O-Sense
Recent press of South Dixie Antique Row in West Palm Beach Florida
PALM POWER
Classic Palm Beach now has a shopping bonus--West Palm Beach Art & Antiques
By Janie N. Lewis, Illustrations by Vernon Carne
A
rt and antiques don't come any finer than they do in Palm Beach, Florida. The balmy weather alone justifies a visit to Palm Beach in January, but for the serious collector, the area is tough to beat for blue-chip offerings. Plan your getaway to coincide with either the Palm Beach Winter Antiques Show (January 9-12), Art Palm Beach (January 9-14) or the Palm Beach International Art and Antique Fair (January 30 to February 9), all in West Palm Beach.
...For while Palm Beach is an antiques mainstay, the current excitement is the renewal of West Palm Beach's Antiques Row. This stretch of charming shops starts at the corner of Southern Boulevard and South Dixie Highway. On the northeast corner is Floral Emporium, No. 3900, where you'll find tabletops nearly covered with tortoise trays, blackamoors, bronze statues and tole boxes; a "Medici" Italian etched-glass tapered vase ($1,700) is a standout.
...Michael MacLean Antiques, 3803 South Dixie, brims with 18th- and early 19th-century Italian and French antiques as well as some English period furniture. An early 18th-century French Provincial walnut three-drawer commode with a serpentine front is $26,500.
Christa's South Antiques, 3737 South Dixie, offers 17th- to 19th-century Continental furnishings and decorations as well as shell decorative accessories inspired by the grottos of Pompeii. A beautiful Empire mahogany cabinet replete with mercury gilt-bronze stars is $16,000.
N.P. Trent Antiques, 3729 South Dixie, has an excellent assemblage of Regency English, French and Italian furniture approximately dating to early Empire (1804-15). A few doors down,
Brass Scale Antiques, No. 3721, offers a mix of toile-upholstered chairs piled with needlepoint and embroidered pillows. Tabletops, walls and floor space are loaded with wall sconces, Staffordshire, rock-crystal candlesticks, porcelain inkwells, tortoise tea caddies and hand-painted armorial plates. A 19th-century framed stumpwork horse represents the period's unique needlework ($2,850)
...The art galleries and antiques shops epitomize the quality of life in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Beauty is abundant, from palm-lined boulevards to Mizner architecture. Renowned dealers and scores of collectors flock to the annual events, which exemplify the over-the-top standards for which the area is known.