Preview Party

Weathervanes and seafood: that pretty much sums up my Friday evening at the Brandywine River Museum's Antiques Show preview party!
"Weathervanes" was the theme of this year's show, and there were marvelous examples both on display and for sale. My favorite by far was a 1910 weathervane showing a squirrel munching on an acorn. Completely charming. $55,000. At the same booth I saw a couple buying a horse weathervane, and there was also an adorable fox weathervane with a lovely patina.
And as far as the seafood part of the evening goes: the lavish food included excellent shrimp, paper-thin smoked salmon, and a very popular sushi bar set up on the third floor, complete with chefs, servers, soy sauce and chopsticks. There was also carved-on-the-spot roast beef and turkey; a table of mini-quiches, Swedish meatballs, spinach-filled pastry triangles, and fruits and vegetables in the courtyard; and an array of wonderful tidbits brought around by volunteers. There were bars on each floor, too, and the most beautiful flower arrangements.
To me, the most intriguing booth this year was the one occupied by Charles Edwin Puckett of Akron, Ohio (www.cepuckett.com), who specializes in illuminated manuscripts and antiquities. There were sturdy medieval metal buckles that would have been right at home in the "Game of Thrones" wardrobe room, as well as crosses and reliquaries and beautifully illustrated pages from prayer books. Even older were the rings, glass jars and miniature figures from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. Can you imagine using a shellfish spoon from 2,000 years ago?
Among the guests, I had the huge pleasure of meeting Lee, a long-time reader of this column who takes a great interest in my comings and goings. "You really know what's going on," she declared -- music to my ears! I also had fun talking local politics with East Bradford Township supervisor John Snook.
It was amusing to see the varied outfits worn by the visitors on the chilly, misty evening, a far cry from the usual warm late-May weather. I had planned to wear a little summer dress, but my plans changed drastically when the thermometer didn't rise much above 50 degrees. Bolder women, however, defied the weather and showed up in sleeveless dresses and sandals.