For Bar Harbor Antiques Show, It’s Back To School

Bar Harbor, Maine

:Visitors returned after two years away from the Mount Desert Island High School gymnasium for the Bar Harbor Antiques Show on July 29–30. With about 35 dealers filling the renovated facility, crowds of shoppers bought early home furnishings, folk art, accessories for dining, and decorating and fine art.

The show was conducted at Abel's Lobster Pound and the Ellsworth Holiday Inn during the two-year reconstruction of the school's facilities, and during that time many of the frequent summer shoppers lost sight of the show. Paul Davis, show promoter, said, "It was good to be back to the original site where the customers expected to see us again. I saw familiar faces I hadn't seen in the past two years, and many customers were commenting about our return."

Opening at 5 pm on Tuesday, the show has, for years, been a part of the summer's social schedule, as visitors meet, visit with one another and buy additions to their collections.

The Malchiones of Chadds Ford, Penn., offer sporting antiques, including carved birds and decoys, fishing tackle and nautical gear. This has been a regular stop for them for many years, and sales were good. John Malchione said, "Some of our regulars were not there, but we still did okay with most [regular customers] returning."

Mike Gallant, Hometown Antiques of Glenburn, Maine, offered a collection of marbles as part of his inventory. He found the collection as a special purchase earlier this year and now brings many of the best ones to his shows. Here, he sold many with great descriptions as to what made them so special. There were multicolored pieces, twisted designs, varying sizes and all handmade. His sales were very good in just the marbles, but some early American art and furniture left the booth as well.

A set of three hooked rugs priced at $2,800 — not very large, only about 2 by 4 feet each, and patterned after Persian rugs — were sold from the Gaul's Antiques collection. Phyllis Gaul was quite pleased with their sales for the two-day event, as she also sold some of her Staffordshire inventory and several other small antiques. Her Searsport, Maine, shop was closed during the show, but she believed it was worth the effort and expense.

Not an iron man, Robert Hay brought a large collection of such items from his inventory. There were traces and chains, trammels and candlesticks, trivets and fireplace tools, all hung from the walls of his display area. This Plainfield, N.H., dealer and collector also brought some early furniture, including a Jacobean bible box, a William and Mary dining table and chairs from the Eighteenth Century.

Wandering Moose Antiques was carrying a coffee and tea service in sterling silver made by T.O. Garrett of Philadelphia between 1830 and 1840. The ensemble included three pots, probably for tea, coffee and water, plus the smaller service pieces for sugar, milk and waste, and all in their original storage box. The price was $13,500, according to Tom Woods and his wife, Lynn, who are dealers from Woolrich, Maine.

Former Mainer Rose Cheap and husband, Tom, of Period Antiques, now from Scottsburg, Ind., were having good sales. Their collection included several pieces of furniture, a painting and several punched needleworks. Antique Persian rugs, English earthenware and Continental brass from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries were selling well.

The show this year had room for a few first-time exhibitors, including the Brewster Shop from Orleans, Mass., Antiques at Pompey Hollow from Ashford, Conn., and Kingsbury Farm from Waldo, Maine.

Davis said this show "is fun for me to do. Not too big, a great crowd of appreciative and knowledgeable buyers and a wonderful core group of dealers, many who have been doing the show for a long time. Most of them stuck with it the prior two times when I had to jump around to find an alternate location, but we are back now and I intend to stay."

The dates for 2009 are set, July 28–29. For information, www.pauldavisshows.com or 207-221-3108.