OCEANSIDE - San Jose resident Donna Meador spent $6 on a colorful beaded necklace Sunday and she couldn't have been happier.

"Who could bead this for $6?" she asked, touching the long red, blue and green necklace that she had already put on.

She and friend Natasha Ashley, who were in town on vacation, also bought "little baby blankies," homemade bracelets and old silver charms. "To make bracelets for my daughters," she said, with a laugh.

The women were part of a crowd - estimated by organizers at thousands - that packed Mission Avenue between Coast Highway 101 and Nevada Street for the seventh annual Antiques on Mission street fair.

Others were taking home more than beaded necklaces.

Oceanside resident Alexis Lamb said she found a "very strange old spoon and two odd little picture frames," but said she was expecting more antiques and less jewelry.

Of the 90 booths at the event, 30 percent were selling jewelry and 40 percent were antique booths, said Cathy Nykiel, coordinator for MainStreet Oceanside, which sponsored the event. The remainder were arts and crafts booths, she said.

Nykiel said that a lot of people came to the fair, which was open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., earlier than usual, "which is nice," she said.

Onsite appraisals were offered for $5.

As a warm September sun shone on fairgoers and the bands Rock Slyde and Positive Groove entertained at the eastern end of the street, vendor Steve Wood spoke to potential buyers.

Wood, who described himself as an urban archeologist who works with Golden Antiques and Collectibles on Tremont Street, said Sunday's fair was the second he's sold at.

"We come to sell antiques and to make people smile," he said. "If it's a tourist they'll leave with a little bit of memorabilia for their shelf and some good memories."

Wood said his most beautiful, precious piece, is a small oil painting from 1917. He said he found a postcard of the painting first at the Oceanside Swap Meet, and then went a little further in the same booth and found the oil painting.

The painting, brushed in mostly grays and white, depicts a turn-of-the-century woman standing at an angle to the artist.

"She's beautiful," Wood said enthusiastically. "Look at the hands."

Down the street, antique dealer Claudia LaGreca was fielding questions about the variety of large anqtique pieces she had trucked to the fair from her Temecula store, Ontario Antiques.

Among her most unique pieces - an 1870s baby buggy that sold for $195 and a 1890s-era Austrian-Hungarian sideboard that was listed at several thousand dollars.

"A lot of people aren't familiar with old furniture," she said. "This gives them options to have something unique that never goes out of style. It's not like the new furniture from China that's made out of resin and particle board."

- Contact Staff Writer Marga Kellogg at (760) 901-4067 or mkellogg@nctimes.com