Dealer Spotlight #858
Dealer Spotlight: Bart & Linda Lester — Black Bart’s Antiques
Dealer #868 | Florence Lane | Case #4 | Wall Spaces Throughout the Mall
Bart and Linda Lester have been part of Antique World Mall almost since its beginning. They joined the mall in 2001 after a short stint running their own shop—and discovering that they weren’t really shopkeepers. They would much rather be out hunting for treasures than sitting around waiting to sell them.
For Bart, antiques have always been a part of life. His father was in the business, as was his grandfather, who used to follow the local trash routes looking for interesting things that others had discarded. Apparently, the instinct to rescue a good find runs in the family.
In the early 1970s, Bart bought an antique store in Idaho City called Goldie’s Trash & Treasure. Since he didn’t think he looked much like a Goldie—and wasn’t quite sure what else to call the store—he took inspiration from the notorious California stagecoach robber Black Bart, who made the unfortunate career choice of robbing Wells Fargo.
And so, Black Bart’s Antiques was born.
When Bart and Linda married in 1986, Linda joined him in his antique adventures. Unlike Bart, she hadn’t grown up around antiques and had a lot to learn. They enjoyed going to yard sales together, but Linda rarely picked up anything unless it was something they could use in their own home. Finally, Bart told her to find something she liked and make it her own part of the business.
Linda had loved jewelry since childhood, so jewelry it was. She began learning about antique and vintage jewelry, studying costume jewelry makers and discovering how to recognize a good piece when she found one. Over the years, her interests expanded to include fur coats, figurines, and especially what she describes as “anything with a face on it.”
She is fascinated by the fact that people can look so completely different from one another while being made up of essentially the same features—two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears. Linda also majored in art at Boise State University and has a great appreciation for good art pieces.
Bart’s interests, meanwhile, are a little harder to contain.
He loves old woodworking tools, hammers, axes, kerosene lanterns, knives, and just about anything else that catches his eye. That variety is reflected in their spaces at Antique World Mall. When Bart finds something interesting, there is always a chance it will eventually make its way into the store.
Of course, many of his best finds never quite make it that far.
Today, Black Bart’s Antiques, Dealer #868, doesn’t fit neatly into any one category—and that’s part of the fun. Bart and Linda have a booth on Florence Lane, Case #4 near the front of the store, and wall spaces located throughout Antique World Mall and around their booth.
On any given visit, you might find kitchenware, glassware, figurines, toys, handbags, fur coats, jewelry, tools, artwork—or something neither of them was expecting to bring home in the first place.
It’s a collection of things that caught Bart or Linda’s eye somewhere along the way. Some are practical, some are beautiful, some are unusual, and some are simply too interesting to leave behind.
After decades of buying, selling, collecting, and treasure hunting, Bart and Linda still enjoy the part of the antique business that drew them to it in the first place:
You never know what you’re going to find next.
Stop by Dealer #868 on Florence Lane, browse Case #4 at the front of the store, and be sure to keep an eye out for their wall displays throughout the mall. You never know which Black Bart’s Antiques treasure might be waiting for you.
Antique World Mall
4544 Overland RD
Boise, ID 83705