Marmalade Antiques
“I probably got my first antique in 1975.” It was an Aladdin lamp Steven Finch found in a small shop on South Main Street in Salt Lake City. He kept it for more than fifty years before finally selling it. That one purchase began a lifelong fascination with objects from another time, one that today fills Marmalade Antiques, Steven’s wonderfully unexpected shop tucked inside his historic home in the heart of the Marmalade neighborhood.
Steven grew up in Santaquin, Utah, when it was still a very small town. He spent his childhood riding horses and playing baseball, with little indication of where his interests would eventually lead. After moving to Salt Lake and studying biology at Westminster College, Steven headed to Phoenix. There, an opportunity to purchase a business took him in an entirely different direction.
Phoenix proved to be an ideal place to pursue his growing interest. Estate and garage sales frequently offered the contents of entire households, and Steven had plenty of room for his acquisitions in his sprawling 1920s adobe house he purchased there. The house itself became another passion. In poor condition when he found it, Steven spent years restoring it, learning skills that would later lead him to renovate and sell houses after returning to Utah.
But it was old houses that continued to draw Steven. Eventually, that attraction brought him to Marmalade, where he purchased a home whose earliest room dates to the 1850s. Steven had already accumulated enough to fill a shop, and the property offered exactly what he wanted - a place where he could live surrounded by the things he loved and share them with others. Marmalade Antiques opened in 2012.
Today, the rooms are filled with pieces Steven has spent decades learning to recognize and appreciate: furniture primarily from the 1920s through the 1940s, pottery, glassware, vintage jewelry, stained-glass lamps, kitchen pieces, Native American pottery and objects, and the occasional piece from the late nineteenth century. He continues to buy regularly, adding something new whenever the right item comes along. Among the more unexpected offerings is uranium glass, much of it dating from the Depression era. Steven keeps a black light handy to reveal the brilliant glow created by uranium once added to the glass to produce its distinctive color. It is exactly the sort of surprise that makes wandering through Marmalade Antiques so much fun.
Steven has also watched tastes circle back. Glassware that was difficult to sell for years has begun attracting attention again, and many of his customers are in their twenties, drawn to vintage jewelry, watches, and pieces from another era. Others come looking for pottery, furniture, or stained-glass lamps, while some simply enjoy seeing what has found its way into the shop.
There are no rigid hours or elaborate business plans here. Steven spent years operating Marmalade Antiques while working full time. Now that he is retired from his career in the medical field, Steven opens when it suits him. That freedom has allowed something that began with one Aladdin lamp more than fifty years ago to remain a pleasure. “I still like collecting,” Steven said. “It’s always a treasure.”
