specialty fashion & textile sales

Our May 14th & 15th specialty antique costume and textile auction will again take place during Antique Market Week at Brimfield. Our New England location, the Sturbridge Host Hotel, is six miles east of the Brimfield antique fields and about an hour from Boston’s Logan Airport (BOS) or Hartford, CT's Bradley Airport (BDL). Our May sales in the Host Hotel ballroom will be held rain or shine.

To be Sold

• MENS: Suits, daywear, large collection of collarless custom shirts made for US Ambassador, hats, walking sticks,
  
• WOMENS: 20th C. evening & day wear, bustle dresses, sport clothes, beaded, brocade, lame dresses & jackets, silk lingerie, whites, lace coats, 20th C. shoes & hats, handbags. wedding dresses, Victorian clothing, parasols, fans, silk & cotton petticoats, Eastern European regional clothing & accessories, mourning clothes, wedding veils,
  
• CHILDRENS: Christening gowns, 19^th C. baby bonnets, 19th C. calico and embroidered white dresses, regional clothing, accessories
  
• TEXTILES: 19th - early 20th C. quilts, woven paisley shawls, collection of Suzani tent hangings, Hmong embroideries,  heirloom laces, linens, samplers, embroidered shawls, jacquard coverlets, crazy quilts & more.
  
• EPHEMERA: Early Harper's Bazaar magazines, Jewelry Auction reference catalogues
  
• OF NOTE: Asian robes and collars, c. 1900 cowboy boots & chaps, deco leather suitcase set, Vuitton & Goyard trunks
  

European and Asian treasures from the 18th through late 20th centuries: vintage & designer garments with large volumes of wearable vintage clothing from the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970's & 1980's,  abundant 19th C clothing, many 19th C. quilts, coverlets, hand embroidered & woven textiles, collection of central Asian Suzani tent hangings, handmade & machine made paisley shawls, men's garments and accessories, Chinese & Japanese embroideries, weavings and robes, thousands of fashion accessories - shoes, fans, hats, bonnets, handbags, ephemera, etc.

Consignors

These rare objects have been hidden away for decades in the storage facilities of many legendary American museums: The Brooklyn Museum (NY),  Museum of the City of New York, the Strong Museum, the Moore College of Art, Ohio State University, The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (CA) and more. These amazing collections, as well as selections from other institutions, estates and private consignors will be sold to the highest bidder, free of any minimum bids or reserves.

Sale Details

Both of our sales begin late afternoon - at 4pm - just as the Brimfield Antique fields are winding down for the day.

The CATALOG sale will begin at 4PM on Tuesday May 14th with more than 350 collector and trade lots on display. There will be an opportunity to preview all of the catalog lots on Tuesday beginning at 1PM .

Our now-legendary DISCOVERY SALE has it's own auction sale date this year. All of Wednesday May 15th is devoted to the exciting DISCOVERY SALE -  fashion & textile lovers fantasy event.   The action begins promptly at 4PM and lasts for many hours - well into the evening. The boxes are opened, on view for inspection, and then the bidding begins. Preview the 4,000+ DISCOVERY objects along with others in attendance, just as the museum boxes are emptied and sold.  Expect a fast-paced and exciting sale. Buy one special piece or the whole table.

All DISCOVERY items are uncatalogued and most come from institutions around the country. Be prepared for a long and exciting sale filled with incredible finds from museum, institutional and estate collections. There is nothing like this sale anywhere.

Because of the volume of fashion and textile objects that have to be sold over the two sale days, there will be NO PHONE, INTERNET or ABSENTEE BIDDING. You MUST ATTEND in person to view and bid on these lots. EVERYTHING that we have been amassing from museum collections since last summer WILL SELL on May 14th & 15th.

Our DISCOVERY & CATALOG SALES feature large trade and collector lots that are guaranteed to please every serious collector of vintage fashion and textiles. Both sales promise treasures from many incredible museum collections over two exciting evenings. Surprises and bargains are guaranteed.

We are sorry but, because of the tremendous volume for sale over 2 days, ABSENTEE, PHONE & INTERNET bidding options WILL NOT be available for our Massachusetts sales.


Internet, phone and absentee bidding will return for our November 13th NYC sale.

Click Search Lots & Photos above to find descriptions of May 14 catalog lots posted in the order of sale. There is so much in our warehouse that we'll be adding lots right up to sale week.

Type in any search term or era and view available lots in our searchable web catalog. Photos are included to provide a  sampling of the variety of lots that will be offered. Most lots won't be photographed because bidders can preview and inspect everything that will be sold. Again, all bidders must be in attendance to preview and bid at this sale.

Clothing, accessories & textiles are grouped into large trade & collector lots and have been out of public view for decades. These sales are the absolute best way to stock your vintage store, amass inventory for your web-based business or fill up your closet with unique and wonderful vintage treasures.

We hope to see you in May in Sturbridge for this important 2-day vintage sale.