Cottage Antiques, South Salem, N.Y.
:The impending nor'easter snowstorm being forecast by weather reporters and confirmed by Pennsylvania dealers en route to the Cross River Winter Antiques Show may have resulted in a couple of booth cancellations, but it did little to deter the buying public. The popular one-day show, March 1, was conducted by Cord Shows, a benefit for the John Jay High School Parent Teacher Organization.
Show manager Vivien Cord watched as a few snowflakes fell from the sky on Sunday at sunrise as dealers packed into the school for setup. "Its snowing pretty hard in Pennsylvania," commented the promoter, "and a couple of dealers have called and said they would not be able to make it." Despite the cancellations, other dealers expanded into the vacated spaces and the show came off without a hitch. Cord had apparently struck some kind of deal with Mother Nature, as the storm held off until after midnight, leaving almost a foot of snow in its wake.
Small but attractive, the show features a varied selection of merchandise that local buyers find appealing. Jewelry, quilts, art pottery, silver, garden furniture and accents, glassware, paintings and a host of other items were offered. Featuring 40 dealers, the show presented an interesting mix of merchandise ranging from Seventeenth through Nineteenth Century prints and maps presented by Maile's Antiques, Colonia, N.J., to paintings, American folk art, primitives and pottery presented by Sage Antiques, Yonkers, N.Y.
Antique Trails, Chappaqua, N.Y.
While the crowd at opening was not huge, clients made their way onto the floor at a steady pace and before long the aisles were bustling with shoppers. Sales seemed healthy, with a good percentage of the people leaving the show having a package or two under their arms.
The addition of a special vintage clothing "boutique" featuring just under ten dealers served, perhaps, as a precursor to Cord's upcoming Vintage Clothing Show in Danbury April 4 and 5. The group, segregated into an area of its own, seemed to be attracting a good deal of attention from local shoppers. Western gear was popular, with a couple of fancy shirts finding new homes among the upper Westchester County "horse country" shoppers. Bowling shirts, retro garments and a large selection of head-gear was also attracting attention.
A "Painting, Prints and Sculpture" appraisal clinic added to the excitement throughout the day. Conducted by Gene Shannon of Shannon's Fine Art Auctions, who hosts auctions twice yearly in nearby Greenwich, expert analysis of a wide variety of artworks was provided. Looking over everything from nicely framed chromolithographs that people thought were oil paintings to a stellar Homer Martin painting titled "Rocky Stream" that the auctioneer called about "as sweet as they come," the assortment of material was varied.
Gene Shannon, right, and Vivien Cord look over a piece of artwork at the show. Shannon provided appraisals.
An interesting document pertaining to a land grant from the King of England involving the city of White Plains stumped Shannon and resulted in a referral to an auction house specializing in ephemera, but not before its worth was revealed by the owner.
"I won it in a poker game from John Steinbeck. There was $400 on the table and Steinbeck had run out of cash," claimed the gambler, "so he told us about this document he had from the 1600s and he bet it." With a wry smile and in his best poker face, he revealed the outcome: "He had a full house, but I had been dealt four kings."
For information on upcoming Cord Shows, 914-273-4667 or
www.cordshows.com
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