Antique Shows For Fun and Inspiration

People inspire us. Nature inspires us. Places inspire us. Even things, whether big or small, old or new, can be a source of inspiration.

I love to go to antique shows for fun and inspiration. This is especially true when I go to large shows where the dealers come from all parts of the country. I am one of those antique nuts, and I love visiting all of the local antique stores and antique malls in my area, or where ever I visit. But being able to see antique dealers from other parts of the country exposes me to things I would not otherwise see.

I love seeing new things, well new antique things. Besides being a lover of antiques, I am also an antique dealer. My specialty is English antiques and I have bought most of my inventory there. But we recently moved to Alabama and American antiques are much more popular here than English. So my wife and I have had to start expanding our knowledge and learn about new things. We recently attended the Heart of Country Antique Show in Nashville as well as the two other shows that always happen the same week. Heart of Country is known for their great American antiques and unusual Americana.

We had so much fun seeing new things which truly inspired us. I always try to pick out a few things where my knowledge is lacking. I might add that the tendency is to be drawn to the things we love and know very well. So we tended to see the English things and had to restrain ourselves from spending too much time looking at these. I enjoyed seeing the hooked rugs with animal themes. There was a good selection of these, probably 25-30 in the 125 booths at Heart of Country. I was surprised at the prices which ranged from $1500-$2500. In the other two shows I saw some for $350-$595 range. They weren't quite as nice, but I couldn't see that much difference. I later saw a friend who set up at the last show and asked him about the rugs. He is an expert in Americana and has been written up in several magazines, and I respect his opinion. He said you have to be an expert in hooked rugs and he has lost a lot of money. I want to be knowledgeable enough to know a bargain if I see one.

I also loved seeing the many three dimensional weather vanes made of copper and brass. The price range on these was about the same as the hooked rugs. There were more horses than any other animal represented in the weather vanes. The patina on the copper was so wonderful. We were surprised at the number of cat related items, which ranged from paintings, to hooked rugs, to ceramics, and even toys. In English antiques and collectibles, horses and dogs are by far the most predominant subject when it comes to animals. Since we were there mainly for education and inspiration, this was so interesting.

I was also drawn to the art. My mother was an art teacher, so we were raised being exposed to art from an early age. I saw something I had never seen before, although a couple of dealers said they were not that unusual. The art was charcoal on sand paper. I had never seen sand paper being used in art. I understand most of these came from the late nineteenth century. Again I enjoyed seeing something I had never seen before.

Beside seeing things we had never seen before, at least in person, we got to see how these dealers displayed their things. There were so many interesting things, we went though the show twice and would have gone again, but we had two other shows to see. The reason I concentrate on two or three new things instead of focusing on as many things as possible, I just don't think you can really learn much. The fun part comes from seeing all of the things. The inspiration comes from really concentrating on two or three things and learn as much as possible both at the show and after by studying. So I encourage you to find a large antique show in your area, or even on holiday, and go to have fun and gain inspiration.

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