Sarah Fossett is a busy woman these days preparing for her first antique Festival in Downtown Benton as a promotion committee member.

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The festival is slated to be held on the 6th and 7th of June 2008, and will charge a $2 admission fee at the gate. Guests will be able to buy dinner from Martin’s Catering at $8 per dinner.

Activities will begin at 8:00 am, and the area including the parking stall sand the outside of the square will be filled with antiques that will include tractors. The appraisals will take place at $5 per person, though each person can only bring two.

Along with this event, will be a silent auction that will begin at 6:00 pm. A silent auction is one where bids are written down on piece of paper, and at a certain time, the bids are opened. The highest bidder wins. The proceeds from this auction will go to the Gabriella Smith Leukemia Fund. Gabriella was diagnosed with Leukemia in January.

Organizing the fair is a satisfying job for Sarah, who took it up after her husband passed away in order to find something to do. She currently works at the Fire Station Ladies auxiliary members, and is arranging floral themed gift baskets.

If you thought your kids were wicked, how would you feel about a six year old and a ten year old travelling from Frederick, Oklahoma to New York city and back? Amazing you say, but well, after all we have planes, trains, and it’s possible that they knew what they were doing.

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Fair enough. Now imagine that they made the journey in 1910, with no modern facilities, and the threat of highway men looming large! Now that’s a story, you say.

It’s a true story though. Bud and Temple Abernathy made the journey on horseback to meet a gentleman called Teddy Roosevelt (Name sounds familiar?). On their way back, they used a 1910 Brush Runabout Automobile.

Such sons must have had an illustrious father. And he was none other than ‘Catch ‘em Alive’ Jack Abernathy, who was reputed to have been able catch wolves with his bare hands.

One of the books that talks about their adventures is “BUD AND ME”  by Alta Abernathy, Temple’s wife. The story goes that they met some outlaws on their way. Those outlaws escorted them for part of the way ensuring their safety. They wrote back to their father telling him that though they may not like him (He was a Marshall), they liked ‘The stuff that the boys were made of’

Imagine paying $736,000 for a pair of English commodes circa 1830, only to find our later that they may be fake. The antique trade has had it’s share of scams, but the scam threatening John Hobbes is shaking the antique world like few things have till now.

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The reason is the sheer scale on which the fakes are alleged to have been sold. The restorer of Mr. Hobbes is claiming that his pieces, many of which were invented on the spot, have been wrongfully sold as antiques for the past 21 years!

The London antique dealer was famous for his English continental furniture and expensive prices. To suddenly suspect that he was not selling the real thing is a big blow to the confidence that customers have in antique dealers. His restorer Dennis Buggins has made the allegations after he suspected Mr. Hobbes and his brother to be colluding against him.

Ever since that happened, several old customers of Mr. Hobbes have understandably gotten jittery about whether or not their own possessions are fakes. David H. Wilson, a famous appraiser from New Jersey has been flown down to England at the request of some prestigious clients to value their belongings that they think might be suspect.

The Slidell Antique Fair is held twice a year in the town of Slidell, Los Angeles. Barbara Starling, representing the Slidell Antique Association, has said that after Hurricane Katrina, the size of the fair has been significantly diminished, and hopes to restore the fair to it’s original size.

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However, the shopkeepers in the area are protesting the move, as they feel that while the fair is in progress, the tents block out their shops and they get no business during the time.

They opposed an ordinance that was being tabled to determine the exact perimeters of the fair, as well as when it was to be held each year. The shopkeepers are protesting that unless a workaround is achieved, the bill must not go through.

The Bill is tabled by District A Councilman Lionel Hicks, who reminded the opponents that they had the legal right to close down the street for the purpose. However, Councilman Warren Crockett feels that the shopkeepers have a right to ask for changes, and has himself suggested that the bill not be tabled until and unless the problems are sorted out.

The fair brings in quite a large number of visitors into the city every year, and consequently a lot of cash as hotels and food joints get a lot of business.

The Indian State of Orissa, has a history spanning over 3000 years. In particular, it has a strong buddhist culture that stems from Emperor Ashoka. The history goes, that as the Mauryan Empire was expanding, Ashoka encountered the state of Kalinga, that is modern Orissa. Ashoka encountered such stiff resistance from the armies of Kalinga, that he was both impressed and saddened at the bloodshed.

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It marked a turning point in his life, and he embraced Buddhism, which he spread to all parts of the world. As a result, Orissa has always had a significant buddhist background.

Buddha Antiques are treasured in Orissa, and yesterday, four people were accused of stealing several antique items, and among them, a rare buddha statue. Experts are working on finding out the exact period of the metal Buddha statue, and thus to ascertain it’s value.

The accused claimed that he did not know that the items were stolen, and said that he had paid Rs. 2 Lakh for them. India has a law banning unauthrozied dealing of Antiques, and no object older than 100 years can be taken out of the country.

It’s a very sensitive topic this, about cleaning antiques. You have two camps on this one (and like on all others too - Sigh!). Some say that antiques must not be touched up at all. They say that this reduces their worth, and makes them see less antique like.

Photo Credit: Svadilfari

There is a good point in this argument. It is certainly a fact that the value of some antiques can be seriously diminished by cleaning them. Certainly trying to clean them as an amateur is dangerous. You can see how a coin dealer in Idaho warns you against cleaning you coins.

On the other hand, there is a camp that advocates cleaning of antiques. Well, at least a little bit. No one is going to tell you to clean it with detergent so that there are no more stains! But there are some items that benefit tremendously with a little bit of cleaning. This can range from just dusting off an old lantern, to more expensive restoration that can get quite expensive.

There are several businesses that specialize in the restoration of antiques, and indeed, a restored car, or piece of furniture can really look stunning. If you want to sell one of your antique pieces, you can certainly go in for a bit of restoration that will make it more beautiful to the right eyes, and consequently, raise it’s value considerably.

The subject of antique boats, seems to be rather a niche topic. If you go to google, you’ll find that results for antique boats are 7 times less than those for antique cars.

Photo Credit: Randy Son Of Robert

In fact, in spite of their being some good antique boat clubs around like the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club, there just aren’t as many great resources for boats as there are for other antiques.

However, one redeeming feature for Antique boat lovers, is the Woody Classic Boat Blog. With posts starting in October 2007, ‘Woody Boater’ has posted a 183 posts! These informative articles carry around news from all over the boating world.

It has links to several resources, and it’s a one stop news source for anyone who is keen to know what is going on with regard to classic and antique boats. It’s one of the few blogs I’ve seen with posts every day, at such a personal level.

Indeed, the writing is so personal and specific, that it’s clear the author of each article is closely associated with the topic on hand, and this makes it all the more valuable. With great pictures and snaps of the boats in question, it’s really an antique boat lover’s dream come true.

News-Antique.com is the largest distributor of Antique related news. It allows companies and antique dealers to publish their press release which is then sent to all the people who subscribe to it’s service.

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However, what if as an antique dealer, you have your own private mailing list over and above that provided by news-antique? The good news is, that News-Antique has just introduced a new feature that allows publishers of press releases to mail them to their own private mailing lists in addition to publishing them on the website.

The provides the companies with double exposure at no extra cost, or effort. Those who are new to the system, can open up a publisher’s account. To add icing on the cake, publishers will also be able to tell who read the press release that was sent to them.

This is great news from a site that is already rated as #1 in the antique news department with over 28,000 unique visitors every day. “What we’ve done is given them a very simple way to post their release to our system as well as send that same press release to everyone on their private email list.”, said Philip Davies of News-Antiques.

C Mariani Antiques, is well known to be the supplier of fine antique furniture. Some of it’s pieces, which are worthy of a museum, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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However, for those who appreciate the look and feel of the Tuscan line of furniture, and yet might not have the cash to purchase authentic pieces, Mariani Antiques has come out with a new line of reproductions.

The ‘Collezione’ line is an exact replica of the authentic Tuscan Furntiture, whose designs are taken straight from the inventory of antiques of Mariani itself.

The furniture includes tables, chairs, side tables, commodes, lighting, and other accessories. You can see these exquisite Reproductions in the ‘Collezione’ catalogue.

C Mariani Antiques was started in 1973, and specializes in period furniture from the17th to the 19th century. After being trained in antique restoration, Claudio Mariani opened own shop in 1979. The current collection is his first foray into reproduction furniture.

The furniture will be available only through Shears & Window in the San Francisco Design Centre. Greg McIntyre, CEO of Shears & Window in San Francisco, says “The trade has anticipated a furniture line from C. Mariani for many years and the launch of the Collezione line is a dream come true for many of our designer clients. We are especially excited and pleased to have been chosen by Claudio Mariani to exclusively launch his furniture line.”

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It’s not often that place you go to search for and buy antiques, turns out to be one itself. Yet this is exactly what Antiques Alley in West Monroe is.

Mentioned in the AAA Southern traveller’s Magazine, it is a place with a substantial amount of history, that quite aptly, sells antiques. The Antique Alley Merchants Association consisted of 6 merchants in 1987 who had put together their finances in order to pay for the advertising for their shops. From that beginning, the association has grown to 40 shops with antique malls, stand alone antique shops, and restaurants.

The History of Antique Alley began in 1959. It is the favorite antique hunting place for a lot of folks, as they walk through it’s memory filled streets. Louise Carter, owner of Louisiana Treasures feels that it’s the vintage jewellery that draw people to the Alley.

“People just love the old street,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be fancy for people to enjoy it.”. There are lots of plans afoot for the area, which recently obtained government status. This will allow a mater development plan to be built for the area.

In any case, they will have to change it carefully so that it retains it’s historic flavor. Places like this need to be kept intact, as they provide us with a glimpse into a forgotten past.