a definite end in mind. In 2009, my wife and I (Grace and Andrew Silla) were both well-established and quite happy in our own careers. I was in my early twenties running high volume retail stores in the DC Metro market with a very demanding schedule and far too many direct reports while Grace was in marketing and traveled extensively. At the same time, we loved beautiful objects and were enamored by the unique. After outfitting our own home, then selling some pieces from our own collection, we were excited by the response we got from the objects and furniture in our collection. I remember well after selling a carved walnut Victorian settee telling my wife that "if we just sell 500 of these every year, we could quit our jobs!". I wasn't joking! So as time allowed, we began hunting them down more and more seriously "on the side". Eventually "on the side" meant that our home was stacked floor to ceiling with furniture, rugs, paintings and other objects and every waking moment was spent cataloging and photographing pieces. As soon as we got home in the evenings, we would be returning phone calls, arranging deliveries and answering emails until well after midnight - then starting it all over again the next day, waking up while it was still dark out to start my morning commute.

We both knew the inevitable - that we would make a career change and start a new adventure, that something much more exciting was calling us. But it was very difficult to let go of a generous salary and well-defined career path for this trek into the unknown! The inevitable moment came when my boss offered me a promotion that included a very difficult assignment that I really had no business in turning down - except that it would demand so much of my time that there would be no way to continue doing what I loved most! I told him I would consider it over the weekend and on Monday morning with trembling hands I drove to his office and turned in my two month notice, hoping the long notice would keep that door open if our fledgling career as antiques dealers was a flop.

In 2012 we officially stepped out from the protection of a paycheck and began our journey with great intensity. We moved from the Maryland area back to our roots in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in order to be close to family. A few years and a few moves later, an opportunity to acquire a very large building opened up to us and we purchased the gallery location at 117 W Burd St in the historic downtown. The location is open by appointment only, though we are generally in the shop Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday from 9a-5pm and are generally traveling to look at collections on Mondays and Fridays. We have a small staff and one of us is almost always available to meet visiting clients whenever your trip brings you to the area!

Our obsession with sculpture as a cornerstone to the gallery collection began while we were still in Maryland. It was 2011 and I was at a tiny country auction with junk stacked everywhere when I walked up to a glass display case full of nothing noteworthy... except a small black patinated bronze panther with her cubs wrapped in her arms. It was serene. Silky. The matte black patina was so magnetic to me and drew me in immediately - and I had no context on sculpture or any business purchasing it! But I knew I needed to own it. With very limited funds (that were ear-marked for some other objects at the sale!), I broke the bank and bought that sculpture for what felt like a shocking amount of money. Naturally because I thought it was insane and I spent all of our available funds, I sold it as quickly as possible to a collector in South Carolina for $ 4500. And always regretted it. Years later I finally had an opportunity to acquire another cast of the same sculpture, actually a much earlier example but without the wonderful matte patina that captured me in the first.

But that love and tension drove us to study sculpture feverishly. We visited countless museums and private collections, studied and collected a seemingly endless number of volumes, visited fellow dealers, poured over literally thousands of examples in person at auctions and began generally getting a sense of context around this vast array of artists, subjects, foundries, methods until after many years (and many mistakes!) developing "an eye". Through that process, we came to focus largely on the period from 1850 through 1940, venturing out on either side of that band from time to time when something amazing strikes us, but generally staying within that window of sculpture. It was a magical period of sculpture that saw the culmination of perfected casting technologies, competition between a vast array of incredibly skilled foundries and the arrival of an army of middle class collectors who were in a position financially to acquire sculpture that formerly was produced only for the uppermost echelons of society. This new collector base created a deep market that supported the development and sustenance of artists and foundry artisans who competed to create extraordinary surfaces - quality overrode all other considerations. This golden era continued until the Second World War, where most foundries were shuttered and where the generation of skilled artisans either moved to other employment or were lost to war. Bronze was entirely shifted to war production and it is estimated that as many as 1750 bronze monuments and statues were melted down in France alone during the war through 1944. In fits and starts, the industry tried to reopen, but it never became the vibrant ecology that existed prior to 1940 - and in all likelihood will never be seen again. To produce a sculpture to the standard of 1890 today would cost far more than the retail value of an example from 1890 - and with few exceptions, the skill is not available in one house to successfully do so. As a result, I've found that this field is a ripe area for investment - the sculptures are continually being damaged and destroyed and it is impossible to recreate them. We acquire works from the French, German, Italian, Japanese, British and American sculptors in earnest.

We have many hundreds of exquisite examples now in the gallery and we welcome your visit - even if only to view and learn. We offer the unique ability for visitors to compare and contrast museum-quality examples with us beside them to offer context and instruction. While the collection is ever-changing and pieces are constantly selling or being brought in, I generally have available at least a few "identical" models that were cast decades apart from one another - an unmatched way to train your eye for the nuance that make a "good" versus "great" cast.

In addition to sculpture, we love all things beautiful and unusual and difficult to make. The gallery has a vast selection of objects that range from 1750 through the contemporary. Decorative objects, rugs and fabulous furniture. All objects are carefully and considerately restored, documented photographically and verbally with exacting condition notes and guaranteed for authenticity. While there is some limited consignment in the gallery, generally with clients that are known to us and to whom we offer this service on a case-by-case basis, almost every piece in our collection is "owned" by the gallery. We believe in each and every item and put our own funds behind them.

If you are not available to visit our physical gallery, we exhibit at prominent specialist shows throughout the year and we would love to meet you at them - view our show schedule to see when we might be in your area. We are also thrilled to meet collectors via FaceTime to discuss and showcase specific pieces.