World Wide Antique and Vintage Show Denver

This weekend the Denver Merchandise Mart played home to the World Wide Antique and Vintage Show. I have known about this show for a while, I think they set it up three times a year here in Denver, but I had yet to venture to one of the shows until this last Saturday.

I'm not really sure why it is the "World Wide" show because there were less than a handful of international dealers, and even those booths seemed to be themed rather than actually from other countries. Anyways, I thought I would give you guys a little review of the show in case you are local and have considered going. The show takes up a small-medium sized exhibit hall and I felt there was plenty to see for the $10 entry fee. I would say the majority of what was on offer was pottery, ceramics, dinnerware, and glass wares. If you are looking to invest in a Rookwood vase or some depression era glass, they have got you covered. I personally like admiring such things, but as I don't have a house to put them in (nor the kind of money these people were asking for) I was simply window shopping.

The next largest category was fine jewelry, and let me tell you, there was some am-maz-ing fine jewelry at this show! Cases of art deco brooches, pendants, and bracelets in diamonds, platinum, and colored gemstones. There were delicate enameled flowers in swirling Art Nouveau gold, bejeweled butterflied and bees, Georgian diamond earrings, Victorian garnets glittering, and antique engagements rings of every style. One particular jeweler had an awe inspiring collection of antique jewelry on display that included two Cartier tutti fruitti pieces (a brooch and a bracelet). He also had the most amazing brooch ever, a large bee/wasp-ish insect, perhaps 4 or 5 inches wingspan set entirely in diamonds (mostly champange-ish in color, not white), sapphires and other colored stones. I would date it to around the turn of the last century, and I fell in love with it instantly! I didn't bother to look at any of the prices, everything was exquisite and well beyond what I can ever hope to afford. It was amazing to get a good look at everything though, I could stare at antique jewelry all day long! The rather eccentric man with the tutti fruitti boasted to us that he had more Art Nouveau pieces but a lady had come in and spent 50k buying up most of it the day before! Good for her, I want to be that lady someday!

All in all, I would say this is a great show to window shop at. The prices are high, and there isn't much "vintage" as much as there are antiques. Though there were no vintage clothing dealers, and few booths had costume jewelry, I would still recommend visiting the show- purely to ogle the fine jewelry. There is nothing like seeing all of those gorgeous antique pieces in person!