Morristown Antiques Show Offers Vigorous Weekend Of Buying

Morristown, N.J.

:The Morristown Armory Antiques Show is a workhorse. Close enough to New York City to attract savvy city shoppers, the show retains a country flavor and succeeds by sticking to what it does best — offering a good balance of dealers and styles of merchandise.

Show promoter Allison Kohler advertised the show heavily and set up an environment where dealers can do well. "The show was successful. We had a good crowd and they bought. A lot of furniture went, which was great," she said. "As always, we received many compliments on the show and there was a nice energy on the floor for the weekend."

Many of Kohler's longtime dealers from this and her other shows were on hand, but it was decidedly pleasing to note a handful of new faces.

Jane McClafferty Antiques, New Canaan, Conn., is perhaps best known for Staffordshire, English porcelains and accessories and indeed, McClafferty had several display cases filled with choice selections from her inventory, although her booth also offered some unusual and interesting pieces of furniture. Standouts included a Nineteenth Century chest that was made by a sailor on a China Trade ship with inlays of mahogany, maple, ebony, satinwood and mother-of-pearl that featured two hidden sections behind the drawers, as well as an American maple tall chest with a fine dovetailed base, New England, circa 1780, and a painted chair-table, probably late Nineteenth Century, that had several layers of enamel paint removed to expose the original blue.

Jaffe & Thurston, Wawarsing, N.Y., offered a tasteful booth of fine paintings and small furniture items accented with a few pieces of Chinese Export. The dealers were showing a Sheraton mahogany table with reeded legs, shaped drop leaves and one-drawer opposite a false drawer, Connecticut, circa 1820, and a Sheraton-style mahogany server with mahogany and curly maple veneer, circa 1920.

Paintings on view included a work by Mae Bennett Brown (1887–1973), a Rockport Art Association artist who specialized in flower and garden paintings, and Frederick B. Williams's oil on canvas "Vivacetto," mounted in its original French-style frame.

Five seemed to be a winning number at William Nickerson Antiques, Orleans, Mass., which featured an American five-drawer bureau in pine with cherry pulls, New England, circa 1790, and an American Chippendale five-drawer bureau in curly maple, New England, circa 1780. The dealers also showed a set of six balloon back side chairs.

Nicoll Fine Art and Antiques, Newcastle, Maine, showed a sublime American sideboard that was crafted from mahogany and satinwood with a eagle-inlaid center drawer.

The Country Squire, Milton, Mass., offered an English gentleman's vision of indoor comfort in a warm and inviting booth resplendent with leather seating and sporting art. The firm specializes in papier mache and tole trays, and a highlight was an English shaped tole tray, circa 1820–40, decorated with two pheasants under a willow tree mounted on a custom stand.

The booth boasted not one, but three sublime button tufted leather ottomans led by a large William IV brown button tufted leather ottoman, circa 1830, with bronze dore buttons and rosette carved feet and a roomy 53-inch diameter. A pleasing display of miniatures offered a Dutch walnut chest, circa mid-Nineteenth Century, crossbanded and inlaid top, with four long drawers and bronze swag handles, 14½ by 8½ by 17¾ inches; a Dutch mahogany armoire, circa 1840–60, with arched pediment top over two doors opening to a single shelf, 22 by 18½ by 11 inches; and a satinwood and ebonized fireplace screen, circa 1860, with needlepoint panel between twin columns standing on stepped plinth base.

Chatham, N.J.-dealer Mimi Gunn's eclectic booth was enlivened with several metal Halloween decorations hung on one wall along with a sign amid fine art and photographs and a sign for British Columbia's Yellowhead Highway #16.

Glenbrook Antiques, Walden, N.Y., was in its usual location at the show and displaying a double-pedestal Duncan Phyfe-style dining table, circa 1920, flanked by a set of eight Queen Anne-style mahogany dining chairs. The dealer also offered several fine contemporary paintings: "The Light of Day," by Michael Fratrich (b 1968) and "Dawn Along the Sound" by Blaikie Hines (b 1949).

Antique Jungle, Wood Ridge, N.J., offered a sweet-looking Victorian baby carriage of wicker made by Heywood Wakefield as well as "The Capstan," a mid-Nineteenth Century winch/capstan from a merchant or warship, circa 1860, Continental or English converted into a Twenty-First Century table.

Lending a midcentury flavor to one corner of the booth was a 1960s swivel rocker that for the show had been covered with a black cushion topped with a zebra pattern pillow, as well as a midcentury zodiac fiberglass wall decoration with its original smoke glass mirror.

Fine lighting was offered at Philip Chasen Antiques, East Norwich, N.Y., where a standout was a fine Tiffany dragonfly lamp, and over at The Next Antiquarians, a special offering was a rare set of lithographs from French painter Philippe Andelauer published in limited quantities at the time of the 1931 Exposition Coloniale in Paris.

Bringing a touch of Sweden to the show was Choate & von Z, Solebury, Penn., which showed a marquetry commode with marbleized painted top and original hardware, circa 1860; a circular baroque painted table with wonderful turnings on the legs, circa 1760–80, as well as an Eighteenth Century Gustavian armchair in original paint, well-turned arms and legs.

The stand of K. Rothschild-Jansen took on a Western feel as one wall was adored with "cowboy art," including a framed illustration for Smith & Wesson revolvers, a stag skull with antlers and various examples of Texiana.

Marilyn Hitchcock Vintage, Riverdale, N.Y., provided eye candy in the way of some fine examples of Chanel couture and all manner of handbags — from small to big, bejeweled or in animal print — as well as accessories like scarves, furs and the clunky, colorful bracelets that have gone in and out of fashion over the decades.

Vintage Poster Art of New Jersey, Monroe Township, N.J., captured in a small space a variety of styles from a Warholesque image of the four members of the Beatles separately but all on one poster to a fine collection of foreign and travel posters, including "Naranjas Selectas (Select Oranges)" from Ricardo Llacer et Hijos in Spain to a "Perth, The Fair City, Scotland's Holiday Centre."

Roger D. Winter, Solebury, Penn., offered a George II mahogany and needlepoint pole screen, circa 1750; a George III satinwood game table with overall Angelica Kauffman-style paint decoration, tapered legs terminating in spade feet; a set of eight Chippendale mahogany chairs with a foliate carved crest rail above a pierced black splat, circa 1780, England. Lest one think all the offerings were from across the pond, the dealer showcased a fine New York City mahogany Pembroke table with shaped top, line inlaid, and retaining four fans, circa 1790–1800. For information, 973-927-2794 or www.jmkshows.com .