Big Buyers Return To Bridgehampton Antiques Show

Bridgehampton, N.Y.

:Stella Show Mgmt Co. filled three tents with exhibitors and their inventories and as in Field of Dreams , they came! The show, a benefit for Bridgehampton Historical Society, was held on their property in Bridgehampton Village August 14–16 with more than 40 room settings. By Sunday afternoon, several of the displays were decimated by the buyers, much to the pleasure of the dealers.

James Butterworth, Nashua, N.H., deals primarily in furniture for the garden rooms, wicker, rattan and similar motifs. For Bridgehampton, his collection was a 22-piece ensemble, which was sold in total during the show. He happily took the teasing from other happy dealers about not bringing enough merchandise to last the duration of the event.

Betty Koren of Bridges Over Time, Newburgh, N.Y., cheered the buyers who purchased several pieces from her collection. The standout hit in her weekend was a homerun, selling the 1950-era cabinet by a highly praised Danish designer, Arne Vodder.

Visiting from Westfield N.J., Linda Elmore was collecting sales throughout the weekend, small transactions, but by the end of the three-day affair she had a very good score. Her collection of Art Deco and Mid-Century furniture, art and some early accessories is very popular with the Hamptons crowd, she said.

A local exhibitor, T.J. Antorino was producing well for his home shop in Oyster Bay with sales of many small accessories from the last 200 years. His furniture was painted in primary colors, with styles from Mid-Century Modern, including a set of side chairs with Chippendale design heritage; one of his tables was a one-piece Lucite number and another was a farm table with two-plank top, Hepplewhite design. For accessories, there was a demilune gable vent from an old barn, and his showcase was filled with a variety of small household accessories.

Margaret Doyle of Cumberland Foreside, Maine, said this was the year to sell her elephants, and she seemed to be making it a political statement. While she was not offering any donkeys, there was just about everything else that appealed to her interesting taste and style. Industrial grates to use for tables or simply as form on a wall, heavy steel stools with adjustable swivels for their height, a large blue hutch, a set of 100-year-old chairs; all merchandise Margaret offered for the Hamptons decorators and with great success.

Stella Shows has been attracting exhibitors with unconventional collections for several years now, but recently the firm also is attracting dealers from outside the states.

Linda Gumb is a regular stallholder on London's famous Portobello Road. She came to Bridgehampton with a collection of tartanware, chinoiserie, art and interesting small objects in sufficient quantity to fill a large showcase.

In London, the Silver Vault bills itself as the largest collection of silver in the world. It is a multi-dealer facility, covering several floors and thousands of square feet. One of the dealers from that store, Percy's, was at the show with a very large collection of early English silver, Sheffield and coin, both hollowware and some flatware. Owner David Simons was quick to point out the silver but also art and other fine Georgian and Victorian antiques in his collection. His collection also included fine art from the first half of the Twentieth Century.

Ray Kisber has been doing shows in the New York area for many years, including Atlantique City in the fall of 2001, when he was detained at the border, while coming from his home in Quebec. No such problems this year as he was in Bridgehampton with a large collection of Modern, Art Deco and Danish Modern furniture and accessories for the Hamptons' audience.

Ghislain Antiques was another foreign exhibitor, in this case coming from Paris. Their sales in the United States are such an important part of their business, they have a modest outlet in New York City as well as Paris and these shows. Their collection is a cross between A Clockwork Orange and Edwardian with the orange clock face and leather chairs.

Sales throughout the show were being reported as good to very good, a pleasant surprise in these recent times, as there was "good traffic and pretty good buying" according to Dot Stella, president of Stella Show Mgmt Co. Exhibitor Glen Leroux sold several pairs of lamps, two pairs of chairs and "numerous smalls and assorted jewelry," he said. His business under his name is in Westport, Conn.

Selling from a very large collection of ladies purses and handbags, Nula Thanhauser, East Hampton, was having great success for the weekend. Eve Stone was also pleased with the results for her efforts. The Woodbridge, Conn., dealer trades primarily in early French copper utensils. Langhorne, Penn. dealer Cara Antiques reported they "sold Moorcroft very well on Saturday."

Taken from World War II naval warships as they were decommissioned, Paul Manning's inventory of navigation and observation telescopes filled the front lawn of the historic society's property. He had one early sale that gave his weekend a boost, but there were more. The telescopes that he offers today are restored and ready for use on the shoreline observing the ocean, ships and wildlife in the area.

The show is only once a year, sponsored by the historical society and managed by Stella, and there is a plan for the next year again on the third weekend. Stella has several shows this fall including, the Modern Show at a new location, 7 West 34th Street, October 16–18, and the Pier Antiques Show November 14–15. For more information on these and other shows check their advertisements in Antiques and The Arts Weekly or visit www.stellashows.com or call 973-808-5015.