OTTAWA
Except for Bank Street south, you won't find one single area of Ottawa where there is a concentrated section of good shops, but it is worthwhile criss-crossing the city to hunt. My favourites? I love all the maps and prints from my friend John Coles' Astrolabe Gallery at 71 Sparks Street; this is where we bought a pair of prints of Redouté lilies for our 20th wedding anniversary… some years ago now. Arthur Bousquet and Lelia Donohue at Donohue & Bousquet at 27 Hawthorne Avenue have good silver and Sheffield plate. Then there is Ernest Johnson Antiques at it's new location of 1179-A Bank Street South, again, with furniture, as well as silver and porcelain. His website amuses me; he definitely does not sell collectibles, nor will he evaluate Lladro and Hummel figurines. And Robert and Graham Macartney's store, The Antique Shoppe, at its new location of 6588 Forth Line Road in North Gower outside of the city, has good British furniture. Jane Mitchell has carried fine furniture, silver and porcelain for years; her items are carried at the Astrolabe Gallery as well.
MONTREAL
Montreal has almost as many good areas as Toronto and here you may find a few of the great Quebec pieces of furniture and silver that are so hard to get now. Here are just three of the best areas:
• Notre-Dame West: Simply one of the best areas of fine antiques stores in Canada; here you can find a mix of furniture, architectural antiques, marble pieces and so much more. Just a few examples are Ambiance Antiquités, found at 1874 Notre Dame West, with 18th- and 19th-century Quebec furniture. Two others are Antiquités Michelle Parent at 1650 Notre Dame West and Milord Antiques at 1870 Notre Dame West, with European furniture. This area is well worth a long day of browsing, learning and, with luck, some shopping.
• Downtown, near McGill: Antiquités Phyllis Friedman Inc., one of the city's best dealers, is at 1476 Sherbrooke St. W., with fine British and European furniture from the 17th to the 19th centuries, as well as a good selection of silver, lamps and decorative objects. And a long-time personal favourite of mine, David S. Brown Antiquaire, is at Suite 203, 995 Wellington, with fine English furniture, porcelain and silver. David Brown, like the late John Russell, is known as one of the real gentlemen in the business and a very nice guy.
• Westmount, from Green Avenue to DÉcarie: Rowntree Antiques at 780 Atwater, has an exhaustive picture inventory of very nice European country furniture, and good lamps and decorative objects. Henrietta Antony Inc., at 4192 Ste Catherine W., is a legendary dealer with wonderful furniture and other objects. And Ruth Stalker Antiques, at 4447 Ste Catherine W., sells fine Canadian furniture, decoys and decorative objects.
QUEBEC CITY
Quebec City has long been a legendary source of the best antiques in Canada, but even if you have the money, good pieces are increasingly hard to find. The place to start:
• Rue Saint-Paul in the Old Port area: This restored community of 18th-century houses is one of the liveliest in the province, and one of the most famous antiques rows in the country. Louis Bolduc's Boutique aux Mémoires Antiquités at 105 Rue St. Paul and Gérard Bourguet Antiquaire Inc. at 97 Rue St. Paul are two of the excellent stores here.
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