This weekend, don't miss "Antiques - A Silver Lining in The Storm" Sat., Oct. 25 @ 2p.m. at the Gramercy Antiques Show. A show walk-through and talk on the financial benefits of buying antiques in uncertain times with Helaine Fendelman, Hearst Publishing Columnist, Estate Advisor, Author & Collector. Helaine will point out collecting trends and good values that can be found right at the show. http://preview.tinyurl.com/5pfjev

Also, maybe times aren't so tough yet in Chicago, the second annual Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fall Fair reported it brought more than 100 dealers and thousands of visitors to The Merchandise Mart, Chicago from Oct. 3 – 6, 2008. Its success once again designated the show as one of the premier antiques fairs in the country.

“Both participation and attendance of the Antiques Fair was very strong,” said Joan Ulrich, senior vice president of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. “Even in this turbulent economy, many of the dealers had a great show, which shows the value and allure of high-quality antiques.” The Fall Antiques Fair began with a Preview Party on Oct. 2, benefiting the Lincoln Park Zoo. “People from throughout the community attended and everyone showed their over whelming support for the zoo and the Antiques Fair.” said Marty Peterson, 2008 Merchandise Mart Preview Party event chair.

The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair™ returns to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart for its 11th year April 25-28, 2008, with the finest assortment of objets d’art and worldly treasures, as well as exciting new show elements. Known as the premier antiques fair in the Midwest, the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair provides collectors, connoisseurs, designers and the general public an intimate environment to see a broad range of antiques.

More than 130 of the top national and international antiques and fine art dealers will display a wide range of offerings from across the globe. Dealers will be displaying the finest in 20th Century Design, Architectural Design, Asian Art & Antiquities, Barometers, Ceramics, Coins, Decorative Arts, Folk Art, Furniture, Glass, Jewelry, Paintings, Posters, Prints, Rare Books and Maps, Sculpture, Silver, Textiles, Tribal Art and more. This year’s Fair will also feature the return of dealers from the famed Marche aux Puces in Paris and members of LAPADA, Britain’s hallmark of quality antiques dealers.

The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair will once again be an exciting component of Artropolis, a world-class, city-wide celebration art, antiques and culture with Art Chicago at its centerpiece. The multiple art shows under the Artropolis umbrella enable attendees to enjoy a diverse selection of art, prints, sculpture and other three dimensional forms from antiquities to contemporary art. As part of Artropolis, the Fair presents attendees with ideas on how to mix 20th Century furnishings with contemporary art.

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(Photo: On display in Philadelphia in 1876 was George Pullman's Corliss engine, later used to run a factory in Pullman, Il)

The "Beaux-Arts boys," as Burnham called them, remained in Chicago for a week and then returned in a private car at the end of February with their completed sketches. Unrolling them on the walls of Burnham's library, a blazing fire in the heath, they explained their ideas to the fair's grounds and buildings committee. As the winter afternoon drew to a close, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who had been brought to Chicago to advise on artistic matters, approached Burnham, took him by the hands and declared: "Look here, old fellow, do you realize that this is the greatest meeting of artists since the Fifteenth Century." Donald Miller, City of the Century

click here for: WORLD'S FAIR POSTERS

It’s easy to imagine that our world today is constantly confronted with things that are “bigger” and “more” than in years past. There are several areas where we can look back and know with a good amount of certainty that they’re unlikely to rival the past in the foreseeable future. One such area is passenger train service, and the other area is expositions.

The idea of an exposition is something that’s somewhat lost in an age of passive entertainment and mass-media. In fact, its hard to imagine one million people ever attending a single event, let alone having an active interest in human progress, art and culture (sorry to be realistically cynical). Imagining that twenty-seven million people attended the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 would seem beyond comprehension.

Consider that on any given day in 2006 a little more than 200,000 people passed through Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Fewer than two million people lived in Chicago in 1893. The 1893 U.S. population was about twice the number of Exposition attendees. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics ended with 3.8 million tickets sold.

Chicago’s 1893 Exposition was perhaps the most influential of the great American expositions, and because of the large number of attendees, one of the easiest to collect memorabilia from. Memorabilia can range from books to tickets, prints to stereo-view cards, maps and more. A good place to start might be ebay #290140071370, a book of official views from the exposition.

Of course the earlier the exposition, the more difficult it becomes to collect memorabilia. Before Chicago, Philadelphia was host to the first American exposition, an event attended by some ten million people in 1876. I was recently happy to purchase on ebay a small Liberty Bell-shaped decanter from the 1876 Exposition. Don’t confuse 1876 items with “fifty years later” event in 1926.

The 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Exposition is another to look for. President William McKinley was assassinated at this exposition. Saint Louis held one in 1904, and San Francisco in 1915, an event celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal. An interesting item currently available for the Buffalo is a short-line railroad timetable promoting the event (ebay item 170132361023). Like the 1893 Chicago event, which helped the city recover from the great fire, the 1915 San Francisco event helped breath new life into the city following the 1906 earthquake.