Snow Added Festive Air To Wilton Holiday Show

WILTON, CONN.

:The Wilton Holiday one-day show is a very popular destination for antiques lovers and holiday shoppers, and the early morning snow did little to discourage early buyers from attending. The show is called the "Christmas Show," and, as Bob Baker of Poverty Hollow Antiques said, "The snow ensured that the people who were coming out for early buying were really coming to buy!" According to many dealers, people were doing just that, but several noticed that the afternoon was better than the morning.

The December 4 show in Wilton High School gym and cafeteria filled the space with lovely booths, live classical guitar and a myriad of things to see and buy. With 122 quality dealers, Marilyn Gould produced the show to benefit the John G. Corr Memorial Award Fund, which sponsors a major scholarship given to Wilton's top scholar-athlete each year.

Christmas was the theme and many booths were decorated for the holidays. At Thomas Longacre and Beverly Weir-Longacre, Beverly had a child's red sled up front filled with presents and green pine roping. The sled was paint decorated with pine cones and trailing pine branches. The label inside indicated that it had been made by Heywood and Wakefield, better known for its furniture. Someone purchased the sled before 11 am and one of her feather trees, with all the ornaments attached, and the fence, was purchased just as it was presented. "This is the first time I've sold a whole tree, complete with ornaments and fence," she remarked. Her items ranged in price from $3 to $150 and were moving out quickly.

The snow seemed to encourage people to think about winter decorating and fires. at J. Gallagher's, North Norwich, N.Y., many customers were busy measuring fire screens and the other pre-1830 fireplace items in which Gallagher's specializes. At Mad River Antiques, North Granby, Conn., Lorraine German was showing a very large, free form bowl made from the base of the tree, where the trunk becomes roots. With burnished and rubbed multicolored cherrywood, for $1,950, it would be perfect filled with Christmas balls and pine boughs. Mad River also had a large portrait of a young woman, oil, attributed to Ezra Ames (1768-1836), circa 1830, with the Hudson River flowing in the background.

Lorraine said, "We had a pretty good show in spite of the weather. We sold across the board -including some stoneware, baskets, coin silver, a weathervane and furniture. The show looked beautiful and many customers we spoke with commented on that."

Across the way at the Village Braider from Plymouth, Mass., Bruce Emond also had a sleigh prominently displayed. His was a Nineteenth Century Russian child's sleigh, designed to be pulled by a horse or pony, with long wooden runners that curved up to a decorative curl. It had a small wooden seat, deep in the middle, and a high seat behind for the driver, a handle for him to hold on while the sled was moving and pedals to control the brakes (which were still on the runners). Details abounded from the metal foot warmer to the finial of a horse/fish and the original, although worn, dry paint. "The show was okay, I've been doing Wilton for 15 years, and this was not the best but it was still pretty good," said Emond.

Hooked rugs could be seen on the walls of many booths. One, with unusual deep blue flowers and bright reds, was an early Maine, circa 1850-80, which was mounted for hanging at the booth of Jewett-Berdan Antiques, Newcastle, Maine. The dealers also showed a jelly cupboard in a rare vinegar decorated green, circa 1850. The dealers commented that "the show was good, we sold mostly smaller items including a fabulous flame stitched purse from the collection of Margaret and Paul Weld."

A Bird In Hand's Ron Bassin, Florham Park, N.Y., said he sold a stoneware jug, a set of nine wrought iron stacking plant stands, a wonderful Maine dressing table with original paint in good condition, several decoys and shooting gallery targets, among other smalls. Bassin said that he thought that "attendance was down from previous years but more people were buying - the energy was there."

The Norwoods, from Spirit of America, Timonium, Md., said, "As the weather improved, the buyers certainly emerged." They reported the sale of a hooked rug of a dog, a tricolored game board, an early watercolor theorem on paper, a whimsical oil on academy board of a black cat, three portrait miniatures, a signed Shaker chair, two early splint baskets and three dry-surfaced pantry boxes in original paint, not to mention many smalls.

Frederic I. Thaler, Cornwall Bridge, Conn., specializes in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American paintings, mainly landscapes and tonal paintings. He was showing a Henry Ferguson (1842-1911) landscape of a pond in summer with the hint of a village in the background. The oil on canvas was 16 by 20 inches and carried a price tag of $30,000. Another unsigned American scenic painting had a trompe l'oile frame and was circa 1860; its price tag read $3,200.

Russ and Karen Goldberger brought a blanket chest with them from Rye, N.H. The chest was in apple green with boot jack bottom. On the back it was signed and dated 1823 in an unusual design on the unpainted poplar wood. It was originally from Connecticut, so they thought it might appeal to Connecticut buyers.

Gloria M. Lonegan from Mendham, N.J., also had hooked rugs and game boards, but it was a hutch table in blue paint, with a natural top and mortised canted sides, circa 1840, that had several people looking at it. Many were stopping at David Thompson Antiques and Art, Middlebury, Vt., where Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes and many original cases were quite special.

At Leatherwood Antiques from Sandwich, Mass., Mo Wajselfish was busy with a customer and her 10-year-old son who had just purchased a Black Forest piano stool that was an unusual piece. The base was a cub, with a wonderful smiling face, holding the trunk of a tree that held up the heavily carved seat. Asked if they had a piano, the boy responded, "No, but Mom will probably put things on it." He was much more taken with a large old marble he had just bought - he collects old marbles and this was a beauty.

One item that was sold before 10 am from the booth of J.B. Richardson, and was perhaps the most unusual piece at the show, was a large, late Nineteenth Century cranberry sorter. According to Richardson, he was not exactly sure what it had been used for until a Massachusetts dealer, who was set up nearby, confirmed that it was for sorting cranberries. Shaped like the bow of a boat, with slats and in old weathered gray, it was bought by a couple from Massachusetts, where it most likely came from originally.

Some dealers did not find Wilton a great success this year. Halsey Munson, from Decatur, Ill., even commented that the show had "finally felt the effects of the financial malaise affecting the entire industry." Although "Marilyn did her usual thorough, intelligent job," he finds the industry in need of some reevaluation. He was showing a wonderful sack back Windsor with unusual paint history from red, green and ochre to mustard grain. The hooked rugs that decorated the walls confirmed his Americana specialty.

Victor Weinblatt felt that the show was hampered by the weather, "I had at least four or five calls from people who said they just couldn't make it due to the snow and bad roads. However, it was still a great show for me; Marilyn does an amazing job," a sentiment echoed by all the dealers who commented for this review. Weinblatt had a step back cupboard that he sold, as well as trade signs, a horse weathervane and other smalls, and the presale was very strong, he said.

Set up in the cafeteria were several wonderful booths. In fact, Randy Farrar, the Country Squire, from Boston and Stamford, Conn., prefers his regular spot directly across from food court. Maile Allen, with maps and many Curtis Indian photographs was also in the cafeteria and was finding a lot of interest in her framed photographs.

Baker of Poverty Hollow Antiques, liked his location - big with room to show off his Nineteenth Century English mantel and a pair of 1930s French leather club chairs that many were trying out. At $4,500 for the pair, the chairs were comfortable, elegant and a good buy.

The walk along the corridor between the gym and cafeteria was enlivened by the booths of both the Wilton Historical Society and the jewelry of Merle Koblenz, South Kent, Conn. She had much to admire and one special 18K, 1860, 56 inches long muff or lorgnette chain with an intricate design.

Gould confirmed that attendance was down from previous years as some people, especially from farther away, decided to not drive. However, "two years ago snow closed the show altogether," so this was mild by comparison. She found that, as always, "the show was a mixed bag, some had great shows and others, I am sorry to say, did not." Weinblatt concurred, "Today its all about what you bring, I find that good Americana - not the hyped up things - still appeal and sell, and there was a lot of that here."

Gould's next show, the Wilton Historical Society show, will be March 18 and 19. "Hopefully we will have more pleasant weather. We are planning a special exhibition of the parade flags from the collection of Richard Pierce, and his entire collection will be on view at the historical society."

For more information, 203-762-7257.