Step back in time and enjoy lure of antiques

Buttons, thimbles, jewellery, china, Irish silverware, furniture, books and phone cards are among the items that will be on display in the Galway Bay Hotel on Sunday, December 5 at the biannual Galway Antiques Fair.

This is the 17th year of the December Fair which and this year’s event has attracted almost 30 dealers from all parts of Ireland. It is organised by Barna resident Gretta Boland, who ran Corrib Antiques in the city’s Bridge Mills until she retired a couple of years ago, feeling it was time to step back from full-time employment.

But antiques have continued to be a passion and twice yearly fairs allow her to continue her involvement in a business she loves and to remain in contact with the many dealers she knew over the years. So, it’s as much about pleasure as business for Gretta.

“I play bridge two nights a week and run two fairs a year – other than that I have no hobbies,” she says.

Originally from Dublin, Gretta and her engineer husband moved to Galway over 20 years ago, basing themselves in Barna. She had inherited a love of antiques from her Cork-born grandmother and when a friend suggested to her that they join forces to open a shop in Galway, she happily agreed.

The two women set up base in the Bridge Mills and worked together for a couple of years. But her friend and colleague Dawn lived in South Tipperary and found the commute was too much, so after a couple of years they went their separate ways, with Dawn opening a shop in Tipperary.

They continued to co-operate, however, and for years afterwards they regularly toured England in a Transit van shopping for antiques, which they’d bring home to their shops in Ireland.

Although she might have loved items on a personal level, Gretta had a business head and always bought to sell.

“I might love a piece, but if it wouldn’t sell in my shop I wouldn’t buy it.”For instance, she rarely bought oak furniture – Irish people generally far prefer mahogany, she says.When she’s asked what she finds so

attractive about antiques, she thinks briefly before replying “I like beautiful things. I like inlaid Edwardian furniture – I’m not interested in Georgian furniture – it’s too clunky and heavy for me. And I love pretty boxes, such as tea boxes”.

In fact, these boxes, which she usually bought in England, seem to be her Achilles Heel.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.