My Top 3 Fav Brocantes in Paris!

Dear Diva Readers,

top: 5px; float: left; color: white; background: #781300; border: 1px solid darkkhaki; font-size: 100px; line-height: 90px; padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 5px; font-family: times;”>Each fall and spring you hear me wax on about the famed Foire Nationale à la Brocante et au Jambon in the Parisian suburb of ile de Chatou, but I fear I’ve been neglecting my duties.  While I love the National Fair of the Flea Market and Ham, I have 2 other Parisian brocantes – traveling flea markets – that also get my blood pumping with the same degree of diva fever – and you’re in luck, they’re on soon in Paris! 

Top 3 Paris Brocantes:
1) Foire Nationale à la Brocante et aux Jambon (next dates 23 Sep-2 Oct 2011)

2) Antiquities Brocante at Place de Bastille (THIS WEEK May 19-29, 2011 and Nov 4-13, 2011)

3) Antiquities Brocante at St Sulpice (Next Month: June 8-19, 2011)

That’s right – one of my all time favorite markets is on RIGHT NOW in PARIS – The Antiquities Brocante at Place de Bastille is THIS WEEK May 19-29, 2011! If you’re in the city of light, you’d best get shopping!!!  To find out all the diva details read my column “tory/ask-antiques-diva-salon-des-antiquities-de-bastill/” target=”_blank”>Ask The Antiques Diva” in the Bonjour Paris newsletter to find out what sorts of treasures you’ll find at the 480+ vendors selling at this fair!

And should you miss this event, have no fear! Mark your calendar for the fall when the fair is back again this Nov 4-13, 2011! 

And speaking of marking your calendar, next month on one of the chicest squares in town – the Place St Sulpice (of Da Vinci Code fame) –  there will be a smaller but oh-so-lovely flea market fair with about 110 vendors selling perfect pieces from Paris from June 8-19th.  An antique dealer friend (who shall remain nameless lest I give all his secrets away) swears by this fair as his source for the best items in his store – plus, he claims that he’s rubbed shoulders on more than one occasion with the squares most famous resident, Madame Catherine Deneuve, whose penthouse apartment overlooks the fair!
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Now readers, I have one question for you – Do you have any favorite Brocantes in Paris?? If so, share the details!!!

Bonne Shopping!

The Antiques Diva®

Unopened Mail – Calendar Update!

top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>Over this past month and a half, having been out of town traversing Europe with my darling dreadlocked 16 year old nephew, a mountain of mail has grown on my desk. Part of the wonderful joy of being The Antiques Diva™ is that I receive copious quantities of snail mail & emails updating me on the happenings in the art & antiques world.

You might think that I’m just incredibly savvy, spending hours doing research on the best art & antiques fairs around (and as I am a notorious insomniac I do surf endlessly at wee hours in the morning), but in fact, more often than not, these show dates & addresses are sent to me in the post on cards or publicity folders to my home business address and I merely share my wealth of resources with you.

I’m the environmentalist’s & postman’s worst nightmare as I’m on everyone who is anyone’s mailing list. As my notoriety as The Antiques Diva™ has grown, these postcards come more frequently often accompanied by handwritten notes saying, “Why don’t you tell your readers about this upcoming show?”

Last night with my nephew safely returned home to his parents after his European tour, I began sorting through the post, tossing out junk mail or expired fair information, and in the rubble I found a few upcoming shows/fairs worth mentioning.

So get your calendar out – The Antiques Diva has a few last minute dates for you!

London
Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair – June 5 – 15, 2008 – Olympia Exhibition Halls, open daily 11am – 7pm. Over 250 vendors are selling priceless works of art & antiques from almost every period and continent. Very Posh event. Don’t miss the Diamond Lunch next Saturday if you can help it – it’s sure to be brilliant!

Paris
31st Foire aux Antiquaires St Germain – June 5 – 15, 2008 – Place St Sulpice, open daily 11am – 8pm. Da Vinci Code fans will find this setting all too familiar as the L’Eglise St Sulpice, from which the square where the fair takes place takes its name, is prominently displayed in the movie. More to my liking is the fact that I’m as likely to find a gorgeous antique to buy as I am to run face to face with Catherine Deneuve (who lives in a gorgeous apartment overlooking the square). Madame Deneuve is spotted annually picking through the brocante in the most elegant of French attire.

tower.jpg”>tower.jpg” width=”84″ border=”0″ />tour-eiffel-paris_362265_42074.htm” target=”_blank”>Salon de L’Antiquite et de L’Art Tour Eiffel – June 6 -16, 2008 – Quai Branly and Pont d’lena, open daily 11am – 8pm. A prestigious fair held at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in beautiful, beautiful Paris. A picture perfect setting for antique shopping!

Amsterdam
Modern & Contemporary Art Auction Sotheby’s Amsterdam – Sale: Wednesday 25 June 2008, Public Viewing: 20-23 June daily 10am – 4pm. Highlights of the sale include R 79-2 by Jan Schoonhoven, Music Hall by Jan Wiegers, and Cobra artist Karel Appel’s gouache on paper titled Beest.

The Swan Auction House – Algemene Kunst –En Antiekveiling – Sale dates: June 9 – 24, 2008. De Zwaan is known for the incredibly low prices with which they auction their goods! Furniture items can be snatched up for a song and I know more than one antique dealer in A’dam who buys their inventory here (and then marks it up 20 or 30% from their purchase price – why pay more when you can get it from the antique dealers source)! Check the Auction House website for an exact listing of the various dates the different categories will be auctioned. Of particular interest to me is the June 13 (1pm) auction of antique furniture – specifically chairs, settees, lamps, clocks and barometers!

to-find-my-favorite-french.html” target=”_blank”>Brederode Voorjaarsbrocante 2008 – June 13, 14, 15, 11am – 6pm. This won’t be the first (or last) time you hear me wax poetically about this Secret Sale held inside a private apartment on the Lijnbaansgracht in the Jordaan. Antiques, Home Furnishings, and Garden Décor abound in beautiful tableaus. Make sure you mention that The Antiques Diva ™ sent you!
Lijnbaansgracht 56D (by the Westerstraat), 1015 GS Amsterdam

Milan
Viscontea – Casa d’Aste End of the Season Sale – Antiques, Modern & Contemporary Auction – Sale June 26, 2008. Public Viewing: 23 – 25 June, 2008 daily from 10am – 7pm. An auction catalog will be available on the site as the date draws near! And, miraculously, the site is available in English as well as Italian and French. I’ve not bought from here before but am curiously intrigued as I’ve heard good things about them! Should you know anything about this Italian Auction house, please let the Antiques Diva know!

Happy Shopping!

The Antiques Diva™