Wichitan finds unique items in remote country markets in China

Richard Carter,For the Times Record News
“Growing up, we were always told if you dug a hole in your backyard, you might just come out in China. Completely on the opposite side of the world,” said Marcia Bernhardt, owner of Eastern Treasures antiques. “China was a country that never in my wildest dreams I would have thought I’d go.”

Now Bernhardt visits two or three times a year for three weeks or more at a stretch. Not a tourist, she buys antique Chinese furniture, art, jewelry and decorative collectibles to sell at her store at 620 Ohio, in the heart of the Depot Square historical district.


She opened her shop in 2012 after starting to sell jewelry from the Far East in her home a year earlier. Her antique shop is now stocked with items that date back as far as 1820. Many of her furniture pieces date from 1910 to 1920.

While many governments are picky about what leaves their country, the Chinese allow objects and items under the age of 200 years to be exported. “They don’t consider that old,” she said.

In America, 75 years old is generally considered an antique. “I cannot even use the word antique in China because they think Ming Dynasty,” she said with a laugh.

She feels lucky to have discovered China while accompanying her husband on his extended business trips to the country. Seeing sides of China that most tourists never see, she fell in love with the country, the people and the heritage.

Fascinated with the pottery, the furniture, the art and the jewelry, she learned a great deal about art and antiques from traveling, reading and visiting museums.

Her favorite is the Shanghai museum. “It has wonderful exhibits of porcelain, of bronzes, of costumes, of furniture.”

Bernhardt began bringing home small gifts for her friends, who then tried to talk her into starting a business importing them. Formerly a fashion buyer, she had originally left the working world to raise her children.

But with her children growing up, it was the Chinese magnetic jewelry she discovered that brought her back into business. “It was brand new, and I had never seen it before,” she said. “I got it for gifts, and everyone said I needed to bring it over and sell it.

“I really tried to get someone to talk me out of it.” But, it turned out that everyone instead asked Bernhardt, “Why wouldn’t you do it?” Her first home show of the jewelry was a huge success.

A second show of pearl, jade and Chinese turquoise jewelry also did well. Customers saw some of her personal treasures from there, which sparked a popular interest for larger items such as porcelain, small boxes and eventually furniture.

Bernhardt now works with Chinese friends, across the huge country, to discover fresh markets to purchase furniture and objects. Her favorites are markets off the beaten path where farmers sell items that they have gathered from all over the countryside.

“I’ve never seen another westerner at one of these markets.”

Bernhardt said she speaks just enough Chinese to be dangerous. She knows some phrases and talks to people a little but quickly ends up depending on friends. She visits markets across the country, buys items and has them shipped to a warehouse in Shanghai.

From there the goods are put in containers and shipped to Houston and then to Wichita Falls.

Her goal is to try and find the oldest merchandise, which if she is unable to sell would look good in her home. Because that is where it will end up, she said laughing, if it doesn’t move.

What separates her from most regional and national importers is that the items she buys and sells were not made for export. They were things made for and used by the Chinese. Her inventory ranges from everything from goods created for the educated classes to objects used by farmers.

Balance is important to her.

While Bernhardt loves discovering, collecting and selling antiques now, her childhood dream was to become a fashion designer. Following her dream, she attended fashion merchandising college in Dallas.

“I learned real quick that either you had to have money or connections, or you would be working in the backroom for someone else and would never have the freedom to do your own thing.” She smartly also took courses in interior design, business management and marketing.

Returning to the area, she became a buyer for Perkins Timberlake in December 1973. She quickly made junior buyer and bought for the store’s new mall location that opened in 1975.

She stayed with Perkins until the retailer was sold to Monnigs in the early ’80s. The retailer offered her a similar job in Fort Worth, but she declined.

A year later, she accepted a position as buyer at Penelope’s in French Village where she stayed for nine years, until leaving to stay home with her children.

Her home and family are still in Wichita Falls, but she also has something very near on the other side of the world. And she didn’t even have to dig to find it.

“I love China,” she said. “When that plane lands, it’s almost like I am home, because I am so comfortable there. But then, when I leave to come home, I’m really home. I have friends there I consider almost family.”

Bernhardt was born in Sherman, Texas, and her family moved to Wichita Falls between her seventh- and eighth-grade years.

Her father was the late Gordon Brown, who was district manager of State Farm Insurance. Her mother also worked in the insurance office after she and her two siblings, brother, Gordie, and sister, Ginger, were grown.

She met her husband Michael after graduating from Wichita Falls High School, even though both attended high school within a year of another. The couple have been married for 33 years. He is what she calls a “typical entrepreneur and had owned numerous businesses over the years.”

They have two children, Chris, who is in school, and Kristin, who is married.

When Bernhardt is not at her shop or on trips discovering exotic antiques, she is likely reading or at the lake. She also loves to travel.

While her travels with her husband have mostly been business related, they have led her to 37 U.S. states, most of Europe and 11 provinces in China.

She likens traveling in China and looking for antiques to being on a very rewarding treasure hunt.

“When I first started doing this, I had this small list of things I was looking for. Then, there were certain pieces I personally wanted, but I also had a part of my budget set aside for a surprise find.

“I am still excited about finding things. Then, when they are shipped and we open the container, it’s ‘Oh! Here it is.’ And then when the customers come in and fall in love with it, it brings me joy again to see other people loving things.”