The weekend of April 14‱5 saw the return of the Guilford Antiques Show at the Elisabeth Adams School, marking the 43rd year of this longstanding showcase and presenting collectors with a wide variety of merchandise in eye-appealing room setting displays.

Silver is a very special metal, and over the years, Americans have enjoyed all manner of silver objects, ranging from spoons and tankards to dinner services and presentation pieces. At first available to only the most affluent American colonists who could afford expensive, imported silverware, the onset of gifted domestic silversmiths and the rise of a middle class made it possible for increasing numbers to acquire silver treasures that served decorative, commemorative, presentational and household uses. One of the best exhibitions on the subject in some time, ⁓tories in Sterling: Four Centuries of Silver in New York,†draws on the trove of more than 3,000 silver objects in the collection of the venerable and invaluable New-York Historical Society (N-YHS). On view through September 2 and spanning the Sixteenth through the Twentieth Centuries, the exhibition features 150 notable silver objects with a focus on their owners, the context in which they were used and their cultural significance.

A pair of heavy wrought iron gates in the Art Nouveau style, standing 9½ feet tall, were reported stolen in early April in the Clipper Mill area of Baltimore.

⁗e hit one out of the park,†said Norm Schaut on the Monday after his show, Antique City Fun Fair, closed. The show drew large crowds during its run on the April 14‱5 weekend at Lehigh University⁳ Rauch Fieldhouse, possibly setting a building attendance record for any event held in the venue⁳ 30-plus-year history.

⁉t⁳ About Time: 14,000 Years of Art in New Mexico†celebrates the centennial of statehood by presenting a social history of the art in the Southwest. This exhibition opens May 11 at the New Mexico Museum of Art and runs through January 2014 and is an official New Mexico Centennial project.

A couple of paintings came out of left field to garner the top prices realized during Nadeau⁳ Auction Gallery⁳ important estates auction on Saturday, March 31. Sold among more than 300 lots during the midday auction, the modestly estimated paintings sold for, in one case, 16 times the high estimate.

It is not uncommon to see antiques shows falling by the wayside these days, and rarely do we see highly successful start-ups. Well, do not tell that to promoter Nan Gurley or the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association (NHADA); they will surely just laugh in your face as they point out the successes enjoyed during their newest venture, a one-day show that premiered on April 15.

The anticipated live auction offering the personal collection of Ted Williams on Saturday, April 28, at Fenway Park, saw historic results. Legions of Red Sox and baseball fans in general previewed the nearly 800 lots during the week preceding the auction.

Sometime between early to mid-April, a burglary of a home here occurred in which a collection of various paper and ephemera items was taken. The items had been packed away so the theft went undetected for several weeks.

Dallas Auction Gallery set a record auction price for the contemporary artist Carlos Cruz-Diez during its April 25 Modern art and antique auction. The multimedia piece, ⁐hysichromie no. 511,†sold for $519,000, including the buyer⁳ premium. It had been estimated at $150/250,000.