Handsome, Smooth And Polished, Peabody Essex Sails Into Town

SALEM, MASS.

: Like the elegant sailing ships that called Salem home for more than two centuries, the Peabody Essex Antiques Show cruised into town with great fanfare and to an exceptionally warm reception. The show, which ran November 25-27, was handsome, smooth and highly polished.

This year 31 dealers brought an interesting mix of antiques and fine art and even early in the preview sold stickers were fluttering through the galleries.

The show has become a standalone must-see event, drawing buyers from well beyond the north shore of Boston. Falling on the day after Thanksgiving it is a welcome respite from home and hearth.

Show manager Christine Crossman Vining delivered a focused and well-appointed show; Peabody Essex staff delivered too, Vining said. The show was well advertised, in print and on a local NPR affiliate, and the end result was a strong gate. Vining gave special kudos to Betsy Weisman of the museum's marketing department who she said provided invaluable assistance. She also acknowledged the superb efforts of the eleven porters from Northeast Auctions and the five guards from the museum staff who facilitated and sped up set up and pack out, calling them "the best in the world." Of her own efforts she says, "I am a benevolent despot!"

One of the most eagerly anticipated aspects of this particularly elegant show is the Thanksgiving dinner that Carl Crossman prepares for all the dealers at his Portsmouth, N.H., home. Not only has it become a tradition, it is also a family affair: Vining and Crossman are brother and sister. Vining says her brother gets everything started and all the guests pitch in. Helen and Hamilton Meserve of Running Battle Antiques in Millbrook, N.Y., brought pies, Bert Schweizer of Maxine Antiques in North Amherst, Mass., brought his own carving set and set to work on the turkey - his traditional assignment.

North Hampton, N.H., dealers George and Debbie Spiecker who did the show for the second year reported strong sales. Among those were a circa 1805 New Hampshire four-drawer chest signed by Benjamin Ward of Plymouth and an impressive ship's portrait of an English bark. They offered a couple of half hulls, one of a US Army freight carrier built by Pierce and Kilburn of Fairhaven, Mass., and the other of the bark Egypt. The couple made several other sales and speaking after the event, George Spiecker described it as "Great! The show just works," he added. He found the show well balanced among the dealers and noted that lots of selling occurred. He also said, "I can't say enough about the show committee!" They provided plenty of food throughout the weekend and supplied dealers with coffee and doughnuts each morning.

Roy and Sheila Mennell of the Bradford Trust in Harwich Port, Mass., brought two bronzes by Utah-born and Boston-trained Cyrus E. Dallin, "The Spirit" and "Signal of Peace." They also exhibited American marine and Cape Cod paintings that included three pictures by Charles Drew Cahoon, "Reading by the Garden, Cape Cod," "Autumn Marsh" and "Autumn Oak." They showed Charles Woodbury's "Sentinel Rock, Nahant, Mass.," Charles Gifford's "Sunset in the Harbor" and "Winter at the Farm" and "Bridge over the Stream" by Carl William Peters. The paintings appealed to show visitors as four alone were sold during the preview and others over the course of the show. Speaking after the show Roy Mennell commended what he described as "an exceptional show." He noted that the show has a high energy level, which he says "starts at the top!"

Christine Crossman Vining of Wellington, Fla., says that while she plans to retire from exhibiting at shows "but maybe not forever and ever," she does intend to continue to manage the Peabody Essex show as she has done every year since inception - in 1972. She said that reports of her retirement from show management are "greatly exaggerated." She filled her booth with excellent offerings that included a richly hued octagonal mahogany cellaret that served as a convenient hidey-hole and a particularly interesting China Trade chess set whose bishops had Western faces. She said that a similar set is illustrated in her brother's China Trade book. A Nineteenth Century China Trade reverse painted image on glass of a woman with a caged bird was offered, as were some dandy miniatures, Continental creamware and eight English Regency dining chairs.

Warren, Mass., dealer Randall E. Decoteau mixed glass with North Shore Massachusetts and New Hampshire furniture and American Impressionist paintings. He had a Sheraton mahogany card table with a geometric inlay that was probably a coastal New Hampshire piece along with a Sheraton wing chair from about 1820. A Hepplewhite lady's secretary on view was from the North Shore of Boston or coastal New Hampshire and a Hepplewhite four-drawer bureau was probably made in rural Massachusetts or New Hampshire. He showed a selection of paintings by Robert Emmett Owen and "The Cliff, 1944" by Elwyn George Gowen.

The booth of American Decorative Arts from Canaan, N.H., was a blend of Shaker and Arts and Crafts ranging from a Shaker potato shovel and a rug whip to a Morris extended arm chair. A circa 1915 J.M. Young armchair sat cheek by jowl with a large umbrella or cane stand, andirons and a selection of Arts and Crafts pottery.

Judith M. Schweizer of Maxine Antiques in North Amherst, Mass., had an "exceptional show." She said she sold across the board: necklaces, rings and bangles, both modern and old. She wore a striking necklace to the preview party, one of pearls and diamonds set in platinum encased in gun metal. She got it in San Francisco some years ago and it is not for sale - it's one of her favorites.

Like many of the dealers polled informally, she described the show and museum staff and volunteers as "astonishingly supportive."

Meadowood Antiques brought clocks from its Cumberland, Maine, gallery that included a circa 1720 English oak long case clock by James Viall and an E.N. Welch steeple-on-case triple time and strike clock. Among a selection of fireplace equipment nice andirons, a footman bench and fenders held pride of place. Meadowood also offered Staffordshire pottery and brass candlesticks including a pair of Queen Anne push-up sticks. Furniture ranged from a Windsor birdcage side chair to an English Chippendale slip seat side chair with Prince of Wales feathers carved in the splat to a Queen Anne tiger maple tip-top table.

Beacon Hill dealer Polly Latham filled cases with highly desirable Chinese and Japanese porcelain that appealed to many buyers and business was brisk. The selection ranged from Peking glass to Mandarin tankards to famille rose and Yongsheng porcelain, Chinese Imari and Chinese Export famille verte, blanc de chine and Seventeenth Century Japanese blue and white porcelain. A spectacular 24-inch 1805 Rose Mandarin punch bowl was a highly dramatic focal point and generated lots of interest. A rare Chinese armorial charger made for the English trade, which had remained in the same English family since 1728, sold to a pleased collector of English armorial porcelain. A circa 1720 Chinese Imari Mazarine that had been made into a table was also among the sales.

Ruby glass effected an acute accent in the Good and Hutchinson booth where Continental cranberry hurricanes, a Continental flash glass decanter in ruby cut to clear, a crown-form glass bowl and a covered butter dish stood in elegant contrast to the stylish furniture and decorations on offer. They included a circa 1790-1810 English Hepplewhite mahogany server, a circa 1800 English Hepplewhite secretary desk in mahogany and cedar, an American étagère and an imposing circa 1780 four-drawer mahogany chest. The Sheffield, Mass., dealers also offered a pair of China Trade plant stands in red lacquer.

Old Lyme, Conn., dealers Hanes & Ruskin showed some high quality textiles including a 1796 map of the counties of England and Wales worked by Ann Holbrook and another citing "The Twelve Good Rules on Studies of King Charles." Two silkwork pictures, one an Eighteenth Century mourning picture were also for sale. A 171/2-inch Connecticut gallery clock was probably made in about 1880 by Ingraham and Brewster retained the original gilt finish.

Hanes & Ruskin also displayed a Queen Anne candlestand in tiger maple, a New England sack back Windsor arm chair, a Boston Chippendale chest and a Chippendale cherry slant lid desk with a vibrant tiger maple interior and whose lid was supported by an alternate writing surface. An Irish Chippendale hunt table attracted interest from a number of guests at the preview party.

Silver Plus Antiques came from New York City and brought fine Irish silver that included an 1807 silver ladle by Samuel Neville, a strainer spoon with a reticulated divider that was made in 1810 by James Keating of Dublin and an 1842 teapot by Dublin maker James Fray. An interesting round silver dish ring that would serve as a trivet was also for sale.

Now in its 151st year, the Boston Art Club continues to represent the work of living and otherwise Boston artists. It offered a fine selection of paintings by such artists as George Hallowell, William Bodwell, Alice Cushman, Charles H. Richert, founding member and late Nineteenth Century club president Samuel L. Gerry, Horace R. Burdick and a group of watercolors by William Thon.

The floor plan of the show changed for this year due to a new exhibition in an area that usually houses dealers. Alternately, an adjoining room was utilized with great success. Preview at this show is exceptionally enjoyable, especially for those awaiting drinks at the bar as several massive ship's figureheads loom above, keeping a keen eye on the activity. Next year's dates are November 24-26.