Simsbury Historical Society Hosts 36th Annual Antiques Show

SIMSBURY, CONN.

:The Town of Simsbury is home to the largest tree in Connecticut, a giant sycamore, and is also home to an antiques show that has attracted a flight of good exhibitors and many buyers for the past 36 years. This two-day event, staged over the November 5-6 weekend at the Henry James Jr High School, is run by the Simsbury Historical Society to benefit the historic Phelps Tavern Museum.

"The show ran very well, people came to buy, and the gate was down a bit on Saturday, but better on Sunday," Dawn Bobryk, co-chairman of the show with Kevin Gray, said. Many of the exhibitors were longtime participants in the show, but there was a handful of new dealers. Some of the booths were table-top exhibits, but there was also a selection of furniture, fabrics, prints and ephemera.

Jack Squires of Grove City, Penn., was set up just inside the entrance to the second show room exhibiting a selection of furniture on a black and white squared floor covering. An American Federal period Sheraton-style card table, found in Southeastern Pennsylvania, dated circa 1815-20, and coming from the same area was a Hepplewhite bow front chest in walnut with book matched flame grain walnut drawer fronts, circa 1800-1810. "We do seven shows a year and this is our second time in Simsbury," Jack said, "and the committee goes out of its way to take care of the exhibitors and make the show run smoothly."

Two large framed prints, "Fox Hunting - The Meet" and "Fox Hunting - The Find," hung on the back wall in the booth of Ann Hall Antiques Prints of Sturbridge, Mass., while racks of prints on tables offered many subjects including animals, flowers, fish, architecture and maps.

One section of the booth of History Gallery, Ashford, Conn., was devoted to Connecticut and Hartford history, Civil War newspapers were for sale, and among the many autographed items were photos and letters by Eleanor Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, the later on White House stationary.

Painted furniture filled the booth of The Americana Collection, East Hartford, Conn., including a large cupboard in old green with screen covering the door to the top section, and a nice bucket bench in old mustard paint. Hodge Podge Lodge of Durham, Conn., dominated the silver market at the show, offering boxed flatware from such makers as Gorham, Towle and International.

Literally hundreds of items were shown on tables and in cases in the booth of David and Susan Ryan Antiques, Harwinton, Conn. Carpentry tools and related objects, such as a selection of plumb bobs and leg calipers, were shown, and smaller items ranged from a collection of thimbles to a couple of cigar cutters, one in the form of a clown.

Ferndale Antiques of Greens Farms, Conn., filled a large space with a cane collection, corkscrews, nut crackers, scrimshaw and hundreds of small objects in wood, iron, bone and brass. Ferndale's Bill McGrath has been packing and unpacking his inventory quite a bit lately, having just come off a show in Bedford, N.Y., and another in Norwalk, Conn. "It was good in Norwalk and I am looking forward to more of the same this weekend," he said as the show opened on Saturday.

A tavern table with two-board top, breadboard ends, in old red on the base, with set with several pewter plates at the front of the booth of Richmond Antiques, Ashford, Conn. Other country furniture included a narrow one-door cupboard in old blue.

A saddle and tack rack showed some wear to its black paint in the booth of Nook 'N' Cranny Antiques of Chicopee, Mass. This piece, designed to hold saddles, tack and blankets, came from a stable turned B&B in Brewster, N.Y. A bucket bench and small sawbuck table were also offered, and collectors of Christmas ornaments checked over a small but well decorated tree at the front of the booth.

The show is set for the same time period in 2006.