Ahoy there! Welcome to your weekly instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'.
What a lovely Sunday I had! I spent the day at the fantastic antiques fair at York Racecourse, a fair that never fails to put a smile on my face and a hole in my wallet! Always a well organised, family friendly event that I very much look forward to. The popular New Years Day event of this quarterly fair was cancelled this year because of continuing Covid concerns at the time, so it was good to have it back and I wasn't disappointed with what I found!
So, let this week's instalment serve as a tempting little insight into this fabulous event, York Antique Home & Vintage Fair, everybody...!
As always, I opted to pay £10 to gain early trade access to the event. This gets you in an hour before the general public at 08.30am. Excited as I was and armed with my trusty camera, I set off with a skip in my step. Richard (the organiser) invited me in a little earlier and it gave me the the opportunity to put my camera to work.
On gaining access I discovered an additional third floor had been added to the event and you know what that means...? A shed load more dealers to be buy from! This was the biggest fair yet! I had a bit of an explore and took photographs of some of the lovely pieces the dealers were putting out on their stands, the idea being that I'd add them to this week's blog post...
Well... a bit of a funny story... **laughing and sobbing at the same time**
I set up my camera to take some photos of my stock today and, without thinking, formatted my memory card, deleting every single photograph I'd taken at the fair in the process...!
Fear not, I did take a couple of shots on my phone and, of course, I do have the new photos of the wonderful pieces that I purchased at the fair...
Anyway... moving swiftly on...
Three floors and an outside area of pure quality antiques were awaiting my grubby little paws! I had my plan of action and headed straight for a few familiar faces and bam, a purchase was made straight off the bat!
The absolute sweetest miniature photo frame (pictured below) with little carved flowers in each corner and a delicate little blue cabochon to the top, bottom and sides.
Heading just a few sellers to my left I spotted some more pieces that sent my antique senses into a tingling frenzy, and if you watch my YouTube videos, you'll know by now that while many people buy with their guts, I buy with my tingles...!
Purchases two and three were secured! First was this beautiful Victorian embossed leather sewing compendium, with contents, in the form of a little book (pictured below). It was right up my street! The condition was superb, with its vibrant colours and exquisite embossing. I was in love!
And, from the same dealer, my next purchase was made. Continuing on the leather theme was a rather handsome little Victorian embossed leather triple stamp dispenser (pictured below). A beauty! Again, the condition was superb, the detailing wonderful and the colours vibrant. The rates of postage on the internal side of the lid was a smashing little touch, as is the spring hinge.
The addition of a third floor at the fair was superb with many a treasure to be had up there. I would have come away with a few pieces myself but alas, I was beaten to them by some other eagle eyed customers. **shakes fist in the air**
Obviously, this is where I'd have ordinarily inserted a photo of the third floor to show you how impressive it was... but you already know the story of my incompetence, so I've drawn you a picture instead...
It was on my way to the outside area that I made my fourth and most obscure purchase of the day...
One for you Yorkies! Please do get in touch if you can shed any light on it. Now, I'm not normally one for buying dolls, mainly because I don't really know an awful lot about them. However, I do love a bit of local social history, so this piece set off my tingles again...
Get a load of this (pictured above and below)! It's a vintage homemade doll made by someone to seemingly commemorate the passing of a local York man named 'Charlie Thornton'. Apparently, Charlie became well known while working as a Yorkshire Evening Press newspaper seller. Wherever he went he'd have a merry quip ready and waiting for his customers who would all know him by his Christian name.
A sweet piece and one, I'm sure, I'll be writing another blog post about in the not too distant future.
This fair is a regular fixture in my antiques diary and I recommend you get it in yours too! A massive thank you to Richard and the team for, yet again, organising such a fantastic event and, of course, for adding yet another floor of sellers! A massive thank you as well to all the dealers who sold there. You deserve great credit for the quality of items you were selling. So, well done all and thank you!
I'm now counting down the days until the next one, which is on Sunday 3rd of July 2022. So, get it in your diaries and I'll see you there!
Well, that's it for this week folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into York Antiques Home & Vintage Fair. Be sure to visit their website - www.antiquefairyork.com - and give them a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for their latest updates and announcements. And, let me know in the comments section below if you too picked up something nice at the fair.
Remember, if you enjoy my posts, please show your support by subscribing to my 'Source Social' membership, which you can do via the 'Home' page. It's free and gives you a weekly blog post and a fortnightly YouTube video delivered directly to your inbox, as well as exclusive discounts and first dibs on new items before they are added to our website.
And, speaking of my YouTube channel, if you're into antiques and haven't seen any of my videos yet, you can find them HERE. Head on over and subscribe to that too for your dose of finds, fairs, stories and reviews.
So, until next week, stay safe, keep buying those antiques and keep spreading that Source Vintage love!
Cheerio!
Stephen
Owner Source Vintage
Shop from Source Vintage here