My very first Brimfield was cool, rainy, and muddy. We left the house at 6:15 in the morning and I was decked out in my Hunters, Burberry trench and went searching for treasure. The first part of the morning was long with poking into cramped booths and finding nothing but nil. We waited for one special field, "Dealer's Choice," to open and that's where we found a few things. We went looking for art and objects; any pieces that could be used to accessorize our home and built-ins, once they're built. We found old Spalding juggling pins (with perfect patina), a pair of George Nelson oversized cast iron jacks, and a huge light bulb. Not wanting it to break, I carried the light bulb around like it was a bouquet of flowers. It got a ton of looks, and one guy asked what I was going to do with it. My friend Sheri told him that I "have a really big lamp."
One bit I wasn't expecting were the buyers from Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and J.Crew. Sheri warned us about them, telling us a story of a vendor with wire lockers, and J.Crew had swooped in at 6:30am and bought all 500-something of them she had. You can bet you'll see one in a store near you. We saw the Ralph Lauren guy making a deal on furniture. He'd buy it at whatever price was being asked (takes all the fun out of negotiating) and then a troop of guys would follow around to pick it all up. "This is going to Europe tomorrow!" we heard. That's nice.
