Chock-full of 75 carats of diamonds and emeralds, a Cartier bracelet is just one of the many treasures at the Summer Antiques Show.
The show returned to Baltimore Thursday with pieces from nearly every period for spectators to admire, and possibly purchase ? if their pockets are deep enough.
“No dealer seeks to specialize in one type of antiques,” said Gus Davis, part owner of Camilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd. in New York. “As buyers become more knowledgeable, it changes the way we do business.”
Davis brought to Baltimore about 30 rare pieces of antique and estate jewelry, ranging in price from $800 to $675,000.
Fashionistas are choosing “big, bold and chunky” broaches, wide bracelets and long necklaces, Davis said.
“People would rather have one item that is more important and makes a statement than a bunch of small things,” he said.
Davis advises potential buyers to ask for detailed invoices.
“Get the provenance in writing,” he said.
In addition to jewels, the show?s booty includes fine art, silver, porcelain, furniture, glass, textiles, and vintage couture clothing and handbags.
Couture dealer Katy Kane, who boasts Halston, Galanos, Chanel and Gucci clothing and handbags, doesn?t push buyers if they?re on the fence.
“I don?t want them to buy something and keep it in their closet. I want them to love it and wear it. You start a collection that way,” she said.
The Summer Antiques Show, in its 27th year, attracted more than 550 dealers from the U.S., Canada, England, Germany, Italy, France, South America and Asia.
“It?s become the destination,” said Bill Rau, president of MS Rau Antiques in New Orleans? French Quarters.
Among Rau?s offerings include a pre-Revolutionary War coffee pot silversmithed by Paul Revere and a French chest, matched only by its twin in the Palace of Versailles in Paris.
The organizers, the Palm Beach Show Group, acquired the show in 2005 and chose to keep it in Baltimore.
“It?s an indication of the value they saw in the city,” said Gary Vikan, director of the internationally renowned Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. “It?s a big deal. They present top-of-the-line antiques without boundaries.”
Vikan is one of six speakers lecturing at the Antiques Show. He plans to discuss how Henry Walters amassed the greatest jewelry collection of the Gilded Age.
“It?s almost unbelievable how jewelry like art wanders through time with its own independent story of why and where, sort of like an orphan,” he said about a piece of cut agate, which mysteriously made its way from fourth-century Constantinople to 20th-century Baltimore. During its travels, the stone was stolen three times.
