Treasure Sale
Treasure Sale
Imagine skimming the cream of the crop from everyone’s attic. That’s what happened sixty years ago when Art Alliance women initiated the first Treasure Sale to support the Pasadena Art Museum. Touted as “the Tiffany of all garage sales” by one newspaper columnist, the sales have added immeasurably to the coffers. Larry Wilson of the Pasadena Star News described the most recent Treasure Sale (TS15) this way:
There is nothing at all like the Treasure Sale anywhere in Southern California, mainly because there is nothing at all like the Art Alliance, the 60-year-old organization of powerful women who have created the largest independent group supporting the contemporary visual arts in the nation. These are people who not only know the best art — they know the best stuff in general. And they haul it down from their attics for the rest of us.
Antiques, furniture, china, glassware, silver and appliances are the mainstays of the sales. Members work together collecting, appraising, pricing and creatively displaying the vast array of donated items. The detailed work, the endless efforts, the laughs, are exhausting fun. Each sale is unique as are the locations. The first sales were held at the old Pasadena Art Museum, and the last to be held there was in 1970. Later sales have been held in mansions, the Armory Northwest, vacant office spaces and store fronts. For more information regarding the next anticipated Treasure Sale (they are held roughly every four years), please contact paa.benefits@gmail.com .