Underpenny, a museum shop sharing a variety of mid-19th-century valuables with New Yorkers, is keeping American history alive.
Sung Park, owner of the Long Island City collectibles store, had a long-term dream of collecting fine arts. For the past four years, he has strived to make American trinkets, art and rare historic finds easily accessible for others.
“I wanted people to hold on to things from Medieval American history, as well as Long Island City history,” said Park.
Tucked right beneath a tenement house, Underpenny’s shelves of figurines from the early 1900s, old paintings and sculptures attract and even motivate many local artists and designers.
“A lot of artists come down and look at the collection of history and get ideas from the graphic designs,” said Park.
While Underpenny already has an extensive collection of cast iron, lamps, furniture, crystal, coin banks and planes, just to name a few, Park is constantly working on further improving and adding to his collection of American antiques.
“Underpenny’s plan for the future is to become a special, famous museum in New York City,” said Park.
Underpenny is located at 10-13 50th Avenue in LIC. To learn more, call 917-517-1492.
