If you were at the show, you were able to see the finish that we do, unlike most dealers and restorers nowadays, which is our signature French Polishing. And that definitely makes any piece incredibly attractive, clean, valuable, and that’s why in the late 1700s the English replaced any other type of finish, such as waxing and oiling, with French Polishing, done with shellac only.

And not only you were able to see the finish completed, but also the polishing in progress.

That definitely was what is called a ’show-stopper’, with many visiting our space to see how such a fine finish is achieved.

We worked on a piece in particular, a rosewood trolley, and demonstrated the smoothing of the surface with steel wool, the polishing with the shellac soaked rubbing pad, and so on.

Many stopped to ask questions, to ask for restoration services, and some came back to see how the work progressed, being surprised by the amount of time needed to achieve the results.

And I can confirm that nobody really knew anybody that could do the same job with the same technique, and basically, anybody that do and can French Polish.

Younger people had very little idea of what shellac is, and many ignore the present uses of it.

We informed everybody, and we revealed all that can be revealed at an antiques’ show, as we prefer the educated client that knows what to look for, so he/she can avoid fakes and non antique pieces, at the same time avoid disappointments and therefore not loose interest in antiques, and hopefully, he/she would be even more interested in our pieces, which are authentic antiques; and that’s while learning more about the correct finish for antiques, how value is affected by a bad finish, what are the benefits of protection of antique pieces of furniture, and so on.

So the weather could’ve been worse, the attendance was far superior than what expected, at least at our space, with many local residents ignoring our presence and picking up cards and getting information and planning a visit. This was in fact our main objective, so that’s great. As an alternative to advertising, you can’t beat a local show, and we’re in Newton Highlands while the show was in the neighbouring Wellesley.

It was also great to see present clients come to visit and talk about everything, including antiques of course, and with the next container of antiques shipping after the summer, it’s great to find out what our customers, actual and potential, are looking for.

In fact, we are getting ready for 2 buying trips to England, in mid-August and at the beginning of September, and we will also travel to Italy, where our main business is located, and pick the antiques that are going to fill up the container, approx 100 pieces!

The shipment can’t be done during the summer for the risk of damage to the furniture due to the summer heat, which is terrible in a metal container.

As expected, our hallstands are a priority, but to be very honest, not one of the pieces that we brought to the show got less attention than most of the others. Of course a few were obviously really attractive, such as the large bookcase, the Victorian chest of drawers, the Edwardian music cabinet, and so on.

Although we didn’t want to bring too many pieces, given the only very few hours to load/unload/setup and vice-versa, we did bring quite a few different articles to give a good idea of what we have and can get, and how we can refinish them, personally and without outsourcing the restoration.

Of course that made it a very big effort, and it’ll take a few days before we can be back to the normal set up in the store and therefore to normal business.

We brought Walnut, Mahogany, Rosewood, Victorian, Edwardian, Georgian, even one high quality Art Deco cabinet, and bookcases, display cabinets, chests of drawers (bureaus or bureaux, or dressers), tables, trolleys (carts), writing desks, stools, settees, music cabinets, corner cabinets, mirrors, chiffoniers (sideboards or buffets), and of course, hallstands (hat and coats stands, umbrella and stick stands).

The show is over, the weather wasn’t bad, great during set up on Friday, after many days of constantly rainy days with thunderstorms, good in the morning of the first day, definitely too hot in the afternoon, concerning during the night, when it rained really heavily in the Boston area, but with no damage to the furniture, and generally overcast during the whole second day, which was great except for the very high humidity and the fact that it probably scared many that were considering the day ant the antique show. Of course it started raining at 3:59, and at 4 we started loading our antiques again and then unloaded them at our store on Route 9.

After the Wellesley Antique Show, we are resuming to normal hours with a slight difference.

We will be open from 10 am to 4 pm from Monday to Saturday and until August 9th, 2008.

Deliveries, appraisals, estimates, quotes, restoration and all other services have to be arranged outside the above hours.

We are loading and setting up our space at the Wellesley Antique show, Elm Bank.

Therefore we are in and out of the store, so please call ahead to make sure we can assist you.

Tel: 617 999 0269

Thank you!

We will be at the Elm Bank Wellesley Antiques’ Show and while we work on the pieces that we will bring to the show, we are at the store for longer hours.

However, we will close at 16:30 on Thursday, we will be in and out on Friday while we transfer the pieces to the show, and at the show on Saturday and Sunday, and therefore the store will be closed.

We will be in early on Monday, at 10 instead of 1, as usual.

We are open!

Exceptionally, and at least until 5pm.

We are working on a table that is being picked up tomorrow. To give it the best finish, we are working on it today also. That allows today’s visitors to see how French Polishing is performed.

You are welcome to view!

Call @ 617 999 0269 for more info.

We are open until 3pm on Wednesday 3rd, we will then be closed until Tuesday 7th.

We will reopen at 1pm on Wednesday 8th.

Thanks and have a great 4th of July weekend!