COEUR DALENETheres a store here where you can view an original front page from the New York Herald printed the day after John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. Also on display is an elaborate framed costume thats believed to have been worn in Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show in the late 1800s, as well as a set of stained-glass windows from a church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.


It sounds like a museum, but there are a couple of important differences between the store, Ciscos, located at 212 N. Fourth, and a museum collection, says Sam Kennedy, who owns the business with his wife, Denise: No. 1, we have more than most museums, and No. 2, you can take it with you.


If you have the resources, that is.


Ciscos, an antique store that specializes in American and some European antiques and collectibles, deals mostly in important pieces, most of which sell for more than $300, Kennedy says.


Some sell for way more than $300, such as the Wild West show costume, which has a price tag of $15,000, or a four-foot-square example of detailed Crow Indian beadwork, a gift from the Crows to a supporter in 1858, which is priced at $65,000. The newspaper page reporting Lincolns assassination is one of the few pieces in the store that isnt for sale.


Our ideal piece is 19th century, and has some historical significance, Kennedy says. Then it has to be very visual or very functionalnot just something thats old.


The store specializes in Western and Native American antiques, fine art, and early American furniture; in its advertising, the business often refers to itself and its staff as hunters of the past. In addition to the 5,000-square-foot establishment on Fourth, Ciscos also operates a 1,400-square-foot store in the Shops at the Coeur dAlene Resort that has a slightly different mix of inventory but the same overall flavor, and a 5,000-square-foot, by-appointment-only antique-furniture warehouse nearby on Sherman Avenue.


Kennedy cant estimate the number of pieces the business stocks in all three locations: Theyre full, he says. At the main store alone, one corner is packed with about 1,500 pieces of McCoy pottery, a line of stoneware thats avidly sought by collectors, while a nearby cupboard holds some of the inventory of more than 300 Navajo rugs. A glass cabinet displays an array of beaded gauntlets, or cowboy dress-up gloves from the 19th century, and in the back of the store is an extensive display of religious artworks, mostly from the American Southwest.


A tag affixed to almost every piece explains its provenance, or origin, and/or its historical significance, which makes browsing through the shop even more akin to visiting a museum. Kennedy says its not uncommon for folks to spend an hour or two there, just poking around.


Not typical collectors


Ciscos does business nationwide; We deal in about 20 states a week, buying or selling, Kennedy says.


Most of the stores customers are individuals who are decorating their second or third homes, often in such trendy spots as Aspen, Lake Tahoe, or Jackson Hole, he says. Many are looking for something that makes a strong visual statement, he says, such as a birch-bark canoe that Kennedy acquired from a natural-history museum in Colorado. Pointing to the canoe, which is suspended on racks over his cash-register counter, he says, That would look great in the rafters of some home.


Kennedy sometimes buys, sells, and trades with museums; otherwise, he and a network of scouts acquire his inventory a piece at a time from individuals. A lot comes from the same people we sell to as they change focus or upgrade their collections, he says.


Kennedy stresses that his customers arent typical antique collectors.


A real collector hunts to find something, but then wants to buy it at a bargain price. Usually by the time (a piece) gets to me, everybody knows what its worth. He adds, Pieces that you can find in other stores, Im not motivated to buy at any price.


The tourists and vacationers who flock to Coeur dAlenes other antique stores arent a significant part of Ciscos business, he says. Although convention-goers staying at the Coeur dAlene Resort sometimes buy things from Ciscos, the businesss active trading area encompasses about a 400-mile radius, he says. Customers who are farther afield fly in for a weekend to shop, or make their purchases over the phone, based on Kennedys recommendations, he says.


Ciscos also sells goods for commercial projects, such as the decorative items found in Shooters Bar & Grill, on Lake Coeur dAlenes Rockford Bay.


To become known, the store has relied on word-of-mouth and referrals, plus its exhibits at a handful of major antiques shows each spring in cities such as Chicago, Nashville, Houston, and Minneapolis. Kennedy also has been called upon to take part in cable television and radio programs as an expert on Western and Native American antiques, he says.


Moving away from mainstream


Although the Kennedys operate in the lofty realms of the antique business, they didnt start out that way.


The couples first foray into antiques came in 1991, when they opened an antiques mall in Iowa. At the time, Sam Kennedy was chairman of the state of Iowas Department of Natural Resources. Denise Kennedy ran the antiques business full time.


We wanted to carry everything everyone else had so we wouldnt make a mistake: that meant oak, glassware, and pottery. As beginners, we wanted to be in the mainstream, Sam Kennedy told the publication Antique Journal earlier this year.


Now, with nearly a decade of experience and a growing knowledge of the antiques business, we keep upgrading and specializing in earlier and more important pieces, he says.


The Kennedys have gained their expertise through books and research, and knowing a lot of people who know more than (we) know, he says. The first job when acquiring a new piece is to make sure its what its supposed to be, i.e. not a reproduction, he says. When that has been done, hell put a price on it. Because so many of Ciscos items are one of a kind, Kennedy says the appraisal process often resembles that of the real estate businesslooking at comparable items to see what buyers have paid for them.


The Kennedys came to Coeur dAlene and opened Ciscos in 1996, after searching throughout the country for a new place to live.


We deal all over the country, so we needed someplace fun (for customers) to come to, he says.


Now, Sam Kennedy runs the business full time, and Denise works part time while raising their two sons, Colton, 10, and Hunter, 6.


They have two full-time employees, Pat Alvarez, who manages the shop at the Coeur dAlene Resort, and Bud Kirchhoff, who works in the main store. In addition, Kennedy says he has a real large support group upon whom he relies for expertise, help, and advice in identifying and restoring antiques.


Some of these people help Kennedy transform relatively useless oddities that come into his shop into functional pieces. A 1940s wooden duck-hunting boat, for example, became a hutch for a big-screen TV, while a box of core samples from the Crescent Mine, in Kellogg, now is a sofa table.


I design it, and they do it, Kennedy says. Were taking something historical and making it functional.


Kennedy speaks with admiration of some of the pieces hes sold through his store, such as an original poster offering a reward for the kidnapped son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, and a saddle that belonged to Clayton Moore, the actor who played the Lone Ranger on television.


The stores collection, he says, is eclectic, but it fits together. Its the history of our country, from where it came from to where it is today.