March 14, 2007
Ballarat Antiques Fair 2007
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Labour Day weekend in Victoria heralds the Moomba Festival, the Ballarat Begonia Festival and the Annual Ballarat Antiques Fair. Those alert readers who have been following my Collectables series, browsing through my many and varied collections, will know that I’m a bit addicted to ‘old stuff’ (see Confessions of a Collectaholic). So an Antiques Fair makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.
Situated just over an hour’s drive out of Melbourne, the old gold mining town of Ballarat is now a lovely regional city just reeking with history (in Aussie speak that means anything between 200 and 50 years old). And the Ballarat Antiques Fair is one of my favourite fairs as it’s quite a large event and pulls dealers from all over the country. So you get to see a really good selection of stuff. And, of course, that means you can be pretty much guaranteed of finding something you want to buy. In my case there were many somethings. But since I’d just bought a new camera the day before I felt I should restrain myself from going completely wild with the credit card.
One of the things I love about these fairs is the interesting curiosities on display. The first thing to catch my eye when I walked in was a huge Teddy Bear sitting in an old pedal car. I’m a little bit partial to teddies (”what aren’t you partial to?” I can almost hear Seona sigh) And I was very drawn to him, but I resisted temptation and moved on. Then I came across this giant ceramic cockerel. He was just gorgeous (for looking at, not for buying) so I had to take a photo.
The basketball stadium where the event was held was packed with every imaginable vintage and antique collectable and knick-knack. As well as beautiful pieces of furniture, both Australian and European.
And it was a very successful shopping day for me. I picked up a couple of hatpins for my collection: one from the 1930s and one from the 1940s. I also netted a lovely green glass Victorian scent bottle with brass fittings. It hangs by a chain from a finger ring and was worn by ladies when they went to a dance to annoint themselves with perfume when things started to get a little warm. And my final purchase was a set of blue English wheel-cut port glasses from around 1910. I am testing them out as I write this post and I’m happy to tell you they work very well.
Other related posts:
Allan’s Organ
St Patrick’s at the Macedonia
Confessions of a Collectaholic
Stumble it!
8 Responses to “Ballarat Antiques Fair 2007”
Sounds like it was a wonderful day and I did like looking at your purchases…..
By Janine on Mar 14, 2007
Oooh.. I love the metal charms on this layout.
By ~ AM ~ on Mar 14, 2007
Lovely treasures you found there, Karen!
My hubby and I loved Ballarat, we went to Melbourne in 2001 and hired a car to drive out there and go to Sovereign Hill. We panned for gold and I was very excited to get quite a big bit, until the man told me that they chuck bits of gold into the stream each morning for the tourists!! LOL!! But I still have it in the little souvenir bottle
By Hannah on Mar 14, 2007
Well they might populate the stream with bits of gold but you still have to pan for it and find it yourself Hannah so it still makes a special souvenire.
Ballarat is one of my favourite towns and I love visiting Sovereign Hill. There’s always something new every time I go.
By Karen on Mar 14, 2007
Love the layout. I think you captured some great images to treasure. Best idea when you can’t go crazy with the credit card and get all you can
By alteredartist on Mar 15, 2007
I love that you took so many photos of the interesting things you saw. I’m not crazy about roosters, but that one is gorgeous!
By Becky Adams on Mar 15, 2007
I see the antique collecter spirit here as you said! I’m lovin’ the antique car and the rooster as well. Antiques are so fun! Happy Collecting!!
By Kari on Mar 27, 2007
Nice pictures, i loved Australia, i was there in 1992 when i used to work for Prince. I wish i could have brought back half of the stuff i wanted to.
By pyro chuck on Apr 21, 2008