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27 June 2008

Bermondsey Fair and Portobello Road

While in London, I couldn´t miss doing some antiquing...! One morning, I took off to the Bermondsey antiques street fair, near London Bridge. The guide indicated that the fair opened at about 5:00 am, and by 9:00 am most bargains were usually gone, so I arrived at about 7:00 am to find the market doing serious business but not busy. Many dealers go early to find good deals mostly in silver and art, which is something I tend to pass because I am not knowledgeable enough....



I found the fair to be quite small, but there is construction going on to make the atrium twice as big, so it should become quite interesting!! I still managed to spend almost two hours, and even though most prices were high for my limited budget, I managed to find a few neat things!












































































I bought a souvenir teacup, a pincussion doll, a small posy box, some skeleton keys, some bling, a couple of pieces of old linen with trim and a really cute portable sewing kit, complete with thread, needles and thimble!




The very next day, I went to one of my favorite places, Portobello Road. I arrived at 8:00 am on a rainy day to find most vendors just starting to unpack... Don´t let the appearances fool you, it may look like not much at first, but most treasures are to be found in the numerous small antique malls scattered around!! Make sure to go in, you will be delighted with what you will find inside!! Even though I was warned that most dealers are very knowledgeable about the worth of their items and bargains are hard to find, I did not find the prices too expensive and most dealers were open to some negotiation. Some booths were absolute eye candy, and I would
have taken more pictures if I wasn´t drooling over the gorgeous stuff I was looking at!! I was especially impressed with the many millinery and haberdashery displays around!!















































I was very excited with what I was able to buy, some gorgeous vintage fabric, an adorable 1920´s wax wedding head piece, a couple of antique bone fans (which I gave to my mom), a vintage clock in it's original box, a beautifully illustrated children´s book and a small silver box. But my treasure of the day was, without a doubt, this absolutely gorgeous barbola mirror!! I have admired them for so long and now I can be the proud owner of a beautiful one!! I was very excited and even kissed the dealer who was the most adorable man!!


















As I finish this post, packing is starting and I have some lovely pictures of our stay in Lisbon, including my visit to a flea market, which I will share upon our return in a few days!! I leave you with a photo of our kids in the lovely Baixa, the posh downtown of Lisbon!!

















14 comments:

  1. OMG! You scored, talk about some great choices. The God Is Love Book looks outstanding and the clock, vintage FABric,well all of it. Loved the shots of the stalls and all treasures packed in. They had Icons, OMG again. I enlarged each shot talk about eye candy.Thanks for the shots.Glad you had Happy Junken Trails.

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  2. All of this looks like sooo much fun! I love the silver pieces! have a fun trip =D

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  3. Okay, so what's up with those first two comments. Are they from automated robots? Anyway, I can't wait for you to come home. I loved seeing your flea market pictures. Just gorgeous stuff. Wish I could have been there with you. Maybe next time. We'll be back from camping on Wednesday so I'll see you then.

    Love you!

    Lisa

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  4. Thanks so much for sharing your awesome photos, my favourite is The Old Haberdashers Shop stall and the beautiful mirror, just so lovely.

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  5. OMG! I just blazed through the photos, and already I'm dying here. So much stuff. Great shots, and I will be enlarging and pouring over this post many times. Thanks so much, for this post, and for my fleamarket posts.
    xo Lidy

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  6. me again, oh WOW! Looking up flights as we speak. (just kidding) but I AM sending this blog post to my other half, for inspiration.:)

    That was truly fabulous.
    xo Lidy

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  7. Hi thanks for visiting my blog. Wow I can't believe you got to go to London! The pictures are wonderful!!!I love everything you picked out. I am also a vintage fabric lover hope to meet you at Monticello sometime. Kath

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  8. Wow! Your trip to the London markets looked like so much fun!!! Thanks for sharing the sights and your treasures! Makes me want to plan a trip to London!

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  9. What beautiful things. Hope you had a great 4th!!

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  10. Lucky girl! I have only dreamed of attending this flea market. Someday.

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  11. Can you believe I work the other side of London Bridge... I really think I need to get myself to that market... and Portobello, I haven't been there before either!!

    I really need to get myself to these vintage haunts!!!

    Thanks for sharing and giving me the kick to get up there!

    Victoria xx

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  12. there was another awesome chair...ann

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  13. Thank you for this interesting information and photos. Nice blog!

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