Antiques event returning

Published 11:48 pm Friday, February 7, 2014

Kim Hepler and Nancy Winchell look at jewelry pieces during the Suffolk Art League’s Antiques Show and Sale last year. The annual event is back for its 31st installment later this month at King’s Fork Middle School.

Kim Hepler and Nancy Winchell look at jewelry pieces during the Suffolk Art League’s Antiques Show and Sale last year. The annual event is back for its 31st installment later this month at King’s Fork Middle School.

Thirty-nine vendors have signed on for the Suffolk Art League’s and Suffolk Parks and Recreation’s annual Antiques Show and Sale, league executive director Linda Bunch said.

The event’s 31st installment takes place at King’s Fork Middle School from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 22 and noon to 5 p.m. the following day, a Sunday.

Most dealers were from Virginia, including Northern Virginia, with some also traveling from North Carolina, Bunch said.

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“We have a really wonderful silver dealer, if you are looking to finish out place settings,” she said.

Grandmothers often start silver patterns for granddaughters, Bunch said, adding that leading up to her eventual wedding, the granddaughter continues purchasing pieces to fill out the collection, and the league’s show and sale is always a good place to look.

“We also have a really wonderful jeweler from Williamsburg,” Bunch said. “She has both estate jewelry and costume jewelry.”

The show and sale also features a range of glass, she said, as well as porcelain, pottery, home wares and more.

“Suffolk’s Mr. Price has autographed photography. He has sports, and he usually has some astronauts and other interesting characters,” Bunch said, adding he also has medallions and commemorative coins as well as autographed pictures from the world of entertainment.

“It’s always kind of fun to see who he’s found during the last year.”

Bunch said the event would also feature repairers and restorers covering crystal, clocks and watches, and picture frames.

“If you have a crystal goblet with a chip that needs grinding out, he can repair that,” she said of the crystal repairer.

“(With) the process he uses, the fractures are almost invisible; I have seen him put together some pretty impressive breakages.”

The picture-frame restorer can work wonders on molded embellishments and gold leaf, Bunch said. “She can repair most of them so they really do look like new.”

Tickets for the event are $5 per person, or $4 with a coupon that Bunch said would be in local newspapers next week.

The show and sale raises money for the league’s education programs, she said, including those with the school district and others held at Suffolk Art Gallery.

Visitors also can enter a raffle to win a floral painting by artist John Taylor. Chances are $2 each or three for $5, Bunch said.

The event has been held at the middle school on King’s Fork Road since 2002, she said. It was previously at the National Guard Armory “for many years,” but armories across the country were closed for public use for a while after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

“It really was a last-minute hustle to make that happen,” Bunch said of the move to King’s Fork. “(Former principal) Mr. Darden was most generous in working with us, and the school system has continued to be wonderful to work with.”

Rodman’s Bar-B-Que has been enlisted to provide food at the event, including Brunswick stew, barbecue, hot dogs, ham biscuits and homemade desserts.