The Chester County Historical Society will be celebrating the 36th year of its Antiques & Art Show this weekend at the Church Farm School in Exton.

CCHS is known and respected as one of the state’s premier history museums and educational centers, and the Antiques & Art Show is its No. 1 fundraising event of the year.

The theme of this year’s event is “Past, Present, and Future,” and will feature dealers from 13 states, according to Wesley Sessa who has managed the show every year since its inception.

“There will be 42 exhibitors showing and selling antique furniture, ceramics, decorative arts, lighting, textiles, and silver,” said Sessa. “All the things one might find in a house between the years of 1720 and 1830.”

Attendees will also meet dealers specializing in oriental rugs, quilts, and antique books, prints, and maps.

“Everything in the show is as advertised,” said Sessa. “Dealers guarantee their objects, and there is not an item in the show that is not handmade.”

Sessa noted that there have been many times when the curator of CCHS found something at the Show important enough to purchase for its own collection.

Underscoring the significance of the event is that many dealers scheduled to attend also exhibit at the prestigious Philadelphia and Delaware Antique shows later in the year.

[uam_ad id=”58459″]

Advertisement

“It’s a very high-end show, and one of the better shows in the area,” said Skip Chalfant of H.L. Chalfant Fine Art & Antiques of West Chester. “You’ll see items there from $50 to over $100,000, and it will have something for everyone.”

Chalfant will be one of the dealers present each day, exhibiting his items in one of the many booths set up to replicate an actual room in a house.

As a nonprofit, CCHS invites individuals and groups to become one of the valued sponsors, partners, patrons, or friends of the Show at various levels of support. Proceeds from these sponsorships help underwrite CCHS’s many educational and community outreach programs, and its collections, library, and preservation activities.

Sponsors at all levels receive free admission to Friday Night’s Preview Party, a lively gathering that would otherwise require a separate ticket.

“The Preview Party is a festive, social event that provides an opportunity for collectors who want to be the first to see what’s on sale and be among the early buyers,” said Chalfant.

The party includes an open bar and selections of hors d’oeuvres catered by Jimmy Duffy’s from Downingtown that are “better than most parties you go to,” according to Sessa.

Sessa is anticipating another successful Show that will support CCHS’s mission to inspire, inform, and build community identity by preserving and sharing the remarkable story of Chester County and its people. He expects a crowd of approximately 500 at the Preview Party and more than 2,000 people for the Saturday and Sunday sessions.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “You couldn’t get a better location in the county and a better society to sponsor it.”

For sponsorship information, contact Allison Snavely, CCHS’s Director of Development, at 610-692-4800 ext. 267 or at development@chestercohistorical.org.

Click here to purchase tickets for the Chester County Historical Society’s Antiques & Art Show.

[uam_ad id=”58462″]