Wishing all of you who follow this blog, or drop in from time to time, the very best for a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. I have big plans for the year ahead including the long promised – and requested – development of the Classified Advertising and Antique Shops Pages. Everything is nearly ready to go and I hope to see you there.

Have a good one.

David Parks

I’ve grown very tired of the old blog theme, as I’m sure have many readers, so as the site approaches half a million hits I’m going for a major revamp. There will be all sorts of glitches (strange fonts, lines etc.) for the next week or so but all the information will still be kept up to date. Please bear with me while I struggle with the technology and do let me know what you think of the new look.

David Parks

Dundrum Car Boot Sale – Saturday 9th June, 2012

(Grounds of Methodist Church), Ballinteer Road – off M50 near Wesley College.

Apologies for the lateness of this warning. The sale tomorrow is cancelled due to waterlogging of the grounds.

Happy Christmas to all of you who subscribe to my blog as well as to those who just look in from time to time. Christmas Day is upon us at last – it looked for a while there that the country wouldn’t make it to the big day! Anyway, things can only get better in 2012 and I certainly hope to make many improvements to the blog and its usefulness to readers. I’m hoping to get on the road a lot more next year as my children have now reached the age where I can bring them with me. Amongst other things I hope to include a series of illustrated reports from Auctions, Fair, Shops & Car Boot Sales.

I’m very grateful to all of you who have kept me updated with your events and to those of you who regularly let me know of your experiences at boot sales etc. I only wish that I could include a discussion forum on the blog but, whether it’s possible or not, I simply wouldn’t have the time to administer it. I may include a moderated comments page for car booting which may be helpful to all concerned.

Anyway, it’s late now and I’m still decorating the tree, so I will close by wishing everybody A Very Happy Christmas & A Peaceful (and Prosperous) New year.

David

An exciting new venture which should be of interest to collectors everywhere is myantiques.tv  an Irish initiative. myantiques.tv uses video clips, not reams of text like numerous other antiques websites, and features interviews with a range of experts in fields such as fine art, antiques, maps and rare books to provide a wonderful range of insights into these fascinating fields.

From their own blurb: 

An always-on TV station about antiques. With new programmes every day. Expert presenters, not actors. REAL news about what is happening in the Antiques business in the UK and world-wide.

A station which will allow you to reach out and ask questions, give answers and join groups of people with similar interests. With offices in London and Dublin, myantiques.tv is the only special interest TV station for people who are truly, madly, passionately in love with antiques. We create and produce entirely original content every day. Our programmes are short, rarely more than four minutes, often less. We want to help you to spot bargains, market trends, share information (or not!)

Myantiques.tv is owned and managed by Lifeonmedia.com, an online video production company.

Have a look at these YouTube videos and see for yourselves – a very worthwhile undertaking in my opinion.

It has been a bruising month weather wise and the Collecting world has been in the thick of it with postponements/cancellations of various events but it could have been worse. Lets hope that 2011 brings better weather and some sign of a badly needed financial upturn.

I would like to thank everybody who has contributed in any way to this blog during the year and to renew my appeal to readers to let me have their comments, suggestions for improvements etc. This can be done either by posting on the blog or by contacting me directly at collectireland@gmail.com . I would also like to remind readers that signing up to this blog is FREE and you won’t be spammed with junk emails – in fact you only receive emails when new items are posted on this Home page. The auction/fair/car boot listings are usually updated daily and are the most complete and up to date to be found online – a single source with clickable links where available

Wishing everybody a Happy & Peaceful Christmas.

David Parks

Ever fancied yourself as another Lovejoy? Well now’s your chance as Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland/Antique Fairs Ireland is looking for traders for her Christmas Market in Dublin…..

DUBLIN CHRISTMAS ANTIQUES AND VINTAGE MARKET

Vintage Ireland/ Antiques Fairs Ireland is setting up a pre-Christmas antiques and vintage market in a Dublin city centre location. I am looking for traders in vintage fashion, antique and retro furniture and decor, memorabilia, collectibles and curios interested in taking space for either all or part of the duration of the market, which will run from the beginning of December to 24th December.

If you are a trader (or a collector who wants to downsize their collection) and would like more information about this opportunity, drop me a line to vintageireland@gmail.com or phone me on (087) 267 0607.

Please note that I reply to all email enquiries, so if you don’t receive a reply, please check your spam folder, as some email programmes are a bit over-active these days, and my reply may have been flagged as junk.

Joan Murray

I am still anxious to hear from visitors to the site and I will offer a prize of some sort – a book token perhaps – for the best suggestion received between now and Christmas. If you find the site useful why not sign up – it’s free – and works like a dream, no spam and you receive an email any time I post something new.

Is there something that you would like to see included? Is the format clear enough? Do you have something that you would like to sell in the Classified section – it’s still FREE for the time being? Why not sign up to receive emails when there’s a new post on the blog – also FREE. Anyway I’ll keep plugging away for now but do get in touch.

David