Friday May 13th 2011 #Brimfield treasures and new Friends...

Friday May 13th was my last day of Brimfield. 

As mentioned above, the morning started off meeting a great group a men at breakfast who entertained me with trade stories, advice and a few secrets from their 30+ years in the industry. Making these random connections is one of my favorite things about Brimfield, and makes it worth it for me to get there at day break! 

This particular morning I learned which dealers to stay away from (one because he doesn't bathe and one because he's a "crook"), the best place to "pick" if I am ever in Ohio, and a source for a certain mid century treasure I have been looking for and what to offer for it in order to go home with it. Someone from the group pointed a man out in the line for coffee who was a picker from a well know Auction House on the east coast. Lucky for me he joined our table, introduced himself and shared his stories and finds from the week. He had found a Mody Dick bank (I had seen a few fakes throughout the week) but he found a real one and made an offer of around $9,000. The dealer wanted $14,000... He was headed back to pick it up for $11,000 and is expecting it to go for $24,000+ at the next auction. My new auctioneer friend gave me his card and told me to send him a picture if I ever had any questions of what something was worth, and of course if I wanted to sell it, or if I ever had any questions. 

We headed over to J&J and everyone split with their eyes on something different.  As expected, I had some great finds at J&J. Throughout the day I ran into a few of these new acquaintances in the crowd, and was greated as an old friend... which comes in very handy when you need help packing heavy items into your car!!   

From J & J's I headed to May's Antique Market which was just okay. Next time I think its best to wait until Friday afternoon as it does not fill up with dealers early like the other fields. I did manage to leave with a wonderful vintage brass bar cart though. 

Friday was also a chance to meet many new friends from the "social media" world I know very little about (but am slowly learning). About a month ago through Twitter and blogging, I was invited to a two day "Tweetup" event. The event involved furniture & paint demonstrations, lectures, food & wine, a place to relax in the shade, a wonderful dinner hosted by Benjamin Moore and a chance to meet a great group of men and women all with similar interests and unique talents. The event was organized by Gretchen Aubuchon of Aubuchon Design (@gaubuchondesign) together with @WykehamGirl, Cynthia Bogart @thedailybasics and  Kelly Ryan Kergans @dhatfield of Better Homes and Gardens. Sponsored by Aubuchon Hardware and Benjamin Moore the "tweet up" had its very own tent to relax and meet in, and it also included amazing gift bags filled with goodies that came in very handy while shopping! (thank you thank you!!)

I did not know what to expect and basically went in to the event blind. It was a great experience. I loved meeting everyone and learned a great deal in the process. I was only able to attend the Friday events, which included a wonderful dinner, and was very sorry to miss the Saturday lineup... which leaves me looking forward to next years event even more. xoxo to all my new friends!


As for the first three days my 6+ posts of pictures pretty much tells the stories of what I saw, bought, liked and questioned. This season my favorites were the Meadows, Quacker Acres, J&J and Heart of the Mart... but its hard to say as I felt like I saw great stuff in all the fields! Happy shopping everyone! Stop in the store if you are in the area and take a look at our new items. And as always, I would love to see pictures and hear about your experience and finds from Brimfield!! xoxo