Washington Antiques Show Continues 50-Year Tradition

WASHINGTON, D.C.

: The 51st edition of the Washington Antiques Show, January 5-8 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, is again history and a clear success in its purpose to raise money for the Charities of the Thrift Shop Charities Inc.

The beneficiaries: the Board of Visitors of Children's Hospital, the Child Health Center Board of Children's Hospital, the Ladies Board of the House of Mercy and The Founders Board of St John's Community Services fit with the mission of the TSCI: "Raising monies to benefit health care and educational services for children, adults, and their families..."

Close to $6 million has been raised since the show began in 1956, not including this year's show proceeds. According to 2006 show manager Sara Davis, with "about 4,000 paid attendance we hope to increase that money considerably, but the totals are not yet in."

The show's nearly 50 dealers were selected jointly by the trustees of TSCI and the Antiques Council, an organization of dealers dedicated to producing antiques shows for charitable sponsors.

Antiques Council president Charles Probst said, "We also produce shows in Nantucket and the Litchfield [Conn.] Antique Show for charity sponsors.: Probst's business is Charles Edwin, Inc from Louisa, Va., specializing in early clocks and barometers. He was an exhibitor at this show and said he did very well with the sale.

Carlson & Stevenson Antiques, Manchester Center, Vt., displayed a selection of folk art, some early art, framed prints, early stoneware and furniture pieces with early faux grain painting. The centerpiece was a "double wall box wonderful color and surfaces, New Hampshire origin" as described in its show catalog advertisement.

Judd Gregory Fine Antiques was there from Dorset, Vt., with a collection of early American-made furniture. His prize for this show was a Queen Anne bonnet top high chest of drawers from Salem, Mass. Its provenance was that it had been in the Hooper Family who donated it to the US Department of State for the diplomatic reception rooms in 1955. It was deaccessioned in the early 1990s, according to Gregory, and was now available.

John Suval is an ex-New Yorker now in Fredericksburg, Va., trading as Philip Suval, Inc, with a specialty in Chinese and China Trade porcelain. Among his favorite pieces was a very fine and rare China Trade porcelain plate decorated with two Scottish highlanders circa 1750 and a pair of Chinese porcelain ginger jars and covers with Imari décor of the K'ang His dynasty, circa 1700. The ginger jars were $16,500.

Not often seen was a complete set of the Diamonds candlesticks, English brass candlesticks which range in size, five pairs with the size listed as Ace down to Prince. Michael J. Whitman Antiques of Fort Washington, Penn., was the seller at $6,500.

Somers, Conn., dealer Sears and Tither was there with a wide variety of early porcelain, glass and silver. W.M. Schwind Jr, Yarmouth, Maine, deals in early American furniture of very high quality. He was offering a pair of Hepplewhite chairs from Boston, in period, circa 1790, for $8,500 and a Queen Anne-style gate leg table from northern New England. The table was a circle when opened with both leaves and was available in excellent condition for $14,500. Thomas Schwenke, Inc of Woodbury, Conn., had a circa 1790 sideboard from England for $16,500.

Brennan and Mouilleseaux of Northfield, Conn., came with some typical early American home furnishings but also some unusual objects. One was an almost life-size statue of a man that had probably been a garden decoration; another was a pair of Victorian era iron garden benches.

In the more conventional vein, a tiger maple bow front Hepplewhite chest, Connecticut or Massachusetts, circa 1790-1800, was priced at $8,800. Running Battle Antiques is the business name for Helen and Ham Meserve of Millbrook, N.Y. Its taste and collection was of earlier furniture than most, with Jacobean and William and Mary period furniture its focus.

Norma Chick, Autumn Pond Antiques came from her Woodbury, Conn., home with early weathervanes and some garden pieces. There was also a pair of Chippendale side chairs in the front of her exhibit.

Irvin and Dolores Boyd Antiques from Fort Washington, Penn., was offering an oversized booth filled with early American furniture in native woods. A maple highboy was from Connecticut or Rhode Island; there was a Windsor sack back chair from Lancaster County, Penn., and several other hutches and corner cupboards available.

Gary Young of Centerville, Md., was there with a very early small bow front chest, which, he said, was in excellent original condition; it sold at the show for $32,500.

Hanes and Rushkin of Old Lyme, Conn., offered a broad spectrum of fine antiques including furniture, early dishes and art. Sheffield, Mass., dealer Good & Hutchinson and Associates has a large shop on Route 7 and for this show offered a bit of everything - furniture, porcelain, silver and more.

Dealers were not just from the Northeast; King-Thomasson, Inc was there from Asheville, N.C. with Southern furniture, Kyser-Hollingsworth, Washington, D.C., was offering several late Georgian pieces including a serpentine front bachelor's chest and a very late Georgian gold leaf mirror, Elva Needles Antiques came in from Kansas City, Mo., and there was even a dealer from England, Janice Paull. Her specialty is early English porcelain.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History provided an unusual and special aspect of this show. Loan exhibitions of artifacts from its collections were on display for the show's duration, which were "symbolic of the museum's ongoing commitment to collect, preserve, and exhibit the treasures of the American past for the American people," according to director Brent Glass.

The show is an annual affair so be sure to look for it again on the first weekend of the year, probably for a very long time as it has not missed once in the last 51 years.