Antique Showsales International - The Winter Sale at Sherway Gardens, Jan 25th to Feb 1st, 2009

All week long, Antique Showsales International has brought The Winter Sale to Toronto!

From Jan 25th to Sunday Feb 1st there's plenty of antiques filling the aisles and courtyards of Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke, Ontario. This mall is found just west of Toronto where Hwy 427 meets the QEW. There's lots of parking and a TTC bus from Kipling st runs direct.

The Winter Sale is a remarkable week long festival of diverse decorator quality antiques - its remarkable because of the selection it provides shoppers. There's everything here; antique lamps, art glass, Bakelite, coins, Tiffany lamps, fine art paintings and sculptures, ephemera, prints, fine china, stoneware, tools and toys - everything! There's clothing too, lots of vintage dresses and boots and hats and headpieces. Furniture of all descriptions, tables and chairs, dressers and wardrobes.

Dumpdiggers arrived at twelve noon and stayed till close at five. I marveled at the wide selection of costume jewelry and one of the first people I bothered was Carol-Anne of Karol's Kollectibles. I couldn't stop looking at the exquisite display of Mariam Haskell and the beautiful Sherman cuff bracelets she keeps under glass - she has both rigid and soft examples of the collectible Montreal designer's work.

Here's Carol-Anna showing off a spectacular Sherman necklace. This piece was made in the late 1950's in Montreal and it was very popular with women who desired the flash and sizzle of Swarovski crystals - esp after the poverty and suffering of the war of Europe. Although all her pieces are signed, Carol-Anne reminds us, Sherman didn't sign all his work and because of the rhodium plated back plates it's very hard to replicate. If you have any questions about Sherman jewelry she is expert - Carol can be contacted at karolsrunwaygems AT aol DOT com, until she gets her website up and running.

Behold Katherine Choptiany of Nomadic Antiques. Her domain is easily recognized by the giant garden harps and the full length bejeweled Victorian opera dress at its radiant core. She's hard to miss. The base of her space is littered with boots and baubles and 1960's clutch purses. I don't know how she keeps an eye on it all. Lingering in her presence I learned that she's the Festival Director of the Moving Image Film Festival. Katherine's vintage coats and boots and are as breathtaking as her smile, and her conversation is informed and compelling... Dumpdiggers found it hard to break away.

David Burns came all the way from Guelph Ontario to sell his ephemera, beautiful art prints, vintage advertising, and old posters of every description. He handed me an antique business card. We had only talked for two minutes before a queue formed behind him, and his wisdom was soon tasked elsewhere dispensing reference numbers and commenting on laminate stocks and signature ink shades.

Treasure Hut Antiques is home to Pat and Penny George - don't bother trying to find their home base in Paris Ontario, they only display their wares at the big Canadian shows. Pat is a friendly guy and very knowledgeable - Dumpdiggers likes the way he presents his antiques as 'treasures'.

Hugh W Little has a tiny business card. But he's a big dealer and sells quality vintage art prints behind a truckload of ephemera in sorting boxes. He runs Vintageprints.ca online and while I watched he seemed to know quite a few of his customers by name. His booth is perfectly positioned just below the food court stairs and I gazed upon him busily showing paintings and prints as I enjoyed my Manchu Wok beef terriyaki.

Audette Antiques is a century old barn filled with country furniture and related smalls from Orono, Ontario - childhood home of Neil Young btw. They brought nice Canadiana pieces and Vintage tins and tools. They are also purveyors of silver cutlery and antique steel knives and kitchenware. I don't think they knew Neil, but they look about the same age.

Dumpdiggers chatted with Bob Charbonneau of Ivy Manor Antiques and marveled at his wide selection of silver flatware and sterling holloware. There's some Moorcraft and Roseville pottery, and also old coins and even some long forgotten bank notes.

And one minute later I met Marshall Gummer, The Appraiser.ca He was there to help promote the show and accompanied by Marion we three toured the corridor kiosks to say hello to his many friends, some of whom are dealers at The Twindmills Antique mall in Colborne, Ontario. I'll save their profiles for that post when I visit them this spring.

Together we delighted at the model ships on display in The Cellar Door. Here's Gary Dawdy backlit beside a fair sized schooner, a bargain at $1200. Gary and Gayle Dawdy hail from Kingston Ontario where they're also known as Dip and Strip Refinishing.

The carved wood and silver sculptures that I mentioned in the introduction are found in PA or Parisian Auctioneers. This is the domain of Phillippe et Anne Pallafray; the charming French speaking couple are residents of Ile d'Orleans, Quebec, Canada. I think they had some trouble understanding my Toronto English, and I had to work hard to glean exactly what they were saying, but their fine art paintings (some real medieval looking canvases) do all the talking.

Marshall Gummer was on Breakfast Television this morning, at approx 7:50 am. He showed off some of his best art glass and a Harlander painting and gave the audience some great ideas for marquee items to purchase as investments. Stand alone objects d'art really help define your individual style. That's what The Winter Sale is all about - its a buffet of beautiful objects that are powerful bits of Canadian art and culture.