Sara Godwin

Posts Tagged ‘Fort Mason’

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San Francisco Fall Antiques Show: An Exercise in the Unexpected

In Antiques, Baby Boomers, Luxury, San Francisco, Travel, Women's Travel on October 25, 2014 at 8:23 am
$350,000 worth of gold au natural $350,000 worth of gold au natural

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Not all that glitters is gold, or silver, for that matter. The proof is in this spectacular glass chaise brought from Paris by Steinitz (Steinitz@steinitz.fr) Not all that glitters is gold, or silver, for that matter. The proof is in this spectacular glass chaise brought from Paris by Steinitz (Steinitz@steinitz.fr)
A cache of 19th century gold coins found buried in tin cans in the Sierras by a couple out walking their dog. The estimated value of the stash: $10 million. A cache of 19th century gold coins found buried in tin cans in the Sierras by a couple out walking their dog. The estimated value of the stash: $10 million.

San Francisco has three major social events in the Fall: Only one of them does not require a ball gown. That would be the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show in the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason, going on right now, and you’re invited. Designed as a fundraiser for Enterprise high school students, it draws everyone in San Francisco who has money or wishes they did. The antiques dealers come from all over the United States and many from Europe to create a brilliantly curated collection of some of the world’s rarest and most precious objects — and those objects always encompass an element of surprise.

The biggest buzz this year was an object that showed no artist’s vision and no craftsman’s skills; basically, it’s a lump. A brilliant lump, to be sure, but nonetheless, it’s a lump: A huge, shiny gold nugget weighing more than six pounds (the dealer let me hold it!) found recently in California’s Gold Country and valued at $350,000. It’s in the first booth on the right as you enter the show, and displayed with it are the uncirculated mint-condition 19th century gold coins found last year in a cache in the Sierra Nevada, the cache valued at $10,000, 000. And that’s just the start!

The show runs today and tomorrow, the cost is $15 per person (the catalog alone is worth the price of admission), and the variety of things to see that people hold precious will intrigue and fascinate you. The people-watching and street scene fashion is also fabulous. Coco Chanel would be proud. Go now.

Photos to follow, so keep checking back. I’ll be posting throughout the day.

A mystery menorah, believed to have been made in Eastern Europe over a century ago, no one seems to know when it got here or how it got from there to here. (danielsteinantiques .com) A mystery menorah, believed to have been made in Eastern Europe over a century ago, no one seems to know when it got here or how it got from there to here. (danielsteinantiques
.com)
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San Francisco Fall Antiques Show: Objects of Desire For Which You’ll Probably Need A Handkerchief

In Antiques, San Francisco, Travel on October 24, 2012 at 11:25 pm

Just got back from the first Press Preview of the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show which opens tomorrow, Thursday, October 25, 2012  at  Fort Mason Festival Pavilion at 10:30 am sharp. Be there when the doors open, and don’t forget your handkerchief: The exquisite,  intricately-worked objets are pretty much guaranteed to make you drool.  Centered around a nautical theme, the variety alone is enough to turn your head inside-out.  The lenders displays range from whale’s tooth scrimshaw to antique Canton porcelain bowls memorializing a shipwreck, with depictions of a three-masted sailing ship, both pre-and-post tempest.  There are children’s motorboat pond sailers and a massive ship’s model that anyone ever intrigued by the mystique of  sea-faring would cheerfully do despicable things to possess.  And all this is before you get to the dealers, who have come from seven different countries to tempt, and I must say, they have done a splendid job of doing so.  I found myself lured even by things in which I have never before so much as expressed an interest.

The first display is of an armada of 120 ships,  deconstructed and reconstructed, in obsessive detail. It is perfectly possible to lose yourself — and all sense of time — examining the hulls, sails, rigging, sheets, hatches and more than there is time for me to describe or you to read.  First displayed in Venice, California, they drew crowds day and night, with children as fascinated as their parents.  Across the center aisle, Nicholas Brawer  (28 East 72nd Street at Madison Avenue, NYC; 212/772-2664/

http://www.nicholasbrawer.com)  will turn your head around 180 degrees with fully restored stainless steel and brass Nikon Japanese Naval binoculars dating from World War II.  They are beautiful even if they were not functional, and, as it happens. they are.  No home with a view of the Bay should be without one of these; it will make everything else in your living fade to insignificance. With the America’s Cup looming large on the horizon, what further justification, what additional incentive,  could one possibly require?

There is more, much more, but I must shower and change to be back in time for the show’s Preview Gala tonight.  I’ve solemnly sworn not to post any photos until after 1o:pm tonight, so check in for the review of the Preview Gala and photos tomorrow.  The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show runs from Thursday, October 25th to Sunday, October 28th, so don’t miss it. Tomorrow: The French book-matched tortoise-shell and brass marriage casque dating from the reign of King Louis XVI at Steinitz/Booth 32, the mechanical cow at Obsolete/Booth 40, and the vintage wool bathing costumes at American Garage/Booth 8.