Shop ‘Til You Drop Antiques Tour

Cantonware Platter & etched crystal goblets

Paper-thin monogrammed crystal wedding presents (1893)

I have found that there are some glorious things of old hidden away in antique shops and friends’ piazzas.  The skill of man to show forth the glory of the Lord is awe inspiring. Morgan Falk  had an antique sale on her piazza of her Wentworth Street home in Harleston Village of historic Charleston before moving.    I bought Kevin Lawing’s great grandmother’s paper-thin monogrammed wedding crystal from 1893 for our home from her piazza sale as well as  wedding presents for our nephew, Matt and bride Nicole Pridgen.  I am thrilled! Kevin wanted the crystal to go to a home where it would be used.  I use it all the time now for dinner parties, and if you ask,  for you my special tour guests.

I am even  adding an Antique  Shop ‘Til  We  Drop Tour,   starting with a hot full Southern breakfast in a friend’s house on the Battery overlooking the harbor and Ft. Sumter, going to my friends’ homes and favorite antique shops for good finds at reasonable prices til we drop, and then back to my house for afternoon tea.  Right now Terry,  the Godmother of my first born, Olivia,  has some wonderful antiques she needs to sell immediately to make way for the nursery for her first grand baby who visits twice a week.  She has additional things in storage she wants to be in a good home.  Come with me to explore!

I have found that as people downsize, age,  (or die!), they cannot take their beloved family pieces with them.  “Store not up for yourselves treasures on earth…” but there are always birthday presents to buy, or young couples starting out for whom to buy wedding presents, or things we knew from our parents or grandparents era with which we now have time to entertain and can incorporate to enrich our lifestyle.  To continue the culture we call civilization, it is necessary to have more than paper plates and plastic forks, more than stainless steel and tupperware, more than meals eaten on the run, or in front of the TV.  To bring an elegance to the daily routine is to cultivate the art of living.

My Auntie Edie, now 98 in England, taught me to bring the milk to the table for mundane cereal in a white porcelain milk jug.  (The English think it charmingly archaic of us to call it a pitcher as Shakespeare did.)  I have brought up my children to have the milk carton stay in the fridge and never be seen at table.  We have several sizes of white porcelain milk jugs suitable for all occasions, especially for morning tea.  Dinner is served in serving dishes often covered and sometimes silver lidded ones to keep it hot.  Plastic never is seen at table.  We are the ones to preserve our civilization, one person at a time.  If you make a habit of using such things, life is richer in the routine.  My teenagers appreciate the difference.

Laura on the piazza.

I am amazed at the treasures showing up in antique shops and the reasonable prices, as well as the number of new antique shops springing up!  This antique tour will include, as my gift to you,  my written list of places we will not have time to visit.  This tour will NOT visit the most expensive antique shops downtown; rather,  I will take you further afield to where the merchandise is priced to sell, even to those of my personal friends who may be having piazza sales during your visit.

This is a tour to take if you have done my other historic tour of private homes and gardens.  For those who have several days here, you may take my mother’s walking tour first, then my private tour in my air-conditioned, brand new van ending with lunch and tea at my house; then,  if you like me — and like old things — please join my  Shop ‘Til We Drop Antiques Tour.   It is a fun way of getting to these shops for me as well, and spending more time with the people I have become friends with.  I have made such nice friends with the people on my tour.  It restores my faith in Americans across the continent.

Call me at 843-577-5896 and be one of the first to go on my new Antiques Tour, one hundred dollers each, including breakfast on the Battery and gas and transportation and afternoon tea in my home overlooking the Ashley River.

–Laura Wichmann Hipp