For Shawn and Natasha Eshaghian, owners of The Antique Parlour, jewelry has always been a family affair. Shawn grew up visiting his dad’s jewelry booth on 47^th street from the age of 13 where, absent the distraction of cell phones, he would watch how his father spoke to the other dealers in neighboring booths and vendors from overseas. Natasha would visit her father’s diamond office, watching him sort diamonds, and later worked summers in her uncles’ fancy colored diamond business. There, she was able to put her sense of business and love for diamonds and beautiful things into use. When they met at a mutual friends’ jewelry event years later, she had graduated from FIT and was working on her own line and he was in high end watches.

Once married, their jewelry business and tastes evolved. “I fell in love with antique jewelry after we got married. I didn’t know about this world and quickly learned so much and fell in love with it,” says Natasha. When Shawn’s father retired, Shawn saw the opportunity to take over his fathers’ business – and make it his own. He allowed his interests in antiques to draw him deeper and deeper into historical jewelry, “I was always fascinated with the antique jewelry, the one of a kind and the stories behind them,” he says.

While The Antique Parlour features items from the Georgian era all the way through more modern, retro designs, their big Art Deco collection is an impressive display of the Eshagian’s jewelry passions. “The era of Art Deco, in my opinion, is the greatest era of jewelry ever,” says Shawn “The quality and the images and the geometric designs; I’m really drawn to that.” They also have a large collection of antique wedding bands that was kicked off by the purchase of a lot that still had their old price tags on them. The tags themselves were antiques, metal, and showing outdated prices like $5. From there, Shawn admits, they were hooked, “We’re always, always buying bands – I love them.”

It’s still a tiny family business. In addition to raising their three children, Natasha puts summers with her uncles to good use and runs the entire back end of the business. Shawn, with the help of a nephew a few hours a week, does everything from photography to shipping to organizing the merchandise. They often make sourcing decisions together. “It’s both of our vision,” says Natasha and Shawn quickly agrees. “I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without her help and support,” he says. “I think we make a great team.”