The Winter Antiques Show

Two major signs of the season arrived in New York this morning. The first snowfall coincided with the first day of the 53rd Annual Winter Antiques Show. While the snowfall was pretty but unimpressive, the Winter Antiques Show was pretty impressive indeed! Held in the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue at 67th Street, this is considered to be one of the social events of the season and the finest show of its kind in the United States. Featuring 75 dealers from Europe and North America and a special exhibit by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, the Winter Antiques Show provides the collector of fine furniture and decorative arts with a plethora of choices, all vetted and all for sale.

Although the main focus is on Americana, there is also a nice selection of Asian, Primitive and European art, objects and furniture. Treasures abound, and a leisurely stroll through the impressively decorated booths will yield delights from miniature portrait paintings to an almost life-size cast iron statue of a stag! Exquisite objects range from the Tzarist Russia House of Fabergé to a Yup'ik Eskimo mask from Hooper Bay, Alaska. There are the things one expects to find - silver tableware, stained glass lamps, grandfather clocks, patchwork quilts to name just a few. Then there are the one-of-a-kind, stop-and-stare pieces like the "William H. Vanderbilt Gilded Side Chair" at an asking price of $1.2 million, and the more modest, but for me more interesting "Shellwork Memorial to Napoleon" at $35 thousand.

Whatever objects you desire, and some you don't even know you desire, can be found for the next 10 days at the Winter Antiques Show in New York!