48th Antiquarius Antiques Show - All That Glitters And Gleams

OLD GREENWICH, CONN.

:More than 40 exhibitors took part in the Antiquarius Antiques Show, which kicked off its 48th year on Thursday, December 1, with a gala preview party to benefit the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich.

Known for its top-shelf presentation and blue-chip dealers, the show continued through Sunday, December 4, and was augmented by events such as a house tour and lecture series. The show is the primary fundraiser for the historical society and is run by Susie McMillan, Wellesley, Mass., a professional show manager, as well as an army of committed Greenwich volunteers.

McMillan marked her fourth year managing the show. In an interview afterward, she said, "It was very successful. A lot of dealers did extremely well on the whole."

Sadly, a staple of the preview night crush was missing. The show's inspirational force, Claire Vanderbilt (1922-2005), who passed away in June, was not there to greet patrons as they arrived at this year's Antiquarius. Her spirit, however, infused the show, which, as always, glittered and gleamed with the treasures that seem even more magical in the prelude to the holiday season.

Agleam in the booth of Eve Stone of Woodbridge, Conn., was a Dutch brass tobacco box with likely provenance to the father of John Bradley, the American folk art painter who was active in New York from about 1831 to 1845.

Stone and her daughter, Susan, were back for another season with their collection of copper kitchen antiques.

Said Susan Stone, "Friday was a quiet, social evening with a new and fantastic caterer, Plum Pure Foods. We had an excellent show with qualified buyers and we sold a bit of everything - brass fire tools, fender, lighting, boxes, copper and brass decorative accessories. The most notable item was a horn snuff mull in the form of a pig that was Scottish and Eighteenth Century. The same customer bought a figural monkey snuff box. Overall, the show was a great start to our holiday selling season."

"This is where people find those unique gifts with special meaning for the holidays," said Mark McHugh of silver dealer Spencer-Marks, Walpole, Mass. "We sold a whole array of items, including sterling vases ranging in price from $800 to $9,000. We sold American and English sterling along with antique Sheffield plate and numerous sterling flatware serving pieces."

McHugh said he believed the people who did attend the show were serious buyers. "While this wasn't our strongest Antiquarius show, it was very good and a nice way to finish the season," he said.

Set up as usual on the large stage of the civic center was Georgian Manor of Fairhaven, Mass. Owner Enrique Goytizolo's popular and elaborate Peruvian mirrors sported sold tags early during the evening preview gala.

Along the entrance hallway to the Holley Room, Joel Fletcher and John Copenhaver, of Fletcher-Copenhaver Fine Art, Alexandria, Va., continued to register successful sales of works by Alix Aymé (1894-1989), a French artist who traveled extensively in Indochina, India and Ceylon. The centerpiece of the firm's booth was Ayme's "Interior with a Seated Woman," a tempera on canvas measuring 311/4 by 241/2 inches. Sales included that painting, plus another work by Aymé, an interior by Maurice Lobre (1862-1951), an oil on board titled "A View of Venice" by Amédée Rosier (1831-1898) in its original Nineteenth Century gold leaf frame, several Hermann-Paul watercolors, a Paris street scene by Monique Jorgensen and a number of other works on paper.

"We sold to a mix of old and new customers," said Fletcher. "As always, the committee was cheerful and efficient and a pleasure to work with, and the show manager, Susie McMillan, a real professional, was the same. An interesting lecture series brought in many potential customers."

Copenhaver, whose major interest other than art is gardening, said he was able to attend one of the show's lectures - Saturday's presentation by horticulturist Phillip Watson - and commented that it was one of the best lectures he had ever attended.

Centreville, Md., dealer Aileen Minor reported having "an outstanding show," thankfully noting that the snow held off until late Saturday night. The star of Minor's booth was a Baltimore classical carved mahogany winged wardrobe featuring a mirrored dressing bureau in the center. The circa 1825 piece was not only beautiful and unusual, but it also boasted interesting provenance, coming from the Benjamin Ogle family of Baltimore. Ogle (1749-1809) was the governor of Maryland from 1797 to 1798.

Also of interest was a large mahogany banquet table - festively set - and a classical Boston mahogany dining table, circa 1830, which was both beautiful and versatile, having flame grained mahogany veneers and seven leaves to expand it to 13 feet 8 inches. An American giltwood overmantel mirror, circa 1876, featured Oriental gilding decorated with delicate black painted classical motifs.

"We sold our large mahogany banquet table, the large Nineteenth Century giltwood overmantel mirror and another large giltwood Sheraton mirror, lots of smalls, such as silvered or 'mercury' glass pieces, early amethyst glass, early Sheffield candlesticks and groups of curtain pins, one of my specialties," said Minor. "That show has a faithful following, and good collectors come every year to buy in their area of interest, many on preview night. I certainly am looking forward to next year's show."

An eclectic display of antique lamps, Oriental pieces and a blackamoor figure dating from the late Nineteenth Century awaited visitors at Hastings House Antiques, Essex, Conn. With a hand painted wood and gesso, original polychrome and an Italian pedigree, the stoic survivor - with only minor repair and a replacement major domo staff - was "one of the best figures we have seen," according to owner Philip H. McNemer.

McNemer said that the show seemed moderate across the floor, suggesting that bad weather on Sunday may have affected attendance somewhat. He sold a pair of lamps, a painting, artist's stool and a single lamp. He also sold a French cast iron baker's coffee table, circa 1900, fitted out with a custom glass top.

Nathan Liverant and Son of Colchester, Conn. was showing a Chippendale mahogany linen press cupboard, circa 1780-1810, and a matched set of six classical figured maple rush seat dining chairs from New York, circa 1820, among other pieces. Sallea Antiques, New Canaan, Conn., had an interesting and rare English pearwood tea caddy in the shape of an urn with an acorn finial, along with an unusual stag horn tea caddy with an ivory and ebony interior. And George Subkoff Antiques, Westport, Conn., was at the show for the first year displaying a fantastic Irish settee with original needlework upholstery from the mid-Eighteenth Century.

A not-so-funny thing happened to Peter Rosenberg on the way to the show - the owner of Peter Vallin Galleries, Wilton, Conn., was "mauled" by one of his Twentieth Century decorative stone Chinese lions, which hit him in the legs as it was being hoisted from the truck. Rosenberg did not make it to the preview party, but instead spent the evening at the Greenwich hospital. Able assistants answered questions and staffed the booth, as the female lion, unchastened and guarding her cub, kept wary watch for the duration of the show. A pair of porcelain lions, again male and female, from the Ming dynasty were additional highlights, along with the head of a tomb guardian.

Michael Leslie of Port 'N Starboard Gallery, Falmouth, Maine, specializes in marine antiques, paintings and folk art. Highlighting his booth at Antiquarius was a pair of oval landscapes by George L. Clough (American, 1824-1901), each measuring 22 by 30 inches and both dated 1866. One depicted the Delaware Water Gap and the other, unsigned, showed a scene near Glen Cove, Long Island. Leslie also displayed a model of the Boston slop Spray, which carried Captain Joshua Slocum (1844-1909?) on his historic solo circumnavigation of the world from April 1895 to June 1898. The model was mounted on a plaster sea waterline base and measured 311/2 by 331/2 by 13 inches.

Francis J. Purcell Inc of Philadelphia featured a late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century carved wood Italian blackamoor statue on a pedestal. This particular example holds a card tray to receive visitors' cards, and is reminiscent of the Italian practice throughout the centuries. This rare piece was in fine original condition with vivid paint decoration, including transparent glazes or washes creating a rich Venetian effect. Three of the firm's more than 150 trademark fireplace mantels were also on display, including a fan mantel example, circa 1790-1810, from Lancaster, Penn., decorated with regional folk art and squigglework. Other highlights included eight classical revival mahogany Boston dining chairs, with six side chairs, circa 1820-1840, and two armchairs, circa 1902. Sales included a pair of andirons and a knife boxes on preview night.

Among the artists represented by Jeff Cooley of Old Lyme, Conn., were James Carroll Beckwith, with "Portrait of Minnie Clark in Black." According to the gallery's Joe Newman, Clark was the original Gibson Girl, the always beautiful woman drawn by famed illustrator Charles Dana Gibson in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. Beckwith offered his home in Upstate New York for Clark's wedding and his wife Bertha spent the night before the wedding sewing Clark's dress. Beckwith painted and sketched the model several times, but among all of his portraits, the painting that was shown at Antiquarius was by far his most accomplished, said Newman.

Of local interest, Cooley Gallery also displayed an Elmer L. MacRae (1875-1953) oil on canvas depicting "Bush-Holley House from Boatyard," 1910. Signed and dated, the piece measured 25 by 30 inches.

For information, 203-869-6899 or www.hstg.org.