Fine and fancy, sure, but always fun. Serious and storied, but never stuffy. Vintage treasures, not necessarily “antiques.”
That’s what Christine Palmer always emphasized, across years of interviews with The Columbian, before each annual gathering of treasure seekers, sellers, analysts and tale-tellers that she convened at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.
The 13th annual Clark County Antique & Collectible Show is set for Jan. 20 and 21. But Palmer, who in 1981 launched the umbrella organization, America’s Largest Antique & Collectible Show, died in August. It was less than one month from the cancer diagnosis until her death at age 67, according to her friend and longtime marketer, Jim Beriault.
“She had a complete passion for antiques and the antiques community,” Beriault said. “We couldn’t walk the aisle at one of these shows without getting barraged by all the people who considered her their friend. We had to hold her memorial at the (Portland) Expo Center because so many people came.”
EBay, Craigslist and other online venues have “devastated a lot of antiques shows around the country,” Beriault said. “Why go to a show when you have eBay?”
Because of community and because of firsthand experience, Palmer would say. When you’re hunting for that special, long-desired something — or when you’re simply enjoying browsing and figure you’ll know what you’re seeking when you find it — virtual shopping just doesn’t cut it.
“There’s nothing like coming and seeing and touching it, and talking to the owner to find out the history, before making a commitment,” Palmer told The Columbian last year.
Palmer always had an uncanny nose for where the antiques and collectibles market was headed, Beriault said. “She had such an intuition about trends,” he said. He mentioned the way interior decorators started accenting modern settings with choice antiques in the mid-2000s, or a decade before that, the way folks started accenting their gardens with artistic hunks of leftover, “sculptural” metal. Palmer was way ahead of these trends, Beriault said.
Now, he added, Palmer’s husband and staff have decided to continue the America’s Largest Antique & Collectible Show business, which sponsors two events annually in Puyallup and three at Portland’s Expo Center, in addition to the Clark County show every January.
Treasure or trash?
As always, experts from the International Society of Appraisers will be on hand to identify and evaluate possible treasures that people bring from home. For $7 apiece, they’ll take a close look at what you’ve got, and give you their analysis of its provenance and value, “Antiques Roadshow” style. If your piece is too big to carry in, don’t rent a trailer — just provide detailed photographs.
Fine and fun
In recent years, trends bounced quickly between pop culture and baby boomer memorabilia and “mod” fashions on one hand (perhaps inspired by the success of the stylish 1960s drama “Mad Men”) and, on the other hand, “fine art and true antiques,” including original artworks, estate jewelry, oak furniture, silver and china, and rare books.
But even when the market happened to be trending toward grand furniture and higher-end finery, Palmer promised, her annual Clark County Antique & Collectible Show would always feature plenty of “the fun, funky stuff.”
That means toys and games, movie posters and TV tie-ins, baseball cards and other sports memorabilia, Pez dispensers and Monkees lunchboxes.
“We range from the eclectic to the expected,” she said.
“She managed to do something a lot of people … running antiques shows were unable to do, which was keep it fresh and keep them coming,” Beriault said. “She was the consummate show woman. She understood her audience and she worked hard to keep the next generation interested. She thought about this business 24/7.”
