Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Hunting for the best vintage lockets for Luna & Stella at the Brimfield antique fair, we really had to bundle up. It was awfully cold (and muddy) for May.

Ever since Suzanne first admired the nearly invisible hinges that characterized the old, handmade lockets, she wanted to offer lockets at Luna & Stella. At first, she investigated whether hinges like that were being made today. They weren’t. So she started an antique and vintage line to complement the way her contemporary birthstone jewelry preserves customers’ special memories.

The best place to start the hunt for vintage is at the Brimfield, Mass., antique fair, a mega event that occurs three times a year and involves thousands of dealers. According to one website, the show extends about a mile along both sides of Route 20 and several hundred yards back from each side of the road.

The dealers are not all selling lockets or even antiques. The event is also a flea market. You can find pretty much anything there. All that stuff you give to the Goodwill, or even throw out because it’s broken, could easily be displayed here with a price tag. It doesn’t even have to be old. People will buy anything.

I had never been on any of Suzanne’s Brimfield expeditions, and as my sister was interested, I decided it was time. Alas, at the last minute, my sister was not able to make the trip. Getting to see pictures is not the same as being in those crazy crowds, eating at food trucks, and using Port-a-Potties, but it will have to do for now. It was definitely fun to see Suzanne in action. She was like a bloodhound on the scent, and I hope my sister will get a chance to watch her in action another time.

Here are a few photos. If a dealer has a dinosaur, you can bet it will get displayed prominently on the roadside. I noticed that the one below eventually talked Lady Liberty into hanging out.

One thing you can do at Brimfield is get ideas here for the stuff you have at home. For example, if you have a fake rhino head collecting dust in your attic, you might want to spray it gold.

I sent Stuga40 the picture of the Swedish tent. Here’s what she said about the clocks, moraklocka: “Mora is a small city in Darlicalia (Dalarna). These clocks were painted and decorated by peasant artists. There are certain areas in Sweden like Dalarna and Hälsingland  where the ‘kurbits’ type of painted furniture is found. The red ‘dalahäst‘ [or wooden horse is] painted in this style and now used as a souvenir from Dalarna and Sweden.”

I loved the morning-glory look of the old Victrola. The quilt picture is for a few of my favorite readers.

The last photo is from the rural B&B where we spent a night. We needed the quiet haven after all the crowds.

You can read about the event here and get “tips on surviving Brimfield” here.