A quick review of some of our top finds at the Red Bank Antiques Center:

Readers of our holiday Wrap It Up edition have been taking our advice, we hope, and making the Red Bank Antiques Center a first stop when shopping for "special gifts for special people."  Since the "Feathering Your Nest" issue, we figured we'd tell you about a few especially fine items we spotted while on out holiday shopping rounds,  but have no place or special person for. As we went to press, all the items mentioned were still up for grabs:

For six months now we've been admiring a big (just shy of three-foot tall) serenely  beautiful 18^th century wooden sculpture of the Chinese deity Kwan-Yin. There's nothing like a fine and imposing piece of sculpture to make a big decorating ‘statement' we say, and this piece, in Building One, is really a knockout. Right now, this original, 200+ year old work of art is ‘on sale' at a mere $1975. We still covet the darned thing, and if we had the right space for it, we'd snap it up in a heartbeat.

In building two, one of the nicest pieces to catch our eye was a carved and gilded sofa in the Italian Rococo style, with brand new upholstery. It's labeled ‘antique' - and it certainly looks to us to be genuinely antique - and, we could hardly believe our eyes, it's marked $1600! It's a very far cry from the cheesy modern-day knockoffs of this style that seem to be floating around everywhere these days at more than twice that price. Not our style at all, but if it was, we'd snap this up in a heartbeat too!

While re-checking, we also went to the other end of the building, to booth number 205, to see if the fantastically beautiful Limoges demitasse set had been ‘discovered' yet by a savvy buyer...and, much to our surprise, it's still there: Six hand-painted cups and saucers - from the original set of 14. Each cup, and the matching saucer, has a different sprig of flowers, and each cup is lined with gold. They're still in the original, silk-lined presentation box (from the mid-to-third-quarter 19^th century, we'd say, when rich Americans in Paris would bring them back as mementos of the best that France has to offer - and each one of the ‘remaining six' are perfect. At $60 for a single cup and saucer of this impeccable quality, you'd have a good buy - but at $275 for all six, they're a steal. 

Right next door we spotted yet another decorating bargain; A very nice oil painting of Venice from the 1930's. Although it's not a masterpiece (it's signed "Francois" - clearly one of the street corner painters who've been painting scenes like this for the Venetian tourist-trade since the mid 1700's) it is very-freely painted, with some nice Impressionist touches, lovely warm colors, and a fine old gilded frame. It's in great condition - and a nice size too - and the brass light that made it jump out may even come with it, though we didn't ask. Not at all our style either, but if you have a "traditional" room that needs a "traditional-style" work of art that is definitely not cheesy - as so many oil paintings seem to be these days - you could walk away with another fine buy - and another fine example of the early 20^th century's "Gilded Age" - for $650 - a pittance. Readers; if you snag a really great buy at the Red Bank Center, we'd love to hear from you!