JAPANESE porcelain, furniture from the colonial era and sought-after jewellery will transform the Town Hall into a bazaar for bargain hunters on the weekend.
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The Armidale Antique and Collectables Fair will be held from Friday, February 16 until Sunday, February 18.
Eleven dealers from Victoria, South Australia, NSW and southern Queensland will ply their wares, including fashions, retro items from the 1940s and '50s and military paraphernalia.
"Many dealers don't have shopfronts any more, so this is a great way to buy an antique," fair organiser Helen Brennan said.
She has organised the Armidale antique fair for at least a decade and says the Town Hall lends itself to period pieces.
"We used to hold the fair at Armidale High School and also at the jockey club, but the Town Hall is central and a great space to showcase antiques," Ms Brennan said.
Her initiative to hold fund-raising fairs dates to the mid-1980s, when Ms Brennan organised the Tamworth Antiques Fair at Oxley High School.
"One of the teachers wanted to raise funds to buy uniforms for their basketball team," Ms Brennan said.
"I volunteered to run an antiques fair. I knew very little about antiques, but I am a good organiser."
The fair proved such a success it became an annual fundraiser for the school.
"I remember the most outstanding antique sold was a a first edition copy of Oxley's journal, his journey from the Macquarie marshes to the hills in Tamworth and across the coast to Port Macquarie.
"Only 200 copies of the journal were made and Oxley P&C purchased that copy for the school. They paid $3000 then, but it would be worth a lot more now."
Ms Brennan brought the fair to Armidale High School about a decade ago and has included the city in her repertoire of antiques fairs.
This year's offering will include more than 2000 antiques, all of which are for sale.
"One of the items that stands out for me in the exquisite Japanese porcelain from one dealer," Ms Brennan said.
Japanese vases and a collection of jade pieces are expected to prove popular among prospective buyers.
"Jewellery is also a crowd pleaser, with one of our dealers travelling from Tenterfield with their extensive collection," Ms Brennan said.
Some of the furniture on offer is up to 200 years old.
While "brown furniture" may be waning in popularity, Ms Brennan said there was still a market for restored chairs, wardrobes, tables and bureaux, all solidly made from a bygone era.
"New furniture doesn't last as old Australian furniture, 200, which also has a lot more character to it," Ms Brennan said.
But bulkier antiques are becoming harder to find as dealers age and find it too difficult to travel with such goods, let alone set them up in a hall or large venue.
"But a couple of dealers who are selling at the fair specialise in colonial antiques and they will be ones to watch."
While an antique must be at least 100 years old to be classified as such, Ms Brennan said the fair would also offer retro goods for a younger generation, as well as collectors.
"It's just a matter of taste," Ms Brennan said.
Fashions change but jewellery is always popular with the public. One jeweller comes from Tenterfield and the public flock to see what she has.
Eftpos is available at the fair; tickets can be purchased at the door with $10 buying a three day pass to the event.
The fair dismantles at 4pm on Sunday, but for those unable to make it to this year's fair, Ms Brennan has organised a fair in Tamworth, at the Mercure Motel in Scully Park, in the first weekend in September.
