Antiques, rare books, and cake! Oh, my!

We’ll be in Jacksonville this weekend for one of our favorite shows of the year — the Pilot Club of Jacksonville Antiques Show & Sale at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds Expo Center. We’ve done this show for many years and we’re always delighted to return. The show runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Florida history and Southern writers are well received at this show, so we’ve got plenty of selections as well as leather-bound books, antique books, and beautiful antique maps. We have a huge selection of maps in our map room, which is also our children’s library and our Civil War library. (Our regular visitors know exactly what we’re talking about.) Anyway, if you love antique maps (as we do) you owe it to yourself to come in and see our collection.

One thing patrons of the Pilot Club show always anticipate is the delicious desserts offered every year. It’s a side attraction to the antique furnishings, paintings, and, of course, antique books and maps, but sometimes you’d think it was the main attraction. We’ve seen otherwise reasonable antiquers come through the doors and make a beeline for the dessert table before looking at anything else. Oh, well! Life’s short! Eat dessert first.

German chocolate cake is always a favorite and we’ve no reason to believe that this year will be any different.

We’re always delighted to be working with Karyl DeSousa, the antiques show manager,  and Gail Pender, the dealer manager. The Pilot Club of Jacksonville is a volunteer service organization of professional businesswomen. The show supports the group’s charitable activities, helping the community.

The Pilot Club of Jacksonville was founded in 1921. The name was inspired by the riverboat pilots of the day “who represented leadership and guidance, staying on a steady course.” After 90 years, looks like the Pilot Club has lived up to that inspiration.

Good advice from an antiques expert

 

My friend Blake Kennedy was appraising antiques people brought to the Sunshine City Antiques & Collectibles Show at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg on Saturday.

Appraisal work is specialized. It takes a lot of knowledge and Blake is very good at it.

People were invited to bring their treasured items to the antiques show on Saturday and have them appraised. Blake spent most of the day sitting at a table on the mezzanine level at The Coliseum patiently listening to stories from antiques lovers who had brought their items for him to see.

We do book appraisal work at Lighthouse Books, ABAA. It is sometimes a long an tedious process, and much goes into the final answer. I have much regard for the kind of work that Blake does.

Blake stopped by the booth toward the end of the day on Saturday and chatted a bit. I asked him a key question about what he would like people to know if they have antiques and are considering selling them.

His answer was similar to what I tell people who have potentially valuable books and are considering a sale. Listen to the short video above to hear his answer.

And, Blake, thanks for stopping by.

The Sunshine City Antiques & Collectibles Show runs through Sunday.

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