This Town Is the Place to <i> Flea</i> for Collectibles

Main Street of this post-card-pretty, quiet New England town, is bordered by a clapboard town hall, pillared wooden church, triangular village green, a townhouse turned into a bank, the grocery store, gas station, pizza parlor and several bright red barns surrounded by wide-open pastures. A common sight in New England.

But three times a year, for one week in May, July and September, the town’s population of less than 3,000 swells to more than 50,000. The fields around town overflow with swarms of antiquers bartering and bickering their way through miles and miles of selling stalls, set up in maze-like formations under tents and tarps.

The events, known officially as the Brimfield Outdoor Antique Shows, or informally as the Brimfield Weeks, boast the largest selection of sellers and broadest collection of collectibles in the Northeast, and possibly in the United States.

The Brimfield Weeks comprise the ultimate American flea market and yard sale, attracting an average of 4,000 vendors. The weeklong sales begin on Saturday and feature a scattering of shows that open on various days. The shows take place in fields on both sides of Main Street, nicknamed “Flea Market Mile.”

The fields begin at the Brimfield Common, at Hollow Road near the intersection of routes 20 and 19, and continue one mile west to Holland Road.

The Brimfield Weeks date back to September, 1959, when a local auctioneer, Gordon Reid, invited about 50 dealers to set up their wares in a hay field outside his barn. The one-day sale, which attracted 300 buyers, was so successful that by 1967, it was scheduled to take place twice annually.

Gradually, the owners of adjoining fields opened their own shows, and other town residents got into the act by providing parking spaces or vending refreshments. Brimfield Weeks became a community business. Most of the shows are free; the others charge $2 admission.

The two largest shows--Antique Acres and Auction Acres, with about 800 dealers each on a total of 60 acres--are run by Gordon Reid’s two daughters, Jill Lukesh and Judith Mathieu and their husbands, under the name of J&J; Promotions. The next-largest show, May’s Antique Market, features about 500 dealers in two fields. Heart-O-The-Mart, run by Don and Pam Moriarty, has a 10-acre field with 400 dealers and a 15-acre parking lot.

Almost every kind of antique and collectible is displayed: jukeboxes with singles from the ‘50s, costume and genuine jewelry, Depression Era glass, Victorian furniture, vintage watches, grandfather clocks, baseball cards, family photographs, Chinese porcelain vases, Japanese fans, Javanese puppets, porcelain or rag dolls, stuffed bears with moving legs and arms, wooden rockers, old posters advertising canned goods or bottled soda, maps, prints, post cards, wooden Indians, cast-iron lawn dogs, Tiffany lamps, ship models in or out of bottles, wooden decoy ducks, Persian rugs, quilts, roll-top desks, brass or porcelain doorknobs, claw-footed bathtubs, wind-up gramophones, music boxes with classical tunes, mirrors, chandeliers, silver and much more.

The term “Brimfield-bought” has a cachet among some collectors because the shows set high standards for the merchandise displayed and sold. The shows are not vetted, but, with few exceptions, show operators will not allow vendors to sell contemporary handcrafts or reproductions.

With the exception of Hopkin’s Start-O-The-Mart, which features dealers of old playbills, photographs, books, prints and other paper articles, there is no concentration of types of antiques in any show. You really have to see it all.

Most antiquers stay the week to browse without stress. Those with less time usually come late in the week and stay through the final Saturday, when dealers may be willing to part with unsold merchandise at bargain prices.

Most of the buyers are dealers and serious collectors. Bargaining is expected. “What’s your best price?” usually gets a 10% to 15% reduction on the tag.

Both sellers and buyers are savvy, so there is little chance of discovering a priceless Chippendale stuffed among less precious Victoriana or an Albrecht Durer sandwiched between two non-distinguished maps. But it does happen, and everyone’s eyes are open to the possibility.

Don Moriarty, owner of Heart-O-The-Mart, cites one good catch. “One of the regulars,” he said, “a dealer from Brookline, bought a string of amber beads from someone who mistook them for fakes. She paid $1 for the beads and sold them a week later in her shop for $185. Not a bad return on your money.”

Not only hidden gems prove to be bargains. The type of antiques that are hot in one area of the country may be sleepers in another. The same Brookline dealer was successful in selling a cache of Victorian mourning jewelry to an antique shop owner from a Chicago suburb.

The bracelets and brooches, woven of locks from the deceased, have little appeal in the Northeast but are sought-after in the Midwest. The Chicago dealer turned a tidy profit on her purchase.

Moriarty claims the dealers at his Heart-O-The-Mart come from the West Coast, Texas and Canada.

“Shoppers, too, come from far and wide,” said Moriarty. “The most dramatic example I can think of is the lady who flew into Hartford’s Bradley Air Field from Milan, hired a limousine to Brimfield, bought an astonishing amount of silver, took the limo back to Bradley and flew home to Italy. Brimfield has dedicated shoppers.”

Many collectors push shopping carts in front of them as they amble down the aisles, picking up pieces here and there. A shuttle bus runs along Route 20.

Going east to west, the shows are as follows (area code for Brimfield is 413): Brimfield Antique Market, 400 dealers, phone 283-6147; Hopkin’s Start-O-The-Mart, 120 dealers, 245-3145; Sturtevant’s, 175 dealers, 245-7458; Shelton, 150 dealers, 245-3591; J&J; Promotions’ Auction Acres, 800 dealers, 245-3436; May’s Antique Market, 500 dealers, 245-9271; Crystal Brook Antique Show, 40 dealers, 245-7647; Quaker Acres, 50 dealers, 245-9878; Jeanne Hertan Antique Show, 200 dealers, 245-9872; Faxon’s Midway Antiques, 100 dealers, 245-9269; The Meadows, 200 dealers, 245-9427; Heart-O-The-Mart, 400 dealers, 245-9556; Brimfield Barn, 50 dealers, (617) 533-4032 ; Faxon’s Treasure Chest, 200 dealers, 245-9269; Cheney’s Apple Barn, 25 dealers, 436-7688; Green Acres, 25 dealers, 245-7218; J&J; Promotions’ Antique Acres, 800 dealers, 245-3286; Tall Pines Antiques, 200 dealers, 245-3286.

Brimfield is 30 miles north of Hartford, Conn., and 60 miles west of Boston. Acquisitions may be mailed home or shipped via AAGGO Movers, 190 Thorndike St., Palmer, Mass. 01069, (413) 283-5334 or (800) 640-6444. Parking costs about $3 per day.

Accommodations at nearby Sturbridge Village or Hartford are booked well in advance. There may still be time to get rooms for the next event, Sept. 8-15, but it’s not too early to book for the 1991 Brimfield Weeks: May 4-11, July 6-13 and Sept. 7-14.

Call (413) 245-7479 for a recorded message with opening dates and hours for each upcoming show. A free visitor’s guide is published by the Quaboag Valley Chamber of Commerce, 418 Main St., Palmer, Mass. 01069, (413) 283-6149.