Antiques

Sure, you've heard of EBay and Craigslist, but what about V&M or Fyndes? The market has seen a proliferation of websites selling secondhand furnishings: EBay ebay.com Currently listed: One seller is offering this solid-wood Pottery Barn armoire large enough to fit a 42-inch TV. Seller says he purchased it for $2,199. Starting bid: $200. What to expect: The mother of all resale sites. Inventory is huge -- a plus for some, a minus for others. Not all sellers offer accurate descriptions.

The fantastical murals of San Francisco's Mission District are an intriguing dialogue between artists and their city that you can easily experience on foot. On any given day in Clarion Alley, tourists from all over the world mingle with field-tripping students (and the homeless). Start at the Mission Street end of Clarion Alley, then exit at Valencia Street and head south (turn left). Check out the murals all the way to 20th Street. Typically, walk one or two blocks (east or west) to view.

A decade ago, Gary Wales' 1947 Franay-bodied Bentley was a "dilapidated pile of dog breath." In pieces, parts of the body rusted through, the original chrome long gone, it was a major comedown from 1948, when the car with the sexy French curves swept two major auto shows in a week. Now, after 10 years of delicate restoration work, the Gargantuan luxury car with a frog-skin interior has a finish of liquid depths.

In the run-up to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which starts Friday, we've been anticipating not just the music and art but also the independent sense of style that will be on display. Here are some of the standouts who will hit the stages in Indio over the next two weekends. Their looks are bound to turn heads at the increasingly fashion-focused festival. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals For the last few years, Grace Potter, the leggy singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist fronting Waitsfield, Vt.'s Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, has been working a Tina Turner-Marianne Faithfull vibe, favoring sparkly, fringed mini-dresses inspired by the 1960s and '70s.

Prayerful angels carved from oak, grinning terra-cotta cherubs and gold pocket watches with time on their hands. All are stacked on the cobblestones of Arezzo's Piazza Grande. Through the shutters of my hotel window, I watch vendors unload a treasure trove of antiques: gleaming wood dining tables, paintings, pottery, jewelry, copper pots and Murano glass. As dusk throws shadows across the square, I go out to reconnoiter, excited by the thrill of the hunt. Tomorrow, when the fair opens, I will buy a memento of my Tuscan travels — something artful, affordable, Italian.

The nuances of collecting and decorating with antiques will be an underlying theme for the Los Angeles Antiques Show tonight through Sunday at Santa Monica Airport's Barkar Hangar. "We're fine-tuning the show every year," said Abby Levy, president of the Women's Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which joined forces with the Antiques Dealers of California four years ago to sponsor the show for its major fund-raiser.

When Eric Bakker owned a restaurant in Sunset Beach, his customers frequently pleaded with him to sell them the nautical antiques that gave his establishment an authentic atmosphere. "I got tired of saying, 'It's not for sale, it's not for sale,' " he said. "It only seemed to make them want it more. Eventually they'd wear me down and I'd go get a screwdriver from the back room and take whatever it was they wanted off the wall and sell it to them. I made some pretty good deals."

Brigitte Nohrudi, fascinated with antique dolls, sells their original clothes and accessories, from tiny leather shoes to French lace hats. But those things aren't always easy to find. That's what brought the 56-year-old Buena Park dealer and collector this week to the 48th convention of the United Federation of Doll Clubs Inc. at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers. "You have to look for [antique things], and hunting for them is fun," she said.

If you're looking for a terrific mementos of turn-of-the-century antiques, head for this friendly industrial city about 75 miles northwest of Chicago. Rockford's population of roughly 148,000 supports two sizable antiques malls with nearly 200 dealers, two Saturday and Sunday antiques flea markets with dozens of dealers and more than a dozen individual antique shops. They sell all sorts of American antiques, including furniture, farm equipment, kitchen utensils, gadgets, books, prints, toys, clothing and personal accessories.

Old-time parlor stoves, malt machines, big brass weighing scales and hundreds of other items fill the Discovery Shop in Northridge as volunteers convert it into an antique store. Thirty-five volunteers will wear pioneer costumes to recreate a slice of Americana for the shop's single largest collectible sale on Saturday. Marshall F.

Federal agents have threatened to seize from Sotheby's a 10th-century Cambodian sandstone statue, alleging the auction house planned to sell it despite warnings that looters had stolen the piece from its rightful place, adorning an ancient temple in the former Khmer kingdom. Court documents filed Wednesday in New York say the Duryodhana statue -- listed as the "Defendant in rem" in the complaint -- was apparently torn from the Prasat Chen Temple in  Koh Ker in northern Cambodia sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s, when the Asian nation was engulfed in civil unrest.

Long Beach has failed to collect $17.6 million in unpaid parking tickets because of an outdated software program and lack of staff, an audit released Thursday shows. "We cannot afford to ignore the problem any longer," said City Auditor Laura Doud, who announced the findings at a Thursday morning news conference with Mayor Bob Foster. "We must act swiftly and make needed investment to update our outdated system to be more efficient in our collection efforts and to use city resources better.

The government of Turkey is asking American museums to return dozens of artifacts that were allegedly looted from the country's archaeological sites, opening a new front in the search for antiquities smuggled out of their original countries through an illicit trade. The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection are among the institutions that the Turkish government has contacted, officials say. Turkey believes the antiquities were illegally excavated and smuggled out of the country after the passage of a 1906 law that gave the state ownership of antiquities in the ground.

Do movies need a ratings system? Yes. Is the Motion Picture Assn. of America doing it well? Not even close. Should things change? Of course they should. And that change should happen now, over the movie"Bully"and the issues of decency and common sense it raises. This film, directed by Lee Hirsch, follows the real-life stories of five bullied kids over the course of a school year. It's a story kids everywhere should see. But it will be released this weekend with no rating, a risky move since fewer theaters are likely to show it. That decision was forced by the MPAA, which despite ample protests insisted on giving "Bully" an R rating, putting it off limits for kids younger than 17 unless accompanied by an adult.

Over the last five years, the J. Paul Getty Museum has earned a reputation as a leading reformer on a topic that has embroiled American museums in scandal for the past decade: the acquisition of recently looted antiquities. After evidence of the museum's longtime participation in the illicit trade was uncovered by Italian and Greek investigators, the Getty agreed to return 49 of its most prized pieces of ancient art, cultivated collaborative relationships with those countries and adopted a strict acquisition policy, setting a standard that has been adopted by museums across the country.

When Robert E. Hecht Jr. arrived at the loading platform of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the fall of 1972, he was carrying a large wooden box and was escorted by an armed guard. Inside the box was perhaps the finest Greek vase to survive antiquity, a masterpiece that would soon be making headlines around the world. The Met had agreed to pay a record $1 million for the ancient work. Hecht said it had been in the private collection of a certain Lebanese gentleman.

Browsing at Back in Tyme Antique Mall gives visitors a look at more than just vintage collectibles. It also offers a glimpse of the city's past. Just west of redeveloped Main Street, resident Pege Poe has transformed a turn-of-the-century building on Walnut Avenue into a business that is winning accolades from residents and city officials.

Mumsey Nemiroff's job is to help you get lucky. During her 40 years in the decorative arts business, the independent art consultant and historian has crisscrossed the globe hunting pedigreed pieces for a clientele that includes the state of California, Raffles L'Ermitage hotel and countless law firms. Nemiroff recently offered pointers in a lecture at the seventh annual Los Angeles Antiques Show in Santa Monica. So what's the key to making the big score?

Looking at the larger-than-life bronze head of Marie-Thérèse Walter, which currently presides over a gallery at the Getty Villa like a Greek goddess, you would never guess how much Picasso labored over it.   A touch more pensive than many of the sunny images of his young, athletic lover, whom he famously picked up outside a Paris department store when she was a teenager, this sculpture has a classical symmetry and grace. And like so much of Picasso's work, there is a formal confidence or brashness that makes the work appear effortless.

The gig: As chief executive of Jan's & Co. Fine French Antiques Inc. in South Los Angeles, Claudio Boltiansky spends his days sifting through the endless pool of inventory available for sale in catalogs, online auctions, email offerings or at estates around the world. When not on buying trips, he meets clients at Jan's 15,000-square-foot showroom or arranges displays. His daily routine can start at 3 a.m. with telephone bidding at auction houses on the other side of the globe. "I have found myself in the middle of the night with the phone on one ear, where bidding is being made in French, while simultaneously on my cellphone, where the bidding is taking place in German," he said.