Family Treasures Abound At Mancuso's New Hope Winter Antiques Show

NEW HOPE, PENN.

:The weekend's weather may have been iffy, but the Mancuso New Hope Winter Antiques Show, January 14 and 15, was a sure bet for patrons who bought paintings, American furniture, decoys, tall case clocks, quilts, stoneware and many other family treasures at this Bucks County event.

At the conclusion of the show, promoter David Mancuso said that there was "overwhelming attendance on Saturday," which translated to "the best show sales," too. And despite a slower start on Sunday morning due to icy weather, by early afternoon both the road conditions and the attendance were back to normal.

And with sales that included a $6,900 cherry corner cupboard and a David Seip, Northampton County, Pennsylvania tall case clock for more than $10,000, it is a safe bet that first-time exhibitors Keith and Diane Fryling, Green Lane, Penn., will be show returnees. "We've recently observed that we have been doing well at the smaller, regional shows," noted Keith Fryling, who also filled his receipt book with sales that included an Oriental rug and stoneware.

The Frylings also exhibited a "rare and wonderful" paint decorated, straw presentation hat. The accompanying documentation noted that this hat, priced at $4,600, was given to Harlan Besson on his appointment to the rank of captain in the National Guard on July 26, 1917.

Included in a grouping of stoneware was a Daniel Shenfelder, Reading, Penn., 3-gallon butter crock with "an excellent stamp." This crock, priced at $2,200, sat on a primitive, grain painted, bucket bench with two shelves, dovetailed well and bootjack cutouts on its sides, which sported a tag of $3,100. Hanging on the Frylings' back booth wall was a three-color coverlet by William Ney, Myerstown, Lebanon County, Penn., which, at $875, was designed with a central star surrounded by quad eagles.

No doubt tobacco growers would have enjoyed a dated 1935 I.S. Stahl pipe stand, which was inscribed, "Eat your food with joy, smoke your pipe and o'boy." Formerly in the Clyde Youtz collection, it was offered for $1,150.

Armed with an extensive knowledge of both porcelain and silver, Plainfield, N.J., exhibitor David Pownall Willis enjoys selling antiques with a historical angle, and enjoys researching to find that background. Willis, who also reported having a successful show, featured a selection of American historical Staffordshire that included a rare, circa 1826-36, red and white teapot by Joseph Heath & Co. The transfer on the piece featured the residence of Richard Jordan from Burlington, N.J. "The rarest is the black and white transfer without the floral border," noted Willis, who added that it is believed to have been designed for Jordan himself, who was a Quaker.

Another early American historical piece was a circa 1830 copper luster jug attributed to Enoch Wood. It featured Lafayette on one side and Cornwallis resigning his sword at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, on the other side.

Included in a collection of miniature portraits was a watercolor on ivory of General Edward Hand, one of General Reed that was hand painted on copper, another by the French artist Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret De St Memin and a circa 1790-1810 profile engraving in aquatint of a prominent unknown individual that retained its original eglomise frame with Scottish thistle corners.

Happy monks were sold by the happy Windles. An oil on canvas painting by Simoney Jensen (1864-1923) that featured monks gathered around a keg of beer was one of two oils sold by the Wilmington, Del., couple on Saturday. As regular exhibitors at this show, the Windles also sold early in the show a New England chair/table constructed in the early 1800s of maple and poplar woods, a Native American cloth doll, a hearth utensil rack and several Native American baskets, which included a decorated birch bark basket and one that was a decorated sweet grass example.

The Windles also featured a 1770s Massachusetts Chippendale drop-front desk in figured cherry with a pine secondary wood, priced at $8,200; and a set of four, circa 1820-40, Baltimore fancy chairs. Some of their decorative items included a circa 1760 pewter plate by John Townsend of London, a late 1770s pewter porringer by Samuel Green and a rare Nineteenth Century Meerschaum pipe depicting a man riding a bicycle.

The calendar may have read January, but it seemed like an April fishing day inside the booth of Malchione's Sporting Collectibles, Kennett Square, Penn., which was filled with top-notch decoys, creels, lanterns and compasses.

"Outstanding and beautiful," was how John Malchione referred to a pair of hooded mergansers by world-class carver Reggie Birch, Chincoteague Island, Va., which sold on Saturday. But Sunday shoppers could still select from decoys that included a rare, circa 1894, drake American merganser (Dodge factory, Detroit) and a pair of circa 1896-1924, standard grade mallards with glass eyes (Mason factory, Detroit) that carried a price tag of $1,295.

"He's the Michelangelo of creel makers," said Malchione, referring to the work of George Lawrence and the circa 1929 supreme model #5 creel that he was exhibiting at $1,900. Next to the Lawrence creel was a model by Clark for $2,200.

Roger Winter, Solebury, Penn., featured a Georgian, two-part dining room table in Spanish mahogany for $12,500. Surrounding this table was a set of eight Georgian mahogany dining room chairs comprising two arm and six side chairs for $14,500. The exquisite selections continued with a late Eighteenth Century painted Venetian, two-drawer chest at $11,900 and a mahogany Georgian mirror with its original glass and carved and gilded with an eagle, priced at $8,500.

Art dealer Roger Tunis, Berwyn, Penn., sold the centerpiece of his booth, which was an impressionistic oil painting by Carl Thorp titled, "Pigeon Cove." Tunis' sales streak continued when a pair of still lifes, two watercolors and a Pennsylvania blanket chest all found new homes.

A hardware store seed bin was transformed into a textiles storage unit for a patron and fabric designer who spotted this item in the booth of Hopewell, N.J., exhibitor Brian Gage. Early in the show Gage also sold a signed R. Clark bronze of a Conestoga wagon being led by a cowboy and elk. In fact, sales were so good for Gage on Saturday that he replenished on Sunday with a period mahogany chest of drawers that also sold.

As a vintage Mercedes Benz enthusiast, Ellen Ruck from Colony Farm Antiques, Chester, N.J., said that she had just returned from a three-day, 1,400-mile trip to Texas to add car number 16 to her growing collection. Commenting that it was "refreshing to see such a good gate," she said that the first of many items to leave her booth was some Flow Blue that she had just purchased in Arkansas on her return trip home. Pewter, candlesticks and an ogee mirror also traveled to new homes on Saturday.

Antique Persian rug dealer Thierry de Chaunac, TLC Rugs, Waldorf, Md.. along with quilt and linen dealer Connie Brown, Norwalk, Conn., also had a good show. Bethlehem, Penn. dealer Jonas Ewing, and his dad, Richard, reported Saturday sales that included engravings, watercolors, painted ironstone, Italian pottery and mid-Twentieth Century sculpture.

For information, 215- 862-5828 or MancusoShows.com.