In wooing visitors, Maine flaunts its classic icons: a rugged seacoast, picturesque mountains, seafood, loons. But for a certain group, Maine offers another charm - antiques.
The state is a recognized destination point for antique collectors. The bounty of antiques - sold at small shops, big cooperatives and colorful outdoor flea markets up and down U.S. Route 1 - is not secret, gushed the spring 1997 edition of Renovation Style magazine.
Maine draws antiques lovers from near and far," confirmed Coastal Living magazine's July-August issue.
You'll find things in the antique stores in Maine from everywhere in the world. It's truly amazing, and you'll find some very, very rare things too," said Paul Davis, an antiques show promoter who sponsors the annual Maine Antiques Festival in Union, just inland from Rockland.
Perhaps the nicest thing about Maine's antique smorgasbord, however, is that you don't have to be rich or an antiques expert to find something fun and interesting that you can take home.
An item is formally considered an antique if it is 100 years old; anything younger may be called a "collectible" or "vintage." Nonetheless, innumerable styles of furniture, art, appliances, jewelry and kitchenware produced over the last three generations are in huge demand, and available in considerable quantity, in Maine's antique market.
Best of all, you'll probably buy it cheaper than you would in any big-city metro area you can name.
Where to go
Motor blindly down any state road in Maine, and you'll inevitably come across antique shops ranging in scale from somebody's garage to barn-sized buildings crammed so tightly that merchandise is piled atop itself.
For a productive hunt, however, antiquers should get a copy of the Maine Antique Dealers Directory. It is available for $2 at many antique shops or can be ordered by mail for $3. To order, call 207-872-5849. The directory also has an Internet site: www.metiques.com/
The guide does not list every shop in the state. But stores tend to cluster, so chances are good that a shop listed in the directory has other antique stores nearby.
Another good investment is the local newspaper. Classified advertisement sections often have ads for antique shows and flea markets. The ads may help you avoid wasting time looking for flea markets that close or shift quarters as seasons end. The Yellow Pages also have good listings of antique stores.
If you have the time and an unquenchable lust for antiquing, you can do no better than simply driving along U.S. Route 1. While there are dry patches along this coastal road, there are also concentrations of fabulous shops with so much merchandise that you may only get a few miles down the road in one afternoon.
Among the more fruitful stretches of Route 1 are:
- Arundel. About 5.5 miles south of Turnpike Exit 4 (the Biddeford exit) and just north of Kennebunk is the epicenter of a strip that includes several shops, including two big "group" shops, Antiques USA and Arundel Antiques.
Group shop owners lease space to individual dealers who display their merchandise but are not present in the shop.
The arrangement cuts overhead for dealers, but for antique shoppers, the benefit is a tremendous variety of goods and prices. While some dealer booths are a mishmash of items, others are specialty motherlodes. Antiques USA, for example, includes a dealer specializing in antique sports equipment and another focusing on antique milk bottles.
Arundel Antiques' charms include an outdoor flea market on the grounds. As many as 100 dealers on the weekends, and 40 on weekdays, can be found until Nov. 1 selling anything from second-hand paperbacks to Victorian furniture.
- Saco-Scarborough. The length of Route 1 connecting Saco and Scarborough includes about a half-dozen shops of both the group and single-owner kind. Prices range from cheap to thousands of dollars.
- Searsport. This town and neighboring communities are loaded with Route 1 antique stores, so many that even a tireless antiquer may start skipping shops from sheer overload. Don't miss it.
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Staff photo by Jack Milton.
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Lori Staples holds up a clock while auctioneer Jim Cyr takes bids at a recent estate auction at Cyr Auction Co. in Gray. |
Other locations
Downtown Hallowell. There are a half-dozen antique shops in this little town center, about 2 miles south of Augusta on Route 201. All are within walking distance of each other. Personal favorite: a lighting store so full of antique lamps, shades and fixtures that you may have to step over merchandise to get close to what you want to see.
Route 302 from Westbrook to Naples. Traveling the length of this route will take you to at least six shops from small to barn-sized. Be patient if it seems they're too spread out - they're there, and worth a visit. Portland. A good afternoon's worth of antiquing is to be had in Maine's biggest city, which is not surprising since a year-round customer base is important for antique stores.
Best bets are all on the peninsula: the 200 block of Congress Street for everything from second-hand goods to vintage architectural salvage; Congress Street between Brown and State streets; and the Old Port.
The city also sustains at least five wonderful used book stores where volumes range from truly antique to recent. Dedicate a lot of browsing time for these (check the Yellow Pages for addresses).
Auctions
Where do dealers get all their merchandise? First, from each other, and second, from auctions and estate sales. Auctions and sales are where antiques enter the market, before they are sold and re-sold with corresponding mark-ups in the price.
Add the uncertainty over what might turn up, and the inherent excitement of competitive bidding, and Maine's auctions are the most thrilling way of antiquing.
First-timers shouldn't be afraid to bid, but do be sure to know what you're bidding on. I once bid on what I thought was a sideboard, and was elated to be the top bidder at $30 - until I found I'd bid on a milk bottle by mistake. I was mortified, but didn't let embarrassment stop me from explaining my error and refusing the bottle. The irate auctioneer grudgingly took it back, but the crowd was highly amused by the entire affair.
The Yellow Pages are again a good guide to auction houses, but three in and around Portland are:
Personal favorites
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Staff photo by Jack Milton.
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Barbara Bene looks over a piece of pottery before an auction at Cyr Auction Co. in Gray. Occasionally Cyr holds auctions of single styles, such as Continental or Victorian. |
I'm a sucker for any market or store with antiques and old books, but I particularly recommend a visit to these favorites:
- Portland Expo flea market. This winter/early spring flea market is found on most Sundays at the Expo. Like all flea markets, items range from schlock to antiques, and you never know what treasure might be found. Prices generally are good, and get better if you haggle. Example: I got a 1920s toaster for $5 that would go for $15 to $30 elsewhere. (And yes, it works.) 239 Park Ave. 874-8200.
- Big Chicken Barn Books and Antiques. This indeed is a vast, former chicken barn that is my idea of heaven for two reasons: The first floor is a cornucopia of antiques, while the second floor is a huge book shop. Route 1 halfway between Bucksport and Ellsworth. 667-7308.
- Centervale Antiques. A must-see. This 20,000-square-foot store is owned by Steven Center and his wife, Pat. There are no handy-man specials, no tag sale-quality items. Every piece for sale at Centervale is in showroom condition, ready for your living room, and probably suitable for display at the Smithsonian.
According to clerk Cynthia Pennell, much of the furniture is stripped and restored before it goes on the sales floor, which is why it looks so clean and unblemished. Prices are market-rate; you'll pay serious money. But you'll be pleased with what you get. 200 U.S. Route 1 in Scarborough, 883-3443. (Web site: http://www.biddeford.com/centervale)
- Orphan Annie's. This shop is paradise for Art Deco lovers. Stylistic table lamps and jewelry are particularly plentiful, but there are figurines, glass and other Deco items in an overall collection probably unrivaled in the state. Other periods are represented as well. 96 Court St., Auburn, 782-0638.
- Route 1 along the New Hampshire coast. OK, so it's not Maine, but it's nearby. This stretch is riddled with antique shops, including one near the seabrook nuclear power plant that has the best inventory of antique stained-glass windows I've ever seen. portsmouth also has a gratifying concentration of antique stores and used/old book shops.
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