Featured Shop Items: Decorative Trays by Ben's Garden

Are you in love with antique images of New York City? Here at the Museum Shop we have many items that show us what New York looked like in the old days. Among our more artistic items are decorative trays and paperweights by Ben’s Garden. Ben’s Garden was opened in Oyster Bay, Long Island in 2004 and offers high-quality, hand-crafted decoupage trays and other decorative items. His carefully detailed work has been coveted by Oprah and featured in InStyle and InStyle Wedding magazines.

We have several different types of Ben's trays and paperweights in stock right now that are perfect as table decorations or even to hold small items like keys.

This first item is a decorative tray showing a vintage map of Brooklyn. (left, $75)

There are also two different street map trays for sale ($80 and $125). You can see the changes between the two designs in terms of color, size and shape as well as the changes of New York itself.

On both maps Roosevelt Island is called Blackwell's Island (this piece of land has gone through many name changes). On the older map (the one with lots of pink) the Brooklyn Bridge is referred to as Suspension Bridge and the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges have not yet been constructed.

By the time the greener map was made, the Brooklyn Bridge had its modern name and the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges are included. Even so, they still look very different from the map we use today! We're used to seeing all the subway and bus lines that lead to and from the other boroughs and throughout Manhattan. It's amazing to think there was a time when there were no buses or underground trains.

If you are in love with the New York skyline, take a look at this paperweight below. It features an old version of the city skyline, before most of the city's skyscrapers we know today were constructed ($35).

Come stop by the Shop at 108 Orchard Street at Delancey or give us a call at 212-982-8420 to order any of the items you’ve seen on this blog.

-posted by Devin