Would you believe, I went to my first proper antiques fair only yesterday?
Difficult to believe and a bit remiss of me I know, but it’s true.
I’ve done car boots, I’ve done craft fairs, I’ve done junk shops, I’ve even done a vide grenier, but I’d never done a proper antiques fair before yesterday.
My vintage-seller friend Maria invited me along with her. Luckily, although we both like a lot of things from the same era, we seem to pick out different things to buy.
So that’s alright. No squabbling over booty!
I, as usual, was focussed on fabrics. Of which there were actually precious few.
There was, however, a lot of stuff to peruse…
Everything from toys to tea sets, furniture to fashion, trash to treasure.
So what did I buy? Well… I was quite restrained really.
I managed to find a bit of fabric…
And a rather nice apron.
(But this one I don’t think I’ll mind cutting into!)
And I bought a new plant pot for the kitchen, to replace the Hornsea one I smashed a while back…
Maria managed to buy some lovely bits too.
There were, however, some down sides to the morning…
The racing cars screeching past on the track behind the fence were pretty distracting. I felt like I was going to be run over any second by an invisible enemy!
And Maria left a box of her treasures behind by mistake. I thought they’d been stashed in the car whilst I was ogling fabrics, but they hadn’t.
Which was gut-wrenchingly awful.
Especially if you could’ve seen what was in it.
And I confirmed once and for all that I’m absolutely rubbish at haggling.
On balance, when all’s said and done, I’d say my first fair was… fair to middling. ♥
Oh poor Maria, that’s awful…I don’t want to know what was in the box, it would be too distressing! I love your plant pot, and fabric and apron…but I would have been seriously tempted by that yellow chair! x
Trouble was, there was too much that was tempting! But most of it was not particularly cheap and we had a limited time, plus I’m going on holiday and couldn’t spend much so I had to stay focused!
Oh that is awful. I’m sure the next one you both go to will be full of even better treasures! I love those multi-coloured teacups in your first picture.
Poor Maria, I bet she was gutted. Such lovely treasures you found though, love that blue fabric. Antique’s fairs seem a bit daunting to me so I’ve never been to one either, maybe I should give it a go.
Yes, Maria was gutted. She only realised when we got back and there was no way to do anything about it. Antique fairs have a great selection that’s for sure, and its fun to browse, but I need to hone my haggling skills before I go again!
Like your replacement flowerpot! Jo and I would have been quite happy there – especially he is absolutely brilliant in finding real treasures and bargains. When in Florence again last year we took the bus and went up to Fiesolo as usual and luckily for us there, right in the centre of this cute little town was there annual “Antique” Fair. HIghly overpriced Designer (fakes???) bags, lots of junk (sadly), some interesting books for Jo (bad unfortunately all ‘solo italiano’) and a couple of stalls with lovely old bed- and table linnen. I really dont need any of this, but nevertheless I bought some and hopefully one day our future Fashion Designer Daughter will be able to use them, like you. Carina 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful experience! I would love to visit Italy one day.
Oh my Gosh – I suddenly see that my keyboard had quite a few spelling hic-ups. So sorry – hopefully I am forgiven.
I love that first photo, the colours are so pretty!
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Your post inspired me to write about a vintage fair I visited in Boston last year! http://nancysteashop.com/2013/07/24/bostonian-vintage-in-the-blazing-heat/
Sounds like a great place to visit!
I also loved your post on rose-patterned china. I have a boxful of vintage china that was my parents’, it’s not really my style but I can’t bear to get rid of it!
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