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THE BERKSHIRES - AMERICA'S ANTIQUES MECCA
The southern Berkshires were settled before the United States was born, and the towns of Berkshire, Litchfield, and Columbia counties have always been fertile ground for the lover of fine old things. The first antiques dealers here, naturally, offered American furniture, paintings, and folk art. With time, specialists in antiques from around the world have been attracted to the area, and now the shopper can find offerings from England, Canada, France, Italy, Scandinavia, and even China. The number of nationally recognized experts in specific periods and styles, with unusually large inventories and collected in close proximity, led Leslie and Leigh Keno, from television’s Antiques Roadshow, to describe this area as an “Antiques Mecca.”
In 1973, a handful of the dealers along Massachusetts Route 7 recognized a need to educate their customers, as well as themselves, about the nature and standards of the antiques trade. They formed the Berkshire County Antiques and Art Dealers Association, the first organization of its kind in the nation. The Association brought together those dealers with a commitment to accurate dating and full description of their offerings so that the antiques buyer could feel confident that their pieces were properly labeled with respect to condition and origin.
Now, thirty-three years later, the Association numbers 55 members in three states, and includes group shops and individual dealers offering everything from curios to museum-quality. In a single day, finds may include fine English library furniture, American paintings, country tables, antique wicker, painted furniture, country pieces, tin lanterns, brass candlesticks, Continental crystal chandeliers, porcelain dinnerware, Delft earthenware, American stoneware, architectural elements, and garden ornaments. As a bonus, our member galleries also showcase the work of local artists.
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