Nan Gurley's Short, Sweet Show Offers Final Quickie Until Fall

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

:Nan Gurley had her Short and Sweet event April 19, at the Frank Jones Center, for 40-plus dealers, giving them and the more than 100 early buyers the last opportunity to do the three-hour show until this fall. This event is truly short and sweet: three hours with the set up and show conducted simultaneously starting at nine in the morning and ending at noon.

Dealers arrive at the center starting about 8 to park their vans and trucks as close as possible to facilitate the fast unloading and then mill about with coffee and donuts. It is also a time when some dealers seek out buyers whom they hope will be prospects for the special antiques they have to offer that day. At 9, Nan and her husband and partner Peter Mavris opened the big bay door to the ballroom as the signal that the show had begun.

The dealers who were generally waiting at their vehicles then began the rapid unloading prospective buyers often stopping them on the way in to consider and, in many cases, buy some article. Fast action, fast decisions and great stuff - as the comedian Steve Martin would say, "Wild and Crazy," but it worked.

Dealers were generally pleased with their time spent there either as exhibitors or simply as buyers. Suzanne Bullitt is new to shows but for the morning she felt it was good earnings, as she sold a blanket chest, tagged at $600, decorated in faux grain paint. In addition her sales included a pair of old cast iron urns, pantry boxes and other small antiques.

Eagle Antiques, Northwood, N.H., was selling well also. Owner Linda Wright on several occasions was too busy selling to engage in conversation but she sold an early candlestand and quite a few smalls.

Among her offerings was an early Victorian era child's rocking horse in very good condition, priced at $3,000. John Anderson, Candlewick Antiques, is a second-generation dealer who obtains most of his inventory from house calls.

For this show he brought a slant lid desk, American Chippendale style from about 1775, he said, which found a new home. There were several doors in his collection and he also sold many interesting small architectural pieces.

Mavris and Gurley always set a booth for themselves at their shows and this time their collection was small for Nan said she had the flu before the show. Even so the pieces were interesting, a variety of folk art toys and architecturals. The booth next to theirs was Robert Hay, Plainfield, N.H., with his usual assortment of great early American furniture and household accessories.

An early tilt top table in very dark, early finish was under $400; there was a collection of early wood with several boxes, two children's chairs and some early lighting.

Robert Hay and John Anderson are both from New Hampshire and they exhibit only in the Northeast but always with some excellent antiques for a collection or inventory.

Limington, Maine, had two representatives at the show. At the entry was Bill Kelly with a collection of early primitive and hardwood furniture. Nearby Tom Joseph brought more some similar items but also several pieces with a Continental design. From Kennebunk, Maine, Jim Biondi brought an early tap table, which had a pine top with breadboard ends priced at $1,150. Michael Gallant, Glenburn, Maine, had included in his inventory a set of children's chairs. The style was simple spindle back, plank seated, in red paint which while probably not the original paint was early and the chairs were in very good condition.

New Hampshire was very well represented by the dealers exhibiting there. Bjorn Borssen is from Dover and one of the interesting pieces he brought was an unusual cigar humidor that stood out because it had individual trays for the layers of cigars.

Jason Weeden was in the back of the ballroom with a collection of interesting articles he had collected. One was a Hepplewhite armchair, which he said is from New York, in period and reasonably priced at less than $400.

He sold several items including an early Maine basket, probably Abinaki, a small piece only about 6 inches across with a wooden bale in very good condition and a child's chair from the late 1800s with paint decoration and faux graining.

Vermonters Michael and Lucinda Seward were there with a collection but also to do some buying. There were dealers from Ohio and Virginia as well as all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states buying for their inventory and collections.

The show was the last for "this season," Nan said, "but we will have it back in October and I expect to do it every month next season, so long as the [Frank Jones Center] is available." For upcoming dates, check Antiques and the Arts Weekly or call 207-625-3577.