A Few of My Favorites at the Marburger Farm Antique Show

As I have mentioned before, here, it is antique season in Texas.

 One of my favorites, and one of the largest venues for finding just about any vintage or antique treasure you might imagine, is the
  Marburger Farm Antique show.



Several of my absolute favorite dealers anywhere will be here again and promise not to disappoint.

Janet, from
  Talk Sweet Talk,

 will be set up in the old farm house at the show.

I first met Janet when she was set up at Cole's several years ago. I have not seen her in a while, but I follow her most creative and inspiring blog. She has the best eye and I was smitten immediately with her knack for display, her collections, and her sense of design in setting up her booth at the show.

 Like so many of the people I have met in the antique business, she is just the nicest person and a delight to visit with.

 Talented and clever,  and you will love what Janet does with
WORDS!

Another favorite, whose booth I fell in love with before I ever met her, belongs to Nance.

Nance writes a blog, My Favorite French Antiques, and her booth at the show
promises to tempt me, again, with antique paintings like this one of two dogs......

Gorgeous, yes?

Nance also has tons of beautiful French furniture and accessories.

Paintings, architectural fragments, tapestries, mirrors............

Nance's booth will not disappoint you!!


Setting up at Marburger for the first time,

but a long time vendor at the square in Round Top,

 is Richard Schmidt.

I have only met Richard and his wife Janet a few times, but they are guaranteed to be a hit at Marburger.

Ohmygosh, I'll take one of each please!

As life would have it, and not surprisingly, Richard and his wife are
friends with another longtime favorite of mine,

Vintage Sculpture creators,

Brad and Sundie Ruppert.

I have several of their charming and oh so clever sculptures and it has been fun watching them grow in recognition and popularity over the past years.

"Let Your Love Shine Thru"
I bought this fabulous piece quite a while ago and love it more every day.
 It has moved around my house and sits in my bedroom now. Like any piece of good art, it intrigues me every time I look at it, noticing different details Brad and Sundie created.

Sculptures range from folky angels, horses, hearts and arrows and fabulous mirrors.

Every size and color imaginable and the most clever combination of materials you will ever see!

I have longed for this piece ever since I saw it.
Full of personality and color, it is a prize example of their work. I case you can't find room for a cupboard, they make tons of smaller pieces of folk art that are just delightful.

Old friends, Alan and Lindra of Parkhouse Antiques  set up at Marburger and always have the most beautiful booth.

These photos were taken last year.  I can't wait to see what they do next week!

I have shared with you just a smidge of what you will see at this show.

From the most elegant to the most quirky, and everything in between, this show gets better every year. Be sure to visit the website and try to get here any time next week between Tuesday, March 29 and Saturday, April 2.

If you have favorite dealers at Marburger, or you are a dealer at Marburger and would like to be featured here at Hill Country House, please leave me a comment and I will be happy to post about you!

All photos used in this post either my own or were taken from the site referenced.

Marburger Farm Antique Show Fall 2010

A few months before the Marburger Farm show this fall, I had the pleasure of being asked to write a short article about antiquing for The Howdy, the program that everyone receives upon entering the show.  It is a great little guide and was designed by Cynthia Kinney of Kinney Design, with illustrations by  talented artist, Karla Man.

My story was to be light and entertaining, and it was quite fun to see my story in print when I got there! You can see it here.

So, typically I am one of the first in line to enter the Marburger Farm Antique Show when it opens the Tuesday before the Round Top Show opens on Wednesday. It didn't work out that way this year, and after taking my daughter to school that morning, I got to the show about noon. So, the two things I really would have loved had SOLD tickets on them when I spotted them - proof that someone else also loved them!

The dog painting spoke to me immediately and when I saw the SOLD ticket, I was not really surprised. It was just the most charming painting done in 1917 and 4 feet long.  Turns out the dealer is also a blogger and though we do not know each other, I was delighted to find a comment from her on my post after I got home. She is Nance Harper of My Favorite French Antiques.

Nance has great taste and I, for one, plan to follow her and get to her booth sooner next time!

I made a point to visit my friend, Mary, who sold me my carved Indian and wonderful water bird planter last fall. She also sold Joni her beautiful kitchen clock,  which unfortunately fell to the floor and shattered shortly after she hung it. Very sad.

  We got a kick out of the fact that she and I bought from the same dealer, unbeknownst to either of us, until we read each other's blogs and saw photos! Mary had quite an impressive collection of southwestern and Indian items this show. She has a great eye for vintage southwestern art and memorabilia.

This little painted chest also caught my eye and I would have nabbed it if someone else had not already gotten to it first. Oh well,

I guess I could say getting there late saved me some money!

Here are some more images from the show. Enjoy!!

Loved the bottle collection and the cute burro behind the painting - too bad he lost his ears, poor guy.

The last four images were taken of the booth created by American Garage. If you know me, you know I am crazy about folk art and the composition of interesting fragments and objects put together in playful and meaningful ways. This booth was colorful, fun and so, so well put together. 

In hindsight, I wish I had visited with the dealers and learned more about them and their antique business. Visit the American Garage website here to see more of their huge talent.

Last but not least, some of my favorite artists, Brad and Sundie Ruppert of Vintage Sculpture.  

Always clever, always colorful, and always something new I had not seen before - I have three of their pieces (see below) and try to resist buying another one now when I visit them at the show. 

It is always a treat, though, to see their latest sculpture and one day I am sure that one sensational creation will come along that speaks to my heart (again) and I won't be able to resist!!  

 This piece is called "Love Bird - Love Letters" and I absolutely love it.

 Details of the drawer with an old love letter inside and the inscription "Keep your memories here" stamped on the edge of the drawer.

 I can't remember the name of this one, but it has to do with a rodeo, and of course, is perfect for a Texan to own! The photo surrounding the base is a vintage rodeo picture and the horse has an old Texas Ranger badge on it. His head is a golf club and his ears are tiny red Christmas lights.This was the first piece I bought.

 This piece was one of those "I cannot go home without this" pieces. It is called "Let Your Love Shine Through" and the heart actually has a light bulb in it that illuminates the interior of the heart and the box. It is lined in old love letters and the sides of the box are decorated with hearts in hands, as seen below.

There you have it! I didn't get to take as many photos this year, but thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Marburger Farm show.

It gets better and better and I encourage anyone who just has a day or so to see what is going on during antique week at Round Top to visit this show. Of course there is SO MUCH more to see, but if your time is limited,  this show will give you  a taste of a little bit of everything the shows have to offer.