Antique fairs and flea markets! :)

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Antique fairs and flea markets! :)

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Started 1 year ago by Claycat
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Claycat
Member

Yesterday, I went to the huge antique fair that is held in Warrenton and Round Top, Texas, twice a year. There are hundreds of booths and tents and buildings! I visited a lot of them. There are some beautiful antiques and a lot of junk. You could really lose your shirt in a place like that. However, I didn't! :)

I actually didn't buy anything except food. I had a wonderful chicken and veggie sandwich served out of an old Airstream and a roasted corn ear and some kettle corn.

I did look at a couple of lamps, but they were way too expensive.

My SIL goes to places like that and buys. She has a house stuffed to the rafters. I know she has at least one storage unit. I don't know how many more. We keep trying to get her to open a shop. She asked, "What would I sell?" That would be funny, but she is a hoarder. Oh, well, I guess her daughter will be opening that shop.

Everywhere I went, I saw women pulling large shopping carts around. I know many of them have shops, and they are buying wholesale, but I wonder about the rest. I think it is akin to looking for treasure. It sort of has that feel, but I get too tired of walking around to feel that for long.

What are your thoughts and stories about these events?

Posted 1 year ago #
Ginger
Member

I live in Pennsylvania and I’m very close to the “antique capital of the united states” (I’m not sure if it’s still officially considered that, but that’s what they call it). We get lots of tourists for it during summers and the holidays. About once a year I run a pretzel booth at one of the outdoor antique markets and the business is FANTASTIC there. I am so grateful for it.

I’ve purchased several things from the shops before and some of it I regretted later. Fortunately, I had luck re-selling it in the vintage section of etsy so it wasn’t a loss money-wise (jewelry doesn’t go, but the antique books and hats went well haha).

I’ve found several good deals on some books, jewelry and notions that were much cheaper than buying something like it brand new. I needed some lace for a project once and got huge spool of nice crocheted stuff for $2. Overall though, everything is so expensive and I don’t understand how people fill their strollers with it! Lol.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

In my 20s I used to love going antiquing. Haven't been in that world for a loooong time, though recently I did drop in to an architectural salvage place when out with a friend. I have no immediate USE for anything I might find in such places, so it's better for everyone if I just stay away!

I have to be very intentional about new acquisitions. They have to be just right for the purpose and for our aesthetic. I can't indulge myself with things just because they are cute or beautiful or *potentially* useful - there are too many things that meet those descriptions!

So for example last year I bought a vintage cloisonne jar with a lid; it sits on the cabinet beside our front door and we put our spare keys and garage remotes in it. A few years back I bought a vintage lidded, three-section Carnival glass candy dish; it sits in a bookcase and holds pennies, nickels, and dimes till I roll them.

Back in the shopping-for-entertainment days I would have gone to the antique mall with pleasure. Now, unless I was hunting something specific, it would just be a place to get out of the heat or the rain.

Posted 1 year ago #
Sky
Member

DH and I used to love browsing antique stores, flea markets, etc. and of course,if we found something we liked, we HAD to buy it, being an antique we may never find another one! OMG! We don't even go in them any more. We seemed to get some sort of high from the search and purchase but after decluttering, we no longer want anything more.

Posted 1 year ago #
jbeany
Member

I used to love them. Then I got serious about uncluttering. The last flea market I went to, I had a booth and sold off my junk instead. Much easier! I did a few trades with some of the other sellers as well, and traded over-sized things for tiny jewelry - which I'm good with. I wear different jewelry every day, and I love to have new pieces, so trading it for things I didn't want was a really cost efficient way to acquire it. I'm slowly sorting out my costume jewelry and replacing with sterling and gemstone pieces, so my collection hasn't grown much, just rotated out.
I did visit a couple a local antique stores not to long ago. I bought - no surprise - jewelry. And I wear it. But the knickknacks don't interest me much these days. Cleaning Gram's hoard out killed my desire for that!

Posted 1 year ago #
Emilie
Member

I guess I'm "lucky" in that an allergy to dust helps to keep me away from antique shops. (Once I went to a huge vintage clothing expo and had the worst allergic reaction of my life!) But I have gone on occasion, and I think it's just as fun to look...kind of like a museum...as to buy. The only exception was when I was a kid, I loved to collect little Wade figurines. But now, like jbeany, my desire for new knickknacks is pretty much gone.

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

I ended up at an antique mall when I visiting friends in Oregon last fall. I usually just wander around noting how many things that our family used daily when I was growing up are now considered antiques. LOL This last time however, I found a brand new, never worn, man's wool bathrobe (Pendleton) which fit me perfectly. Paid $22 USD for it, would have been at least $75 USD in a retail store, and I was able to donate my old fleece robe, which was full of static all the time (and a bright raspberry pink to boot). One of my best buys ever.

Posted 1 year ago #
Amy
Member

I love going to antique stores. I rarely buy anything anymore, but I need to walk around one at least once a week or so. There is always something interesting to look at, and the occasional bargain. I bought my first antique when I was 8 years old, and almost everything in my home is at least vintage if not a true antique. My passion for collecting really helped me out when I got divorced. I had lots of things of value to sell, and the money generated helped buy a small house and make the few repairs necessary, as well as purchase new appliances for the kitchen. I like living organized & uncluttered, a place for everything & everything in its place, but I am not a minimalist.

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

Thanks for all the great stories! :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Ella
Member

On the path to downsizing from my big flat to this tiny studio apartment, I made a wayside stop at a temporary house-share with an antiques dealer. He didn't have good pieces, so he made up for the lack of quality by piling on plenty of quantity. Both his shop and his house were crammed to the rafters with glorified junk, but he had an artful eye and a flair for arranging his things attractively. That was only the surface effect, however... what lurked beneath was truly worthy of an episode of "Hoarders."

It turned out that the day he showed me the house and the rooms I would occupy, everything had just been spotlessly cleaned by his once-a-week housekeeping team. The other six days of the week, every single week, he was a total slob, leaving a trail of clutter, papers, trash, spilled food, dirty dishes, dirty clothes, etc. etc. throughout the house. Behind closed doors, the cupboards, the fridge, and the closets were all jammed with junk heaved in there willynilly. And then there was the Basement of Horrors... teeming with stuff stacked to the ceiling and most of it water-damaged and moldy beyond recognition. There were actually mushrooms growing on the piles of junk. Plus a basement-wide maze of cobwebs and a huge colony of frisky spiders feeding off whatever insects were thriving in this mess.

The man absolutely LIVED for the weekly flea market. It was his primary social activity and he got revved up with excitement. He brought home a mishmash of stuff by the truckload every week. What didn't get carted off to his shop, was shoved down in the basement.

Before this housing experience, I must have led a charmed existence. I had never in my life been exposed to clutter of any kind, and I was utterly aghast. Oh happy day when I moved out.

I do love antiques and I own some fine pieces, but I don't cram my rooms to bursting. Rather, I prefer the minimalist room arrangements one often sees in historic American houses of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

I love flea markets and garage sales, not so much the antiques though at this point the midcentury modern stuff I like is showing up there so I've started looking. Until about a year ago, I always needed canning jars, so if I found them for 25-50 cents I bought them (last August I realized I had enough. After about 10 years of acquisitions).

I think my last flea market purchase was a cast-iron frypan, which I kind of regretted for a few months because it turned out I really only need one at a time. But then my older, previously-repaired pan broke, so I'm back down to one.

I think right now my mental list of things I'd like to have includes a table lamp (a floor lamp with a built-in table) and any large containers I can use for container gardening - I was lazy with winterizing last year and lost two large containers, and my partner doens' thave a lamp on his side of the bed right now becuase the old one broke.

Posted 1 year ago #
Shortbird
Member

All your stories on this subject resonate with me: my take is that I love looking at old stuff and yes, I do like bringing it home. However, I bring in far less than I used to and have disposed of significantly more in the last few months, by selling it at local vintage fairs! The stash is reducing... next sale end of April.

Posted 1 year ago #
mydogspot
Member

Last December I had an afternoon off and decided to browse through an antique mall. What a great find I made - a Tickle Me Elmo, still in his box! And just $20! My 5 yr old would love this for Christmas, and they stopped making them ages ago.

After buying it, I went home and googled Tickle Me Elmo to see what a great deal I got, expecting to find him for sale on Ebay for $50. But discovered that they started making him again this year. So I probably bought a new one, and at an inflated price. Idiot.

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

I adore both antique stores and flea markets. It all started when I was a university student and that was the only way I could afford to decorate on a painfully tight budget. Now I go for fun, and to keep an eye out for things I am in the market for, but don't really want to pay retail price for. Sometimes I simply cannot find what I want in the regular shops. On my iPhone I have a list of measurements and items which I want but will wait until I can find the perfect item. It's also fun to have unique items others don't.

Posted 1 year ago #
ninakk
Member

Great stories! I'm a bit sad that I don't have the find-a-piece-of-designer-furniture-for-a-buck gene (don't find them in containers either), but if I had it I might run into problems with not being able to sell them to someone else. Now I concentrate on my small collection of designer glassware and it's enough. A new piece is added to it once per a few years on average so it's not expanding like crazy. And I stay away from flea markets because of this too.

Posted 1 year ago #
Kamakazi
Member

While I had never gone to one until about 4 months ago when we started shopping for our upcoming wedding. Basically everything is all "vintage-y" so most of it is from a flea market*. Haven't seen a ton of stuff I wanted, except for a bunch of early 90s comics that I have been picking up to get a full set to do some hardcover binds**.

*My impending wife is all over it, I am just there for emotional support I guess.
**Yep, nerding out there.

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

That's not nerdy, Kamakazi! That's cool! :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Anita
Member

I'm not much for antiques, and flea markets mostly depress me (no idea why), but once in a while I will go, peruse and, very rarely, buy.

My last flea market trip (which was last summer) resulted in:
- a beautiful stoneware tea set that I use frequently.
- a pair of cute earrings that I wore for a while, got tired of, and donated.
- a big pile of sheet music that the boyfriend got for free. He had picked out 3 or 4 pieces he was interested in, but the seller was so thrilled that someone was interested in old sheet music that he gave him the entire pile. Most of it was recycled since it was falling apart and quite dusty, so it didn't do his allergies any favours. The pieces he was interested in are in his library and yet to be played. Sigh.

Posted 1 year ago #

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