Record Number Of Dealers At Bridgehampton Antiques Show

Bridgehampton, N.Y.

:For two decades now on the first weekend after Memorial Day, Morgan MacWhinnie has managed about 50 antiques dealers on the grounds of Bridge Hampton Historical Society's Corwith House for a short weekend antiques market.

The audience has been receptive for all these past years to a slightly different collection of antiques, setting the trend for the latest styles.

The May 30–31 show boasted a record gathering of more than 85 exhibiting dealers offering antiques from Jacobean times through Midcentury Modern. Sales were just as scattered — tea caddies from China, lawn and garden ornaments from Brooklyn and a great deal in between.

Dealers exhibiting at the affair treat it as a low stress, casual opportunity to show their antiques inventories, visit with friends and sell some of their collections.

The Frame Lady has been at the show for several years offering several hundred choices in frames and other small antiques. Nancy Kaplan is from Mount Sinai, also on Long Island, but she collects from all over. There were framed miniatures from the Eighteenth Century, tintypes and even late photographs; gold frames, silver frames, brass and other metals and even some wood and composition for sale. Most of her selections were for small portraits or photographs.

Antiques and designer home furnishings were popular with both dealers and customers. Robert Trites from Red Rock, N.Y., has a collection that does not fit any single description. For his Bridgehampton exhibit, he brought a bench, which may have had an early life in a New York restaurant, with a high back, padded seat and an added footstool or ottoman in the same padding and fabric. An early painted blanket chest with a drawer at the bottom, alabaster lamps, paintings and more were also included in his weekend shop.

Midcentury inventory was also presented by Gerald Willmert and Larry Newell of Pillars Antiques, Yarmouth, Maine. The dealers reported that results were worth the trip and a weekend away from their shop.

For Bridgehampton, they featured an assortment of lawn and garden furniture in wicker and rattan, along with several tables and stands in modern styles, made from metal supports in bamboo shapes featuring multiple glass tops. Upholstered pieces included a pair of Nineteenth Century chairs, and there was even some early wood in the form of a step back cupboard and a large dining table.

Adding to the variety of offerings was Susan Oostdyk from Andover, N.J. Her inventory is predominantly linens from Europe. While most of the selection is for beds, there is some for the kitchen and dining room as well.

Martin Fribush trades in early glass, pottery and porcelain. This Port Washington, N.Y., dealer prominently featured a blue transfer ware teapot. Nearby, Paula Cohen from Brooklyn, N.Y., was selling English ironstone. She collects it for herself and trades in the durable early dining ware at many area shows. At this show, she added a variety of other types of stoneware, including many American-made examples.

There is a good market for the unusual pieces in the Hamptons, and Amagansett resident Melanie Ross was catering to it. Among the more prominent items in her exhibit was a Victorian birdcage in very good condition. The piece resembled the architectural style of the houses in Cape May, N.J., and further west on Long Island, where the late Nineteenth Century homes were designed with many rooflines, extensions, wings and turrets.

Al Conti of Vintage Matters, Mount Bethel, Penn., was there with his curious collection of interesting things. There was a choice of sets of poker chips, bronzes, unusual wall hangings, art and lots of other things that are hard to put into a single category.

From a store somewhere in the area, there was a spice cabinet, but made to house large supplies of the flavorful victuals. Marie Fornuto of Wild Rose Antiques, Northport, N.Y., found the piece and was offering it for $6,800.

MacWhinnie's show is only once each year at the Corwith House, but the Bridge Hampton Historical Society does sponsor and benefit another show later in the summer; Antiques & Design in the Hamptons, August 15–17 at the same location with about 50 exhibitors. This later show is managed by Stella Show Mgmt Co. For details, contact society director John Eilertsen at 631-537-1088.