Maine Antiques Dealers Hosted Its 8th Annual Coastal Antiques Show

DAMARISCOTTA, MAINE

:The Maine Antiques Dealers Association hosted its Eighth Annual Coastal Maine Antiques Show on Wednesday, August 31. Open to all its members, the show had the use of the grounds and a variety of buildings at the Round Top Center for the Arts where exhibitors showed their antiques inventories and collections to this year's visitors, about 1,500 strong. Scheduled to exhibit were 132 members but forecasts of bad weather and some personal problems limited the field to 123 actually setting up early in the morning for the one-day event.

For many exhibitors this is the only show or one of very few shows at which they take a booth as many have shops open most days somewhere else. This gives the dealers one of their rare opportunities to meet their friends in the business, a "can't miss it" day.

The short duration also makes elaborate booth settings difficult, so many exhibits are draped tables filled with a varied mix of antiques; items of different purpose and form on the same display. There was a child's chair next to scrimshaw, next to mocha ware, next to early carpenters' tools, all sitting on an early hooked rug in one booth. Nearby a member exhibitor had put up his own tent, filled it with furniture and left to visit all the other booths and shop for more merchandise.

Volunteer show manager Nancy Prince was very pleased with dealer participation and attendance. She said, "Most dealers were very pleased, too, for they sold well. In fact I haven't found one who didn't do well enough that they won't be back next year."

Prince was the original organizer for this event as a show for every member dealer - resident or nonresident - to be offered an exhibit space. Her concept, she said, "Was low rent, no restrictions on what they [dealers] bring and as easy a set up as possible. Our only requirement is that every item must be tagged with the price and an accurate description of what it is."

That description fits with the variety of the antiques offered. Near the main entrance Bob Withington from York, Maine, was offering a variety of furniture including several Eighteenth Century pieces and a candlestand made from cement and sea shells. Nearby was M.S. Carter with a varied collection of small early nautical items that were presumably to be used as decorator accessories in the future for antique binnacles and blocks have few practical uses today. The binnacles were for tying the ship to a dock and the blocks are nautical versions of pulleys used to help in such tasks as loading the ship or hoisting heavy objects in the repairs and maintenance.

Bill Garland said he "had a fabulous show, more [sales] than I ever hoped for...I sold blanket chests, a pie safe cupboard and several more case pieces [furniture]." The Jefferson, Maine, shop dealer does few shows but he and his wife have been at this one since the beginning.

Several of the dealers from Wiscasset, Maine, were there. Debra Elizabeth Schaffer had two Windsor arm chairs available - a sack back and a continuous arm, both American from about 1800. Pricilla Hutchinson does very few shows in order to keep her shop open. This is one of the few and she brought "mostly smalls," those small antiques of every possible variety which the customer could hold in their hand.

Dennis Raleigh came with a booth full of things and an empty bottle. But not just any bottle; it was a Dutch wine or Madeira jug, blown green glass with the pontil very visible on the bottom; it had about a two-gallon capacity.

Art Booth - that is his name, not the exhibit - a dealer from Wayne, N.J., was offering a variety of early objects including a small box with a slide top, decorated with a nail punch design overall and red paint for $175. Mainer Patricia Ann Breame brought a child's chair with rockers and it too was painted red with Hitchcock-like stenciling and brass gilt decorations. Elizabeth Baird also offered a child's chair which may have been from Bergen County, N.J., complete with paint and a rush seat in very good condition.

John and Veronica Malchione seem to find many reasons to be in Maine and this show is one of them. The Kennett Square, Penn., couple deals in sporting antiques, with an emphasis on fishing tackle and decoys. South Jersey dealers and show promoters Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz were there with their collection of manufactured American folk art including an extensive collection of cast iron door stops. More folk art was available from Arlene Rich, Fitzwilliam, N.H. She was offering a charming piece of tree fungus with three small carved birds sitting on it for $285.

The Carrs came up from Gorham, Maine, with their typical collection of early furniture and hooked rugs. Their efforts were rewarded, according to Jane Carr, for sales included "a six-board box, a cherry drop leaf table and several more pieces of furniture."

Clarissa V. Dundon was in one of the many building on the property, with a set of six Hitchcock chairs. The buildings were organized into small booth spaces and scattered about the grounds. Wandering Moose was in the barn - a music hall that was built to resemble a barn. It offered about a dozen dealers protection from the weather, which while threatening was rain was not bad.

Admission fees for the show all go to the facility, Round Top Center for the Arts, a nonprofit organization. It runs music and fine arts activities for the public, and allows some other activities such as this antiques show.

Look for the show again next year by visiting www.maineantiques.org. As the association has no full time staff, the next best source for information is Antiques and the Arts Weekly with advertisements and the annual calendar.