Design New England - September/October 2008

back story

collecting redux • Antiques hold a special place in Cecily Colburn’s heart. “Growing up,” she says, “my parents enjoyed mixing them with, say, some really cool piece of modern furniture, like a Lucite chair. It was a stimulating environment. Magical.” She hopes to create something similar at the venerable Ellis Antiques Show, of which she is chairwoman. Don’t panic. Her idea of mixing things up at the show, which Bostonians have come to know as simply The Ellis, doesn’t go as far as it does in her Beacon Hill town house, where a Luc Leestemaker abstract landscape shares space with 18th-century Italian sconces and two Biedermeier tables. But the 49th Ellis Antiques Show ( ellisantiques.com), October 31 to November 2 at The Castle at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, will boast its first vintage photography dealer. Colburn

searched nationwide to find the best, only to learn he lives in her backyard: Mack Lee of Lee Gallery in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Net proceeds from the show benefit Ellis Memorial & Eldredge House, a social services agency in Boston’s South End, and the Whittier Street Health Center, an outreach clinic in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.

This is Colburn’s third year as chair, a full-time volunteer job. She’s also the mother of three and has three parrots and a dog. “I like to be busy,” she says with a laugh.

A new to-do on Colburn’s list? Drawing newcomers with the young collector’s night on Saturday (complete with a jumping jazz band) and revamping the show’s Web presence. But while some things change, one thing remains constant: the famed oyster bar on opening night. — barbara f. meltz

The 1880s Japanese screen in Cecily Colburn’s living room has special meaning. “My husband sent me a letter describing it,” she says. “He wrote, ‘Don’t you think this would be pretty in a house someday?’ It was my first hint that he wanted to marry me.”