The Greater York Antiques Show

YORK, PENN.

:"We gave them a great deal, and people seemed to like it," Jim Burk said of his joint venture with Barry Cohen on May 19 and 20 at the York Expo Center on the York Fairgrounds. "We took away the confusion of different opening times and locations and put it all under one roof," he added. This was the second time that Jim Burk and Barry Cohen worked together, the first in April in Philadelphia for the Navy Pier Show. This time the two managers brought their separate shows together and visitors were free to wander from one grouping of dealers to the next, and all for a $10 admission fee.

If patrons went onto the exhibition floor through the right hand door, they came in contact first with the Burk dealers. Those who entered through the left hand door shopped the Cohen exhibitors first. Tickets were sold at both ends of the Expo lobby and one refreshment counter served all comers.

What will happen in the fall, November 3-4, is still up in the air as the fairgrounds management has not firmed up contracts with both managers. An announcement will be made shortly, but the shows will go on in some fashion.

Eighty-three exhibitors were in The Greater York Antiques Show side of the center including Thomas Brown from McMurray, Penn. His booth was filled with furniture, as usual, including a five-drawer maple and birch chest from Massachusetts, circa 1760, with molded top and bracket base, and a Rhode Island slant front desk, circa 1780, with a fitted interior and shell carved prospect door. It was of mahogany with the original brasses.

Thomas Longacre of Marlborough, N.H., hung a portrait of a young gentleman attributed to E.E. Finch, Augusta, Maine, over a Nineteenth Century paint decorated pine server with two drawers over two doors.

A tall case clock by R. Whiting, Winchester, Conn., circa 1820, 83 inches high, floral decoration on the face and paint decorated case and door, was in the corner of the booth of Don and Kay Buck, Chester, N.J. A large frog sprinkler was painted cast iron, and an eagle weathervane with fine patina was of a rare small size.

Greg Kramer, Robesonia, Penn., had his extra large booth and it was filled to capacity. Edging out into the aisle was a set of six New England painted side chairs with bamboo Windsor legs, mid Nineteenth Century, and in the original condition. A large carved wood profile of a bearded man, artist unknown, dated from the early Twentieth Century, and a rare paint decorated, turned leg stand with green and white sponged top, orange and red flame decoration on the base, was from Lancaster County, Penn.

The holiday seasons were well noted in the booth of Robert Apgar, Denver, Penn., by Christmas tree balls and several figures of Santa, one on sled, one on skies and one on top of a box. Halloween decorations included a selection of lanterns in the form of carved pumpkins and a collection of black cats.

A large eagle, carved wood with old white painted surface, 53 1/2-inch wingspan, looked out over the booth of T.L. Dwyer Antiques of Barto, Penn. A trade sign advertised "Ingersoll, Dollar Watch, Fully Guaranteed" with a picture of the watch in the middle of the sign.

Malchione Sporting Collectibles, Kennet Square, Penn., offered a selection of snow shoes, fishing reels and creels, and decoys including a drake canvasback from Michigan, circa 1950. A black duck, circa 1900-20, was in the original paint, and a pair of red breasted mergansers was by Reggie Birch, Chincoteague Island, Va.

A set of six plank seat decorated side chairs from the Hanover area of Pennsylvania was shown by Jeff and Kathy Amon Antiques, Jamestown, Penn., and a hutch table, Nineteenth Century with three board top, was in old yellow paint. A gray rye straw basket with lid, large and in original condition, was attributed to the Bumgarner family.

Sheppheard's Antiques of Bedford, Penn., had a rare child's wagon with springs and the right hand wall was taken by a poster for Virginia Sweet Pancake Flower by Geiger-Fishback Co., Indianapolis, Ind. It was on oil cloth and depicted a young boy holding a pail and brush.

Sidney Gecker of New York City offered a selection of folk art including a dragon weathervane, maker unknown, circa 1880-1900. "It is the second one of this form I have owner," Sidney said, "and I just got it and did not have time to even have a stand made for it." A large setter, carved from one piece of mahogany, measured 301/2 inches long and dated from the early Twentieth Century.

An ornately carved stone fountain that took four men to carry in and place in the booth of Kelly Kinzle, New Oxford, Penn., came from an estate and was carved by Ernest Cavalet, Tippletown, Penn. It dated circa 1933 and an eagle in carved stone with wide wingspan was by the same hand and from the same estate.

Two tall case clocks stood in the booth of Steven Still, Elizabethtown, Penn., one by J&R Twiss, Montreal, Canada, circa 1840. The face was decorated with a house and trees, plus flowers, and the case was also paint decorated. The second clock was Chippendale in walnut, circa 1780, 7 feet tall. A paper cover box, dated 1829, was from Harrisburg, Penn., and a Pennsylvania bench table, circa 1840, was of softwood.

An eagle carved and gilded in the manner of Bellamy, circa 1900, was on the back wall in the booth of Portland Antiques & Fine Art, Portland, Maine. A sawbuck table, dating from the Seventeenth Century and of Pennsylvania origin, had a two-board walnut top and pine base, with one drawer and a footrest all around.

Van Tassel-Baumann, Malvern, Penn., showed a slant front desk from the Delaware Valley, figured cherrywood, and one of the many samplers was by Sarah Benjamin, June 10, 1826, aged 11. This Baltimore building sampler had the phrase, "Remember Thy Creator in the Days of Thy Youth."

A mid Eighteenth Century gate leg table in yellow pine, mid Atlantic states, was shown by Wesley Sessa of Pottstown, Penn. Other furniture included a Pennsylvania corner cupboard in the original ochre paint, circa 1800, with arched doors on top and two paneled doors in the lowed section.

A well-painted and decorated game board on stand, Buffalo, N.Y., early Twentieth Century, was in the display of Jane Wargo, Wallingford, Conn. An oversized peach was the star lot of a selection of stone fruit, and a nest of three oval finger boxes was ion the original paint.

Joe J. Lodge of Lederach, Penn., had a large farm table, 7 feet 4 inches long with four-board top, pined tapered legs, circa 1850, surrounded by a set of six arrow back side chairs, circa 1830, in yellow with decoration.

An unusual Pennsylvania dry sink in robin's-egg blue was against the left wall in the booth of Newsom & Berdan, Thomasville, Penn., and Hallowell, Maine.

This piece had a bank of four drawers on the right, two doors on the left, dated from the mid Nineteenth Century and was from Boiling Springs, Penn. A two-piece cupboard, with 16 lights in the top section, was paint decorated and of Vermont origin.

Most of the front of the booth of Stephen-Douglas, Rockingham, Vt., was taken up by a long, two-board, scrubbed top sawbuck table, New York State, circa 1840. A table cover, or unbacked penny rug, ran the length of the piece as if made to order. Centered on the table was a large wooden bowl filled with food choppers with many different shaped handles and blades.

"It's as nice a grain bin as you will see," Butch Berdan said of the Maine piece in yellow paint at the back of the booth. The bin measured 6 feet long and has a cutout scalloped base. A dressing table, two drawers, was in black paint with gilt decoration, and a wonderful set of shutters, possibly from a barn, retained the original yellow surface.

For collectors of juggling pins, Raccoon Creek Antiques of Oley Forge, Penn., had just the answer. Displayed was a fine pair of pins decorated in red, white and blue, with stripes and stars. An ash bowl from Maine was in the shape of a fish, and of Pennsylvania origin was a Windsor bed, circa 1790, Philadelphia, covered with a yellow quilt in floral design.

"Barry and I are not partners, we each own a show, and going under one roof seemed to agree with both the exhibitors and the customers," Jim Burk said. What the November 3-4 show will bring remains to be seen, but both Burk and Cohen will produce the Navy Pier Show again next April in Philadelphia.