Heavy Rains Can't Dampen Excitement at Rhinebeck Antiques Fair

RHINEBECK, N.Y.

: "That's all, folks," you can almost imagine show manager Bruce Garrett and his staff saying as another Rhinebeck season ended with the most recent Columbus Day weekend show on October 8 and 9 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. The show marked its 29th year with an assembled group of nearly 200 dealers from 20 states and Canada in four of the fairgrounds' exhibition buildings.

Garrett humorously said that his actual words were, "Throw me a towel," as monsoonlike fall rains kept the crowd size down, but those who did venture out were rewarded with aisles of antiques, fine art and decorative accessories with the attendant diversity and quality that the show always delivers. Everything from formal European and American to country classics, decorative accessories, garden iron and cement statuary, vintage textiles and jewelry, paintings, prints and vintage posters and more were offered up to antiques lovers.

Contacted after the show, Garrett said that while numbers were certainly down on Saturday morning as nearly horizontal rain pushed open umbrellas the other way and a 25-degree drop in temperature drop chilled the air, "by 10:30 I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice crowd. Considering the weather, I was elated."

Garrett said he got a call from the gate informing him that a busload of people had arrived, and in talking with the bus driver, he learned that the group was from Texas. "I'm sorry we provided you with such bad weather," Garrett apologized. "You call this rain?" asked the driver. And Garrett said the realization of what some Texans had been through in the past month put the rainy weekend in Rhinebeck in perspective.

The tent Garrett's staff uses to stage purchases for shipment was flooded with about six inches of water, so the staff had to improvise - and there was about a foot of water in the dealers' parking lot as well, but, overall, the prolonged rain tended to keep people milling around inside the show.

That silver lining was apparent to Jonathan Hallam, who said the show went well for him. The Hudson, N.Y., dealer had put together an eclectic booth that featured Nineteenth Century portraits, Hitchcock furniture, Modernist sculpture and a large and rare Twentieth Century hooked rug, possibly from Maine or New Hampshire. "The beautiful large hooked rug on my back wall sold on Saturday evening to a private lady collector," said Hallam. "It was expensive but extraordinary. The market still likes rarity and beauty."

Hallam also sold the more stylish and architectural items he had on display, such as the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House "textile" block, circa 1924, and a pair of Eighteenth Century red lacquer Chinese stands that were coveted by several would-be buyers. The lucky winner was a private collector from New Jersey. "Many lusted over my 1950s French modernist watering can in bright orange ceramic and chrome," said Hallam. "A Boston interior designer carried it away for her own home."

The dealer added that the most important realization at this show was the need to mix serious Americana and antique items with "eye-catching" design items. "People loved the mix and responded well," he said. "The market is changing and we, the dealers, have to adjust accordingly. An antiques show as venerable as Rhinebeck should be a treat to the eye and wow the public on a rainy weekend in October."

"The weather was interesting, with the wind and rain, but we thought attendance was quite strong considering the conditions," said Tom and Beverly Longacre, Marlborough, N.H., dealers who carry a general line of antique furniture and folk art. "Our arrival home to the Keene, N.H., area held even more surprises from the weather, but we are 1,200 feet above sea level, so we were fine."

The Longacres sold three pieces of furniture at the show - a tavern table, a 6-foot harvest table and 6-foot bench. They also sold a rare tailor advertising sign, a sunburst quilt and some smalls, including many antique Christmas ornaments.

"This is the third time this year for me in which the weather has hurt the show - the blizzard during Americana week in January the heavy rain storm the weekend of the Bedford show in April and now this," lamented Joan Bogart. The Rockville Centre, N.Y., dealer whose cast iron, cast stone and wrought iron garden furnishings speak volumes about the effects of bad weather, said she was additionally disappointed that she had brought a pair of Gothic Revival side chairs dating from the mid-Nineteenth Century and had displayed them along with an image of the chairs with President Abraham Lincoln sitting on one of them as he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, "Yet not one person inquired as to their price," she said. "There was interest in my garden pieces and my decorative items but not in the typical mahogany antique chairs. My feeling is that decorative pieces are attracting more buyers than formal antique pieces in Rhinebeck."

Doug and Bev Norwood, collectively The Norwoods' Spirit of America, said they look forward to each Rhinebeck Antiques Fair with much anticipation. The recent fall edition did not disappoint them; in fact, they reported that it was their best Rhinebeck ever.

At this show, they sold three historically significant samplers. One sampler was from Lancaster County, Penn., with strong Moravian School attribution and two were "Sister Samplers" from 1787 colonial Massachusetts. Other items of note included three signed 1814 silhouettes of children, a circa 1830 oil on board of two young girls, a signed early Nineteenth Century schoolgirl watercolor, three portrait miniatures, several paint decorated smalls and a well-wrought blacksmith trade sign.

The Timonium, Md.-based dealers recounted that the painting of the two young girls, which went to two sisters, was purchased by the sisters pooling their money. They decided that they would share it by keeping it in one sister's home six months of each year and the other sister's house for the remaining six months. "They promised not to slice the painting in half," said Bev Norwood.

The Norwoods said they look forward to returning to Rhinebeck, as they do each year, and noted that in 2006, both the Rhinebeck Antiques Fairs and the Norwoods will celebrate 30 years in business.

At Vol. 1 Antiques, visitors can always find the unusual - whether in scale, surface or design. Owners Suzanne Cassano and Karen Quinn seek out unconventional items from the early Nineteenth to Twentieth Century, such as the Victorian English desk that was paired in their booth with an early English Twentieth Century side chair. "Given the 'weather horribilus' on Saturday, I was surprised to see as many hearty souls as we did," said Cassano. "We saw a steady stream of people all morning and a decent crowd into the early afternoon. That said, I feel like the overall gate for the show was down, especially because Sunday was a very quiet day - everyone was still waterlogged. We also saw some of the most 'makeshift' raingear ever, which was immensely entertaining."

The dealers said that while it was not their best Rhinebeck show, they did sell a Nineteenth Century American primitive step back cupboard - "very Rhinebeck," said Cassano - and an unusual set of eight Nineteenth Century military campaign chairs.

Merle Koblenz, the jewelry dealer from South Kent, Conn., also was amused and heartened by the good-natured people who braved the elements to attend the show. "I was busy from the moment it opened until the close," she said. "It was slower on Sunday," she added, reporting that sales included Victorian American brooches, Indian belts, gold bracelets, charms, pins, paintings and folk art.

Spending a lot of time in Buenos Aires these days, David Smernoff of From Here to Antiquity came to the show with a set of three Seventeenth Century tapestry panels from Argentina along with a good selection of paintings and sculpture. On view was a impressionist painting, some early Nineteenth Century British children's illustrations and a portrait by American Russian artist Arbit Blatas (1909-1999). The Bethany, Conn., dealer said he made a lot of deals with dealers at the show. "Even on Sunday I did a some great buying and trading for objects I can do very well with [at the Piers]."

From Helltown (New Paltz, N.Y.), Jenkinstown Antiques never disappoints with an entertaining and eclectic mix of serious antiques and fun folk art. In addition to an Eighteenth Century New York shoe-foot raised panel poplar cupboard and a set of four chairs, circa 1820, with original cane seats, dealers Sanford Levy and Charles Glasner brought erotic illustration art, circa 1930. "We had a good show, bought and sold," said Levy. "The weather must have been a factor, but there is nothing we can do about that. We sold some rare items, including a Catskill Mountain house plate, miniature Taconic basket, a Queen Anne Hudson Valley side chair, as well as an outrageous 1930s oil illustration art of a woman in stress - wide variety, typical Rhinebeck."

The feeling of fun was extended in Building A at the booth of David Cohn of New York City, who was marking his second Rhinebeck show. Festooned with a colorful collection of beanies - some commercial souvenirs but many that were individually decorated with charms, Cohn's booth also showcased emotionally charged "fantasy life paintings," circa 1950s, that Cohn had retrieved from a dumpster, old pattern wallpapers, some from the Nineteenth Century, and a variety of books about design, such as Verushka's Trans-Figuration.

"The show went swimmingly," said Cohn. "Sunday's crowd, although good in numbers, was, I felt, more about a day's outing than experienced antiques collectors. Everybody seemed to enjoy the beanie collection. I sold some old wallpaper to a woman who said it was the same pattern as in her grandmother's house when she was a kid and that she was going to use this to create pages for a large photo album. I felt, on the whole, that the show was good fun, and I always enjoy seeing booths and displays that reflect the personalities and likes of individual dealers."

There was the usual mix of American furniture and lemon gold frames at the booth of John Gould, Yorktown Heights, N.Y. For example, a cherry two-drawer blanket chest, made circa 1800, shared space with small stands, one in cherry with a single drawer, circa 1830, and another with three tiger maple drawers. An Eighteenth Century Chippendale bureau had originated in the Colchester, Conn., area. In addition to a selection of frames, Gould presented artwork featuring bucolic landscapes, still lifes and farm animals.

For all things pertaining to the outdoor sporting life, one needed look no further than Field and Stream Antiques, staffed by David Kittredge, Mansfield, Conn., who described his merchandise as an upscale mix of quality fishing items, rustic decoys and Americana - "with good quality for your buck." It was Kittredge's first Rhinebeck, and he said he was agog to see so many quality antiques in one place and pleased to have experienced one of the smoothest run setups he had ever done.

A highlight of his booth was a Winchester fishing tackle poster from 1923, a unique double sided example that, according to directions from the manufacturer, was to be displayed during the weeks of June 7-13 and June 21-27, respectively. "The Honeymoon," a 1912 poster by Oliver Kemp for the Horton Mfg Co., Bristol, Conn., depicted a man and woman enjoying a postwedding camping outing. And an early poster predating Smokey the Bear, circa 1939, warns about the dangers of forest fires with another early American icon - the familiar visage of Uncle Sam, aka illustrator James Montgomery Flagg of "I Want You" fame, saving money on model fees by using his own likeness to warn "Your Forests, Your Fault, Your Loss!"

Gallagher and Zager, North Norwich, N.Y., always bring their gleaming brass andirons and fireplace hardware to Rhinebeck. Along with fireplace fenders, andirons and tools, their booth featured leather trimmed storage boxes in sizes large and small.

The Rhinebeck show will return Memorial Day weekend in 2006. It will be a milestone year for the antiques fair, marking the 30th anniversary of what began as a small country show at Bard College in 1976. Garrett said he and his staff are preparing a special luncheon event for the show's dealers, and he is trying to contact some of the show's original exhibitors. For information, 845-876-1989 or www.RhinebeckAntiquesFair.com.