Ask any connoisseur: the Hunt Valley Antiques Show is Baltimore's most prestigious annual antiquing event. 

The show brings together more than 50 of the nation's top dealers, offering fine examples of formal and country furniture, paintings, prints, glass, ceramics, textiles, rugs, silver, clocks, jewelry, folk art, toys and more.

You'll find wonders like this 19th Century terra cotta statue, "Menacing Cupid," from Aileen Minor Antiques.

You'll also get to meet great dealers like Baldwin House, Sue Brown, Douglas Constant, Jesse Davis, Fiske & Freeman, Fletcher/Copenhaver, Halcyon House, The Hanebergs, Arthur Kaplan, Zane Moss, Derek and Tina Rayment, Ed Weissman and Roger Winter.

Hours of the show are Friday, February 19, 11 am-5 pm; Saturday, February 20, 11 am-7 pm; and Sunday, February 21, 11 am-5 pm.  It's located at the Crowne Plaza Baltimore in Timonium.  Free parking is available.

Click here for free admission for two.

Discover hundreds of affordable works of art at our Delray Beach Antiques Show this weekend.  You and a companion can get in free.

The charming piece on the right is by the English painter David Ghilchik and is being offered for sale by The Dongan Collection, New York. 

Other fine arts dealers exhibting in the show include Patricia Barger, John Dennison Fine Art, Howard Price Fine Art, Vintage Poster and Thomas Wagner Fine Art.

Reading in Antiques and the Arts Weekly about the current exhibit, “Wedgwood: 250 Years of Innovation and Artistry,” at Washington’s DAR Museum, led me to think about the lesson the pottery’s founder, were he alive today, could teach many antiques dealers (and show promoters, myself included).

As the exhibit’s title makes clear, Wedgwood—like most successful companies—never stopped innovating. The habit began with Old Josiah himself; in fact, Josiah Wedgwood embodied innovation.

Among his many brainchildren were a kiln-safe thermometer; a durable version of creamware he baptized “Queen’s Ware;” his company's hallmark product, jasperware; the flagrant use of celebrities in advertising; the promise of free delivery to customers' homes and businesses; the money-back guarantee; even employer-provided healthcare for the factory workers.

Wedgwood knew a whole lot about craft and form and aesthetics.  But he also understood a fundamental business necessity. To survive and prosper, you have to experiment—even at the risk of failure. Otherwise you expose yourself to a whuppin' by your competitors.

When I listen to dealers grousing about today’s tough business conditions—and they are tough, really tough, for all of us—I often think of that clichéd definition of insanity, “Repeating the same technique over and over, but expecting different results.” Old Josiah Wedgwood would be laughing at us.

Dennis Hockman discusses our upcoming Hunt Valley Antiques Show in the February issue of Chesapeake Home.

"As the Hunt Valley Antiques show prepares for its 40th consecutive season, it seems timely and appropriate to consider that now might just be a great time to buy," writes Hockman.  As many Baby Boomers' collections come to market, there is more supply than demand, creating great opportunities for people interested in starting or expanding a collection, Hockman notes.

The current market is also creating great opportunities for dealers, enabling them to get some of their best acquisitions ever at favorable prices they can pass along to buyers.

Give her a truly extraordinary Valentine's Day gift. Visit our Delray Beach Antiques Show, where you'll find the latest offerings of The Grissom Collection. Proprietor Donnie Grissom will exhibit these exquisite pieces: 

Necklace, circa 1940, 18K yellow gold with French hallmarks; consisting of 2.25 ct sapphires, 2.00 ct diamonds and Persian turquoise.

Brooch, circa 1950, 18K yellow gold and platium; consisting of .90 ct of diamonds and Persian turquoise.

Ring, circa 1950, 18K yellow gold; signed Boucheron, Paris; consisting of sapphires, diamonds and Persian turquoise.

Bracelet, circa 1960, 18k yellow gold; Italian; consisting of 6cts diamonds and Persian turquoise.

At this year’s Hunt Valley Antiques Show, one lucky shopper can go home owning a true piece of American history.

An 18th century grandfather clock featured in the new book Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks will be offered for sale by Strasburg, PA-based Baldwin House Antiques. 

The tall-case clock, dated 1789, was created by noted Philadelphia clockmaker John Heilig to honor George Washington’s inauguration as the nation’s first president. Frank Hohmann, author of Timeless, has deemed it one of America’s 100 most important brass dial clocks.

The clock’s face is inscribed with Washington’s name and includes an engraved portrait of the president surrounded by cannons, drums and flags. An image of a dove, inspired by the weathervane atop Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, appears on the clock’s second hand.

Washington passed through Philadelphia in 1789 on his journey to New York for his first inauguration.

The Hunt Valley Antiques Show, Baltimore’s most prestigious annual antiquing event, brings together 50 of the nation’s top dealers offering for sale more than 10,000 examples of antiques and fine art.

Visitors will discover exquisite examples of formal and country furniture, paintings, prints, glass, ceramics, textiles, rugs, silver, jewelry, toys, folk art and equestrian antiques from five centuries. Every item is backed by a guarantee of authenticity.

Admission tickets can be purchased at the door for $15 each or for $12 each at our Website.  But you can get a free pass for two just by clicking here.  Put the money you'll save on admission toward your purchase of the clock.

Skip the flowers and and chocolates this St. Valentine's Day and give your sweetie an out-of-the-ordinary gift from our Delray Beach Antiques Show.  Here's a free show pass for the two of you. 

You'll have plenty of options to choose from: jewelry, timepieces, handbags, books, paintings, posters, figurines, lamps and more.  Dealers will include Patricia Barger, Brass ‘n Bounty, Coco House & Company, John Dennison Fine Art, Escutcheon Antiques, Janet K. Fanto, J & M Antiques, Lyons & Harper, Howard Price Fine Art, Elinor Penna Staffordshire, Patricia Anne Reed, Katherine Stevens, Nula Thanhauser, Vintage Poster, Thomas Wagner Fine Art, Charles M. Washburne and Ed Weissman, Antiquarian.

Freelance reporter Erin Jones, writing for wowOwow, relates how she discovered a sudden affection for antiques after paying a visit to The American Antiques Show in New York last week.

Coming to her assignment with admitted indifference, even disdain, for antiques (which she categorized as "old things"), Jones was immediately struck by the way the event transported her to another time. "We live in an era when everything has to be new—better—improved... obsolete," she says. "Today’s furniture is mostly represented by rectangular-shaped plywood from Ikea, or textiles adorned with a 'Made in China' sticker stitched immaculately on machines. Standing in this exhibit can make one feel like they have just stumbled out of a time machine. Perhaps my original assessment of antiques merely as 'old things' was a bit myopic. My appreciation is growing by the moment for the art I see in front of me, and it’s amplified by the collective passion I feel in this exhibit."

Apparently lots of people under the age of 40 have a new-found appreciation for antiques. Antiques Week reports that young people are enrolling in large numbers in the Asheford Institute of Antiques' distance-learning program on antiques, collectibles and appraising. "We're beginning to see the inklings of a generational shift in taste," says Anthony Drew, spokesman for the school. "Trends obviously come and go, but for now, it appears that we might be seeing the inception of a new trend toward long term growth in the antique market as a whole."

New research from Unity Marketing explains the renewed enthusiasm among buyers that dealers have noticed at recent antiques shows.

The research shows that 2009 ended with a "marked improvement in consumer sentiment among affluent consumers." Among wealthy Americans, optimism rose in the fourth quarter, according to the study. "Consumer confidence in the ranks of the affluent stands at about the same level it was in September 2007, just as the recession began," says Pam Danziger, lead researcher. "Because they feel financially more stable, they were empowered to spend more money on luxury," she says.

Future spending on luxury goods will divide among two key population sements: ultra-affluents (those with income $250,000 and above) and young affluents (aged 40 and under), Danziger believes.

Estate liquidator Martin Codina has a breezy post on his blog that encourages folks to spare the environment by furnishing with antiques.

While Codina endorses the search for new experiences when it comes to dining, he draws the line when it comes to furnishing. "Is it still okay to always seek out the new?" he asks. "Is it at all unreasonable to continue to demand that new items be manufactured, used a few years, then to load them onto a truck, and cart them to a landfill?"

Codina observes that today's biggest consumers of home furnishings are people 25- to 45- years old. Most are opting for items of recent manufacture. "New fashions are wonderful expressions of a culture's creativity, and that creativity has a trickle effect throughout the economy," he writes. "But what about fashion, and the search for the next Big Thing’s effect on the environment? How many trees does it take to furnish a house?"

Codina points to a San Francisco home whose owner understands how to blend new and old in a perfect medley, and wishes there were more people like her. She is "designing her interiors to reflect the past in such a way that they are still clearly useful to today’s consumers. She had an amazing kitchen with all the latest modern conveniences, but it was also decked out with antique lighting and vintage china and cookware. Every wall sconce and ceiling light fixture seemed to come out of an old Moe Bridges catalog. Art Deco furnishing were highlighted here and there throughout her house; paired with objects a’ la Steampunk. Did I mention the Marshall Stacks and Vintage Guitars?"

A few more thoughts on Dave Krashes' call to form an antiques trade association (see "Herding Cats" below). The following is my back-of-the-napkin version of the kind of association needed if we are to increase Americans' interest in antiques.

Structure. For one, I don't believe it should be a trade association at all, but a membership-based special interest group like AARP. The primary members ought to be collectors; the secondary members, dealers, auctioneers, show promoters and others involved in the business-end of antiques.


Funding. Wealthy collectors stand to gain the most if antiques rise in value over the next two decades, because the demand for them increases; so wealthy collectors should provide 90 percent of the funding for the association's program. They can afford it and they'll directly benefit from it. (The collectors who would contribute are most likely only those who have stopped actively acquiring antiques. Those still actively buying won't want to drive up prices.) The various members of the trade should contribute 10 percent of the funding; they stand to benefit, too.


Program. A pubic relations program should be the primary activity of the association. An ideal model for such a program is the one conducted by the National Retirement Planning Coalition. I know from direct experience that these sort of programs work. In the 1980s, I ran one for a tiny association of US-based steel companies. With an annual budget of less than $125,000, we boosted the market share of steel roofing in this country dramatically.

Oscar-winner and OCD-sufferer Billy Bob Thornton is famous for his morbid fear of antiques.

In an interview with USA Today, Thornton has told reporters that he's petrified by Early English and Continental furniture. "I just sort of gag around antique furniture," Thorton admits. "Most especially the old English and European stuff. It is an odd phobia and it has always been with me."

Thornton has also acknowledged he cannot stay in most European grand hotels, because he can't sleep when he's surrounded by antiques. "I just don't like old stuff. I'm creeped out by it and I have no explanation why."

Fortunately, Thornton's phobia doesn't extend to Americana; and he knows how to spot a fake. "I don't have a phobia about American antiques," he has said. "It's mostly French, you know, like the big, old, gold-carved chairs with the velvet cushions. The Louis XIV type. That's what creeps me out. I can spot the imitation antiques a mile off. They have a different vibe."

We invite Billy Bob to confront his fear by attending our Delray Beach Antiques Show. And, though he certainly can afford the price of admission, we offer a free pass to the show. Billy Bob, you'll love what you find!

Today I received a letter from Dave Krashes, the Americana collector behind the "grassroots" movement called Every Collector Add a Collector. In it, Dave urges members of the antiques trade to help him form a trade association as quickly as possible. The association Dave proposes would be one-dimensional and focused on establishing "a strong marketing program promoting antiquing."

The New York Observer asks whether New York's young socialites could imagine themselves "antiquing." "I think so," says Kipton Cronkite, who's heading the young collectors night at the Winter Antiques Show. "If you're furnishing your apartment and you're buying a piece from a well-known store and you compare that price to an antique and you look over the long run, you'd see that the piece that's newly made is obviously going to be worth a lot less than an antique. If younger people can look at the money they're already spending, they'll see that antiques are a better investment and they have a lot more character. There are so many periods and colors that there's really something for everyone."