posted 07-04-2002 03:23 PM            

August 17-18
Antiques Weekend in Somerset
Garden State Exhibition Center
Somerset, New Jersey
300 exhibitors
Sat & Sun 11-6
Admission $6

August 24-25
Topsfield 2002 - Topsfield Fairgrounds
Rt. 1
Topsfield, Massachusetts
250 dealers
Sat & Sun 10-5
Admission $5

August 23-24
Baltimore Summer Antiques
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland
Over 450 exhibitors
Fri noon-9 Sat noon-8 Sun noon-6
Admission $10

posted 09-28-2002 03:03 PM            

The talk of the Baltimore Summer Antique Show was the Gorham Narragansett silver at the Antique Cupboard booth. Antique Cupboard always has spectacular silver, so we left our visit to their booth until later, like saving your favorite part of a great meal till the end so that you can savor it at length.

We were not disappointed. The Narragansett pattern is a conglomeration of all types of things from the sea. Crabs crawl up handles chased by fish swimming through seaweed accented by well placed sea shells and it doesn't stop there. This profusion of sea life was there on a fish serving set and a large ladle. There was also an olive spoon-fork that was in the Narragansett style. Our own Silver Salon Forums moderator, Paul Lemieux, first introduced us to the Narragansett pattern in his post last year
Narragansett

Silver Salon Forums moderator, William Hood, has co-authored a stunningly illustrated and informative article on the Narragansett pattern in the September 2002 issue of The Magazine Antiques. It is a must read for silverphiles.

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In addition to the Narragansett, Antique Cupboard had lots of other eye-popping silver. One of our favorites was the Gorham serving pieces in the "Hound" pattern with the three dimensional hound on the handle - with front paws crossed, of course! We also loved the serving fork with the turtle trying to climb out of the bowl. And for those of you who enjoyed Dale Bennett's article about "The American Crumber" in the September/October 2002 issue of Silver Magazine, there was a beautiful crumber with a mouse in one corner and a "ready to pounce" pussycat in the other. Another favorite for us was a cheesescoop being presided over by a fierce lion with tail wrapped around the handle end.

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While animals and sealife were in abundance, there was also no shortage of fabulous medallion ware. As you can see from the booth photo, most everything was there to be seen - and bought!

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We had a chance to chat with Phil Dreis, the owner of Antique Cupboard. He shared some interesting history with us when we asked how he had gotten into the silver business. It all started with his grandfather who was a banker. One of his grandfather's customers was a smelter and Phil's grandfather noticed that the smelter was melting down some interesting silver so he made a deal with the smelter to sell it to him. The multi-generation business has been going strong ever since although Phil had an interesting career in the specialty grocery business before taking on the silver.

As for the rest of the Baltimore show, it was tremendous, both from a merchandise perspective and that of mere size. Two full days of walking the floor and we still didn't cover it completely. We didn't get to see the book section at all and by the end of day two, the silver was beginning to blur as well. But, gosh, we had fun.