This morning’s inbox brought a missive about the final day in local business of one of our Jackson Square colleagues. While my handful of loyal readers have read, and re-read, and read yet again about the shrinking and eventual disappearance of established art and antiques venues from the world’s landscape, this one hit us particularly hard.
The why of this is that this particular dealer, Sarah Stocking Vintage Posters, had been our original benefactress on Jackson Square, providing the initial impetus for our opening, as it was then, directly across the very narrow street. She was never reluctant to let us know who the players were locally, not just amongst the dealers and collectors, but even including landlords and local politicos. Keith and I found her opinions and characterizations spot-on and consequently invaluable.
To say that Sarah’s stock in trade is excellent and that her knowledge about period posters is exhaustive is to repeat what is known by all the cognoscenti, but I’ll add to the chorus all the same. As she’ll continue to offer her stellar material online is some solace, and mind you, I doubt she’ll miss the commute from the Los Gatos home she shares with her redoubtable husband, antiques stalwart Charles Jay Conover. But for us, that she is leaving Jackson Square is greeted with the same wistfulness that one finds with the end of a good book- an opening chapter, and then, ultimately, a closing one.