Brimfield Antiques Shows opened Tuesday and will run through May 15.
BRIMFIELD – Robert Lloyd can and does sell his antique silver items in his Manhattan gallery and at indoor shows in Miami, Baltimore, Boston and other locations.
He has also spent a couple of weeks in each of the last 20 years with selected silver items from the 16th through 19th centuries in a tent at Shelton’s field on Route 20 at the Brimfield Antique and Collectibles Shows.
In just a few minutes Lloyd came up with several reasons for the recurring Brimfield trips.
He has clients from all over the world, including some who prefer to meet with him and look at this silverware at the Brimfield setting.
On Tuesday, Lloyd met at this tent with clients from Belfast who could have gone to New York or Miami but like the May shows in Brimfield where they can walk around and see the wares of 5,000 other antiques and collectibles dealers.
Lloyd said he likes to go to the Brimfield shows because they are a place for him to do some buying, both for his gallery and his personal collections, which include silver items made on Long Island in the 18th century.
“A lot of Brimfield is the hunt, finding things,” Lloyd said.
He makes clear that he lives in the antiques world for business reasons and to support his family, but Lloyd also talks about the times spent in Brimfield as fun, and as opportunities to renew contacts with people who have become friends over the years.
“If the shows are slow, we find a way to have a good time,” Lloyd said.
He said the Brimfield shows are “very similar to summer camp.”
And while reflecting on the people and events and scenes he has witnessed in two decades of Brimfield, Lloyd said, “This show mimics life more than any antique show.”
This week’s Brimfield shows opened Tuesday and will run through May 15.
Individual fields have different schedules, but there will be some open from dawn to dusk each day.
Greg Peacock has been selling a general line of antiques at the Brimfield shows for several years at the Sturtevant field.
Peacock has a shop, Log Cabin Antiques, in Lake Placid, N.Y., and he selects for his week in Brimfield items such as a set of large, decorative columns, which might not sell as well back home.
In addition to having the opportunity to sell his antiques to new and different sets of buyers in Brimfield, Peacock said he enjoys spending a week where so many people with similar interests gather.