COLLECTIBLES : 75 Dealers to Display Goods at Antiquer : Indoor Show Will Debut in Costa Mesa
With much anticipation among local dealers and collectors, the Antiquer show and sale will make its debut Sunday at the Costa Mesa Community Center.
The Antiquer, billed as the only monthly indoor antique show in Orange County, will feature about 75 dealers offering general-line merchandise, says Juliet Ford of the Fontana-based Einstein Promotions, producer of the show.
“We chose Orange County because there was such a need for this type of show,” Ford says. “The county’s really expanding, and so is the interest in antiques.
“The antique areas have really been blossoming. . . . For years now the city of Orange has been a wonderful area specializing in antiques, old town Garden Grove has really grown, and Fullerton is coming on strong.”
At the Antiquer, dealers from throughout the Southland will be selling such items as cowboy memorabilia, antique furniture, pottery, art glass, many types of sterling silver items, inkwells, perfume bottles, fine and costume jewelry, linens and dolls.
“I think it will be a really good mix of antiques and 20th-Century collectible items,” Ford says. “We already have booked about 50 dealers, and many of them are asking for more than one space. We have filled our main room and have only three spaces left on the stage area. If needed, we can expand into the lobby area as well.”
Ford says there are plenty of rooms at the community center if the show needs more space.
“We have the potential to expand as our success grows,” she says.
Ford says that although there are occasional indoor shows in Orange and San Diego counties, the only monthly indoor shows in Southern California are in Glendale, Burbank and Culver City.
“These shows are very successful, but dealers from Orange County and even San Diego have been traveling up there, setting up for the one-day production, then hav ing to pack it up and bringing it all home,” Ford says. “Customers have had to travel that far as well. We wanted people in Orange County to have a local show to go to, and we specifically picked (the Costa Mesa site) so that people from San Diego wouldn’t have far to travel.”
Because this is the first Antiquer, Ford says, the show’s producers have been scurrying to get the word out. Their publicity efforts seem to be paying off.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm and interest” in the local collecting community, Ford says. “I’ve been going to the different antique areas in Orange County, and I’m amazed at how many people have heard about our show and plan on attending.”
The Antiquer show and sale, at the Costa Mesa Community Center, 1845 Park Ave., is Sunday, April 25, and the fourth Sunday of each month, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $3. For information, call (909) 822-9851 or (310) 867-8205.
