Find your treasures at Montville Antiques
Reinhard and Samantha Ryva ... “Customers love to hear the story behind each piece. I guess it makes them even more interesting and unique.”
Being in the same business, in the same location for 40 years is quite an achievement. And Montville Antiques is an example of a business that has weathered many storms throughout its 40 year history, the most recent of which was COVID.
Montville Antiques was founded in Main Street Montville by the Wilcox family. “I think it is wonderful that the shop has remained in the original building as it is such an appropriate place to showcase the beautiful things we stock,” said current owner, Samantha Ryva.
Samantha’s Uncles, Graeme and Dallas, moved from Sydney to take over the business in 2001, changing the name to ‘Australis of Montville Antiques’ (a combination of the name from their Antique Shop in Caringbah, NSW and the original name).
They quickly became well known and much loved in the Montville community.
“My Uncles have been avid collectors for decades and it is incredible how many of our current customers have been associated with the business for a long time.
“I think it is a tribute to the quality of stock they sourced,” she said. “And now people who are downsizing, and Estates approach us to value and sell their pieces.”
Samantha and her husband Reinhard had been living in Singapore where Austrian born Reinhard had a maritime business, and Samantha worked in HR in a corporate environment.
“Graeme and Dallas had been working on us to take on the business after they retired,” Reinhard said. “When we decided we wanted to take it on, Samantha worked with them to learn the business, and study gemmology,” he said.
“We had been planning to go into a retail style business of our own and we were always intrigued by history and antiques so it was actually a wonderful opportunity and a good fit for us.”
It was a perfect fit in view of their respective backgrounds. Samantha had worked in HR, but also had a lifetime interest and involvement in art. “We have really gorgeous jewellery here and to me it is just another art form,” Samantha said. “I have studied gemmology now and that adds another fascinating dimension to jewellery.”
Reinhard had previously worked in South East Asia in marine archaeology, diving for treasure in sunken ships.
“I always had a great passion for maritime history, and I have always loved the historical research aspect of what I was doing and I actually get to apply that here every day,” Reinhard said.
“Of course now we also have the internet at our disposal as well as the wonderful family reference books and that makes some of our research a little faster and easier.”
In April 2019 the couple officially took over the business and the shop name returned to ‘Montville Antiques’, and despite the challenges of COVID, have never looked back. “We have changed things as little as possible,” Samantha said.
“We really only rearranged some of the stock to improve the flow but that’s about it. We are always looking for different things and it is especially great when we are able to learn some of the history of pieces,” Reinhard said.
“Customers love to hear the story behind each piece. I guess it makes them even more interesting and unique. People also just like to come and browse, a bit like a museum, which is great too. We are always happy to chat with people who appreciate beautiful things.”
“We have had some wonderful experiences here already,” Samantha said. “People have become engaged in front of us, and we have even been invited to a customer’s wedding in Singapore after they purchased their engagement ring in our shop.” It’s such a privilege to share those moments with them.”
It is very evident that Montville Antiques is looking forward to a continuing bright future.
• Montville Antiques is at 162 Main Street Montville. Phone 5442 9400.