It may be a gloomy, gray day outside his store, but Christian Harding can always find something cheerful to do inside. Like putting deer bones out on display or finding a new home for a taxidermied wooly thing like nothing we’ve never seen before.
“This is a raccoon dog,” says Harding. “They live in China and Japan and parts of Russia. So they're basically foxes with raccoon coloring.”
Harding owns The Belfry, an oddities and collectibles store for shoppers with slightly more eccentric taste than the weekend masses at IKEA.
“I've always liked animals and I just like being surrounded by them," Harding says.
Harding was a Ballard teenager when he first came across a taxidermied pronghorn antelope at a swap meet.
“I just like ran to it, bought it, and it just started this addiction for me,” laughs Harding. “I had to keep going out and it turned into this.”
THIS is something some people love, and some people hate.
But Harding wants everyone to know all the taxidermies here are vintage antiques. Most of them were made between the 1850's and 194'0s.
Harding is a fan of the Victorian era, when people owned cabinets of curiosities instead of television sets, and stores like his drew discerning customers. That's still the case.
“When I first started, I thought it was just gonna be a bunch of goth kids, but it's really every different kind of person,” says Harding. “We get a lot of doctors.”
The Belfry also specializes in Victorian hair wreathes.
“When someone was to pass away their loved ones would cut some of their hair off and then weave into a wreath as a memorial to that person,” says Harding.
If that sounds creepy to you, keep it to yourself, and for goodness sake, don't tell Esmeralda, the shop cat, she’s not alive.
“She's the only thing not for sale in the whole store,” says Harding.
The Belfry is permanently closing on March 27, 2018.
309A 3rd Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 682-2951
