The 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show Marks 15th Year

Philadelphia, Penn.

:Barn Star Productions set the tone for its popular Philadelphia fair, the 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show, on April 17–19, by prominently mounting posters at the entrance to its Center City venue.

The trio of broadsides proclaimed the good news that, after months of searching, Frank Gaglio's Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based company has secured a hall for Mid*Week in Manchester and the Bedford Picker's Market in New Hampshire in August and offered details on two first-time Barn Star events, the upcoming Autumn Hartford Antiques Show and the Lancaster Antiques & Fine Art Show.

Hats off to Mr Gaglio for energizing a sluggish market.

"Dealers are the lifeblood of the antiques business. They need opportunities to sell and we're trying to provide them. I want to personally thank every exhibitor who did the 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show for his fortitude and commitment," Gaglio told Antiques and The Arts Weekly .

It is hard to believe that Barn Star's Philadelphia show is 15 years old. "It's been an interesting journey. We've had three homes," Gaglio noted. Shoppers like the cozy, convenient armory setting, which is close to transportation, hotels and restaurants. Buyers also love the free Barn Star shuttle that allows them to zip between the armory and the Philadelphia Antiques Show at the Navy Yard.

"The shuttles arrive full every time, which really boosts our gate," said Gaglio. "Friday attendance was wonderful. Our biggest day was Saturday. Compared to last year, Sunday was good."

Increased advertising and promotion also enhanced the gate. Coupons in Philadelphia newspapers for Sunday admittance were widely redeemed. Barn Star also beefed up radio advertising in Bucks County, giving two live interviews accompanied by ticket giveaways.

Ed Weissman spoke for many exhibitors when he said, "I can't complain. I made money." The Portsmouth, N.H., dealer wrote up two William and Mary children's chairs, a Philadelphia side table, a Mabel Woodward painting and brass. One of his most interesting pieces, a shell-inlaid and lacquered Japanesque side table, probably French or English, remained unsold but under consideration.

"I gave customers the best deals I could. People ought to take advantage of the very competitive pricing in the market right now," added Weissman.

"I sold quality things, pieces that were maybe a little more money than usual. And I did get a call back on my American Empire dressing table in bird's-eye maple," said Bearsville, N.Y., dealer Mario Pollo.

Steve and Alice Shapiro of SAJE Antiques, Short Hills, N.J., sold their most unusual piece, a marble topped mixing table with punched decoration. Experts speculated that it was from Baltimore.

The 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show maintains a consistent profile from season to season. The 43-exhibitor fair features nationally known dealers from New England and Mid-Atlantic states, plus specialists from North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Kansas. Americana is the dominant focus, but English, Chinese and African art and antiques add interest.

Among several newcomers, Piccolo Art of Edenton, N.C., dealers in portraits and portrait miniatures, featured paintings of two members of the Forbes family of Scotland.

Returning exhibitor John Sideli presented tribal art from Africa. "It's true folk art, authentic and affordable," the Wiscasset, Maine, dealer said of two dozen Senufo and Baule masks and figures, several of which sold early in the show.

Marine art and antiques were plentiful. Cape Cod dealer Hilary Nolan sold a Port Judith, R.I., swordfish trade sign from a booth accented by a circa 1930 four-masted schooner weathervane by Frank Adams of Martha's Vineyard, a pair of shells painted with scenes of Southampton and Peconic Bay, dated 1878, and a pair of black duck stick-up decoys by Gordon Mann, friend and gunning partner of Joe Lincoln.

"The right people came through and there was quite a bit of buying," said Nolan, who also parted with a Windsor armchair, a decorated box and a set of shelves from Carter's Grove.

"The marine pieces are something I've always loved," explained Judd Gregory, whose handsome booth at the front of the show combined formal American furniture with two Thomas Willis ship's pictures, a prisoner of war model, a pair of globes and an evocative Dutch nautical painting on canvas.

Roberto Freitas of Stonington, Conn., grouped an oil on canvas ship's portrait by Antonio Jacobsen with a nest of eight Nantucket baskets and a "Battle of Stonington" Liverpool jug. A Philadelphia duck-footed lowboy with molded top and a several Connecticut banister back chairs, including a choice William and Mary armchair by Thomas Salmon, completed the display.

A Gloucester Harbor view, $16,000, by Camillo Adriani was a highlight at nautical paintings specialist Port 'N Starboard Gallery of Falmouth, Maine. More Gloucester Harbor views by various artists, plus Vermont scenes by Aldro Hibbard, were on tap at American Spirit Antiques. Dealers Ted and Jennifer Fuehr, who split their time between Kansas and New Hampshire, pair regional New England painting with tiger maple furniture, their main specialties.

The show also produced a bumper crop of carousel and cigar store figures. Stockton, N.J., dealer James Grievo sold his beautifully rendered Samuel Robb Indian Princess in fine old paint. A chief to match was $95,000 at Thomas Brown, McMurray, Penn.

Gustav Dentzel carousel figures, a Philadelphia specialty, included a goat attributed to carver Salvatore Cerniglio at Charles Wilson Antiques and a horse at Frank Martin Antiques.

Pennsylvania arts and crafts were another draw. Breinigsville, Penn., dealer Thurston Nichols featured tall case clocks from Lebanon and Milton, Penn.; David Horst showed a large carved and painted eagle trade sign with flag holders, a trio of John Bell of Waynesboro, Penn., pottery crocks, and a signed and dated tin punched pie safe from Reinholds, Penn. Folk carvings by Noah Weiss of Northampton, Penn., turned up in the booths of Frank Martin and, across town at the Navy Yard, with Greg Kramer.

Decorated shaving mugs, a Pennsylvania favorite, were abundantly displayed on a hanging shelf by Lititz, Penn., dealer Ronald Van Anda, who parted with a monumental and elliptically shaped Native American burled bowl and a grotesque jug.

Unusual country furniture included a small, stylish New York State black painted settee with canted corners at Stephen-Douglas Antiques and an elaborate folk marquetry library table, circa 1880, by George Rhine at Clifford A. Wallach.

Lisa Weitzman — whose firm, Helen Marion Antiques, is named after her two grandmothers — brought a deluxe English mahogany partners' desk with turret corners. Another English furniture specialist, Roger D Winter, Ltd, of Solebury, Penn., offered a Queen Anne walnut and burled walnut card table of circa 1700–20.

"It's a good vane," Warwick, N.Y., dealer Chuck White said of his 18-inch-long Index horse, a beauty marked $34,000. White also had a 40-inch-long stag weathervane.

A pair of carved theatrical angels from a Chicago theater turned heads at Otto & Susan Hart Antiques of Arlington, Vt.

"It's the biggest Grenfell mat we've ever had," Ron Bassin, A Bird In Hand, said of a "Flying Geese" mat similar to one pictured with Dr Grenfell in Paula Laverty's book, Silk Stocking Mats: Hooked Mats of the Grenfell Mission.

Neverbird Antiques brought exceptional embroidery, including a possibly unique map sampler of upper New Jersey stitched in 1826 by Elizabeth Freeman of Woodbridge and a colorful 1846 Pottsville, Penn., eagle-decorated embroidery commemorating the acquisition of Oregon territory and concessions from Mexico.

A vibrant Mennonite woolen quilt in the Dresden Plate pattern was a highlight at Holden Antiques of Sherman, Conn.

"Baskets are Nineteenth Century stress relievers," said Massachusetts dealer Colette Donovan, whose always impeccable presentation mingled primitive New England furniture with early domestic textiles. One standout was a flame stitched wool on linen needlework mounted on a stretcher.

"Compared to what I've been hearing, I was personally thrilled with results," said Gaglio, breaking down the 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show for another year.

For information, 845-876-0616 or www.barnstar.com .