Trinkets or Treasures?

Be sure to come by and say hello during my "Trinkets or Treasures?" events at Store Self Storage

in Palm Beach Gardens.

Admission is free, but you will need to reserve a seat.

Details are below

The antiques show will go on!

Here is a corner of my booth at a recent show.
These summer shows generally offer a fun array of merchandise.

The show must go on, despite Tropical Storm Isaac's best efforts to dampen proceedings. I will have a space in Booth 51 at this weekend's West Palm Beach Antiques Festival.  Here are details of the show:

West Palm Beach Antiques Festival — The show is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 1 and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at the South Florida Fairgrounds, off Southern Boulevard just east of U.S. 441, suburban West Palm Beach. Tickets: $7 adults, $6 seniors, free for those under 16. A $10 early buyer ticket that allows admission at 8 a.m. Sept. 1 offers admission for the entire weekend. Discount coupon available online at festivalofantiques.com. Information: (941) 697-7475.

An amazing inlaid box

I followed this box from Tequesta to Atlanta and back, then bought.
It's a tour-de-force of exotic woods — Brazilian rosewood, mahogany, ebony and satinwood, among others.
Read about it HERE.

A pretty patchwork posy of poinsettias

 

My Palm Beach Post column this week featured a quilt that I acquired from a Clewiston estate. These pieces were amazing works of art, with exquisite detailing and elaborate stippling and applique work.
Here's the column:

What: A collection of quilts

Where: A Clewiston estate

How much: $400

Why theyʼre special: The quilts came from a beautiful home, and the family didnʼt know the quilts existed until they were clearing their motherʼs things as she was nearing her passing.

Unfortunately, most of the five quilts had been stored in a bare-wood closet that had left spots on the fabric that would not wash out.

But this poinsettia quilt, with its turkey-red leaves, survived blemish-free.

Each quilt is signed by its maker, an aunt of the family.

And each is beautifully quilted and appliquéd, with a near-maniacal attention to detail.

My friend Jan Norris, who belongs to the local quilt guild, said one quilt was in a Carolina Lily pattern. Another was in a rose pattern, and yet another was in a dogwood pattern. This quilt and that dogwood quilt were in patterns she had never seen.

I saw the poinsettia quilt, went to pieces and made an offer on the whole batch.

I think I picked a winner, donʼt you?

Dusty LOVES the new sofa!

I bought this really great salesman's sample of a sofa

at a recent tag sale

held by James & Jeffrey Antiques in West Palm Beach.

I paid $30 for the piece, which I believe was made sometime in the 1950s or ’60s,

probably for a design firm or upholstery studio.

My friends Lance and David at Parker Kennedy design in Atlanta thought it was a fabulous find.

Dusty agrees.

Dusty checks out the new sofa.

He gets it just the way he wants it.

Then he pauses to relax in a manner

to which he would like to become accustomed!

Meet me at the antiques show!

I will have a booth

at the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival, Nov. 4-6

at the South Florida Fairgrounds.

Click HERE for a discount coupon.

A job application that's a relic

My dear Aunt Cleo Douthit died in 1979 after
two battles with breast cancer and a bout with heart problems.
That's especially sad because she was
someone who had so much heart,
and was so giving of herself to the community and her family.
While looking for photos to run with a story
I am writing about breast cancer awareness,
I found this job application letter she wrote in 1931. She was only 19 at the time, and a few months later would begin a 41-year teaching career at Pahokee Elementary School.
That's 80 years ago. The eldest of Cleo's students
would now be 87 and 88 years old.
Here's to them, and to a teacher who made a difference.