ABOUT US

THE FINE ARTS SHOP AND HOW IT GREW

ntique oil paintings and modern lithographs hang at random on the walls, a rare porcelain vase sits opposite a display case gleaming with a thousand gold chains. The Fine Arts Shop is a place people bring their out-of-town guests just for the experience. It is a place to visit, to browse, and, to purchase if one wishes, anything from a $1.00 English box to a $15,000.00 Diamond and Platinum bracelet -- or any of thousands of items priced somewhere in between.

he Fine Arts Shop was founded in 1945 by David and Goldie Sherman, primarily as an art and framing shop in downtown Newport News and is still owned today by his two daughters. As local interest in original art and antique frames increased, the Fine Arts Shop responded, and progressively, added to its stock antique furniture, porcelain, cut class, silver, etc. By the 1950s and early '60s hardly a home on the Peninsula was without one Fine Arts item.

n 1965 David Sherman became a member of the Appraisers Association of America which qualified him to appraise, as well as purchase, larger local estates. The estates purchased in the 1970s began to include more and finer lots of jewelry. The shop was, in fact, the first in the area to offer fascinating, one-of-a-kind, pieces of quality jewelry at reasonable prices. By 1975 the Fine Arts Shop had moved to its present location near Hilton Village and jewelry, new and vintage, had become the focus of the business.

oday the Fine Arts Shop is known primarily as a retail dealer in gold, diamonds, precious gems, and new and estate jewelry. A national reputation as a broker of diamonds and antique jewelry means the shop receives frequent estate lots from banks and executors all over the country, and yet still buys single items from individuals. For new jewelry, the shop buys from approximately 50 manufacturers and diamond cutters.

lthough the Fine Arts Shop has grown and changed steadily through the years, it remains a friendly neighborhood store where customers bring in new babies for introduction and home baked cookies for the staff; where David Sherman's original philosophy remains unchanged: Personal service, variety of inventory and the fairest possible markup on the best quality merchandise in any price range.