From fish dishes to sugar shots, here are the best things we saw at the Round Top Antiques Fair

Last week, our founder Amanda Hesser; Food52 GM Jojo Feld; and Senior Director of Merchandising, Jackson Fust; and headed down to Round Top, Texas, for the biannual Round Top Antiques Fair, a must-see stop for designers like Kelly Wearster and Leanne Ford, to explore vintage treasures we could sell as part of our ever-growing collection at our Trade.

Over three days, we saw miles and miles of antique glassware (Amanda has thoughts!), wooden boards, and cauliflower utensils, the eccentric cousin of cabbage utensils. But even among all the old things, we saw new-to-us delights and trends. This is what we saw and loved.

Sardines have had a moment on modern tableware, but we were very surprised (and captivated) by the large number of dishes and platters featuring fish. Jojo bought a set on the first day at Big Red Barn and from then on they seemed to swim into our sight. At Marburger we find even more products from different suppliers.

A folk art dating back to the 19th century with ties to African American funerary rituals, memorial items are most often revealed in mosaic-like vessels decorated with personal items such as jewelry, shells, buttons, and, in one case, parts of dolls. Each one tells a distinct and different story through the texture, shape and elements that adorn it.

When I saw my first brass tray with bamboo accents, I gasped. The shine, weight, and delicate contour of the bamboo were perfect, and I imagined it housing perfume bottles on my dresser or taking center stage the next time I offer drinks on the steps of my Brooklyn brownstone. In the end, it was too big, but then I saw a much smaller one (sadly, too small) at another booth.

In my apartment kitchen, where space is at a premium, single-use cookware is rare. And yet, we spotted a few single-purpose wonders we couldn’t resist: The first was sugar nibbles, also known as little silver tongs for breaking off chunks of the candy from sugar loaves. (Obviously these were created in a pre-cube world.) I could also see it used for salt and pepper on my table. The second is a bee trap, a vase-like glass with an open bottom and a reservoir that is filled with a sweet liquid like brandy, for example, said Bill Borman, the Chicago-based merchant (follow him at @piggy. kitchen) explained to us. Place it on your outdoor table to catch bees, and when the party is over, pop the cork and set them free.

What vintage pieces would you like to see in the Store? Let us know in the comments below!