Great Weather Fills Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show

Bouckville, N.Y.

:Beautiful weather for the week helped build exhibitors' confidence in the original Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show, August 14–16. Nearly 800 dealer spaces were filled with early Americana, furniture from the last four centuries, household tools and accessories, great art and even some later collectibles.

Begun in 1971 by Jock Hengst, who still owns and manages it, the show was first intended to be a little event to entertain summer visitors at the restaurant and country inn he and a partner owned. The show quickly developed into the tail that wagged the dog. Within the first few years, the total count of exhibitors approached 1,000. Hengst sold his interest in the restaurant and now spends the year running this show and a few smaller antiques shows in the winter months.

For 2009, dealers who had been complaining about poor sales elsewhere earlier in the year and were prepared for flat sales here were pleasantly surprised at their successes on the weekend. One unnamed dealer said, "We had not the strongest buying on Friday, but the weekend was good with people who were buying for themselves, to take their purchases home. That made for a good show!"

Pat and Fred Heisler have been doing this show for many years, as they can commute daily from their home in Smithville Flats, N.Y. In fact, they had exhibited in one of the other tailgate shows earlier in the week. Their collection is pure early Americana — samplers, useful boxes of all kinds, kitchen tools and early lighting. They were also showing a fair amount of furniture from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries and some useful early textiles.

Indiana was represented with several exhibiting dealers. The Orwigs, Don and Marta, are from Corunna, and they collect and trade in American folk art. For example, there was a loving couple, huddled together at the front of the exhibit, but they both seemed to have come from Kansas, and in a nod to the Wizard of Oz , this pair was made of tin, just like one of the characters in the movie.

In the next booth, Period Antiques was offering its collection of Americana with special emphasis on useful hand crafted textiles. Tom and Rose Cheap, the owners from Scottsburg, Ind., displayed on their wall a small, colorful hooked mat or rug, only about 4 feet by 2 feet, made as two half circles, stretched apart, with a kaleidoscope pattern to them. The piece was placed on view above a jelly cupboard in buff color, which was covered with early painted pantry boxes.

Collectors often become so invested in their collections they become dealers simply to trade their extras. Tina and Pat Farley are just such a couple, with mostly wheeled toys as their collection. Coming to the show each year from their home in Merriam, Kan., they were showing several hundred cast metal motor vehicles, each about 4 to 6 inches long. There were also many examples in about the same scale, but larger as they were horse-drawn coaches, wagons and carriages.

Stoneware is a popular collection for many of the exhibitors at this venue. Brad Selinger, East Berlin, Penn., was selling from an assortment of about 20 pieces. New Yorkers Dave and Madeleine Zabriskie were offering a near match of 2-gallon jugs with blue bird designs; originally from N.A. White of nearby Utica, N.Y. Caulkins House, Metamora, Mich., used stoneware to highlight the firm's early American hardwood and painted furniture.

Small antiques and sporting antiques are very popular with exhibiting dealers this summer. Sport & Spool from Goldsboro, N.C., filled an oversized booth with sporting gear from the last 200 years. There were uniforms and baseballs, cricket wickets and leather balls, paddles, oars and swimsuits, as well as sports signs. Newcomers to the show, Joe Bennett, Greenville, S.C., and Max Hand, Charlotte, N.C., sold early firearms, fly fishing rods, reels and flies. They also brought a selection of antique display paraphernalia, such as shelves and showcases.

Peter Moses did not have far to come, since home is just up the road in North Syracuse, N.Y. That was probably good for his little mini-van, which was filled to the top with small antiques. Moses missed some shows early in the year due to personal health issues, but he was back to full service this weekend with a large collection of paintings. In one section of his collection, he had more than 20 small paintings, mixed in with wall boxes, shelves and many other hanging objects.

Some dealers collect their inventories in England and France. Mary Ellen Stephens of Quelle Surprise loves to search for her collection overseas as often as she and her husband Harry Morgan can justify the trip. Kate Tanning, a Pittsburgh, Penn., dealer shops in England with plans to replenish her stock of early crystal, small painted tole ware and more as soon as October.

The show has a reputation for the furniture offered from the late 1700s through the mid-1800s. For example, Rare Bird Antiques from nearby Oswego, N.Y., had a set of William IV gondola chairs; a tilt top tea table with complex marquetry inlays; a hardwood corner cupboard and a set of bowback Windsor side chairs. Coming north from his Waynesboro, Va., home, Christopher Evans was offering a cherry corner cupboard. Mary Jane and Frank Brandt, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, were selling primitive painted furniture and Hamburg, Penn., dealers Ken and Jan Silveri had a collection of early pine pieces, including a pie safe in natural finish.

At this year's show, the weather was very cooperative for the several thousand shoppers, and reportedly they made the show a success for the exhibiting dealers. Good sales and good fun while finding that special piece for the home was the order for the weekend.

The show takes place only once each year, but it is well worth planning a visit. For information, www.bouckvilleantiqueshows.com or 315-824-2462.

The Wide Spot On The Road To Madison-Bouckville

Antiques shows in the two tiny central New York towns of Madison and Bouckville happen only once a year, with thousands attending to sell, buy or, in some cases, just visit with friends during the affair. This year it happened the week of August 9–16, a little more than a week when the exhibiting dealers were showing what they had in their collections and visitors were shopping to fill their rooms, houses and collections with fresh additions.

In a stretch of about five miles there are many fields; the largest are highly organized, such as Jock Hengst's Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show, while others seemingly pop up in someone's front yard, side yard or garage where they pull out the year's collection and offer it to those willing to stop by for a look.

At the western end of the run is the Landmark Tavern where all this commotion started in 1971. Hengst, then the co-owner of the country inn and restaurant, was looking to build their business so he started a small antiques show to complement all the shops that were operating in the area at that time. That small show quickly grew to about 1,000 dealers, and it inspired many of the neighbors to create their own shows.

Bono's, across the street, was a shop at that time, which had a big field, and there were many more so, as the story goes, the rest is history.

This year, Bono's had several hundred exhibitors with antiques and collectibles. This field has had several open-sided sheds or barns built to shelter the exhibitors during the week-long exhibition. Dealers here have a somewhat later taste in antiques, with some into collectibles. There was a booth filled with 100-year-old pottery and stoneware offered by Pat's Pots of Westport, Conn. E's Antiques from Lebanon, Penn., showed a collection of country furniture and accessories.

The street was filled with other show fields. Hinman's, just across the road, had a few hundred more exhibitors, including Weathervane Antiques, which specializes in Nineteenth Century oak furniture. Melanie Meicznikowski was close to home, showing her collection of early lighting and other small antiques.

Moving further east on that congested country road, Expo! featured dealers with large collections of early primitive furniture and household accessories. Hand Picked of Stowe, Vt., displayed the owners' fondness for early painted furniture. Mainer Mike Gallant filled a small space in a multi-dealer tent with all he could push into it, including vintage marbles.

Harry Rapp was the past leader of the Rush Light Collectors Club and also a resident from not too far away. His collection consisting primarily of early lighting was being shown and offered at Expo!

Among the early sales was a folky paint decorated folding banquet table that had a painted eagle on one portion of the top and a gameboard on the other. Bob Smith, a dealer from Montrose, Penn., was careful to not reveal his sources and the final price for the piece. Also from Montrose, Margaret Jones and her daughter, Barbara, showed and sold from their collection of small antiques.

New to the antiques show was Kathleen Copeletti of Cazenovia, N.Y., close enough to commute from home. Her antiques inventory was rapidly being depleted as the primitive design and construction of her pieces was proving to be popular with the buying public.

Crisscrossing the road, Quaker Acres was next with several very large multi-dealer tents. These tents encouraged dealers with small antiques as the spaces were not as big as some of the other fields.

For example, Village Antiques from Weedsport, N.Y., showed an assortment of little things. There was a herd of sheep, several dogs, a bunny and even a pink flamingo, all grazing together in one small countertop showcase. Several exhibitors sold textiles from the past, and there was one exhibitor selling Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century engineering gear.

Butternut Hill was named for the grove of trees shading a collection of collectors. Their offerings included furniture and antique dishes. One exhibitor offered older store fixtures and advertising paraphernalia.

And there were people everywhere, having fun while on their own individual search for something special. Whether on the big fields or at some of the smallest, there was good shopping for good bargains and great additions to their collections.

These satellite shows occur just one week a year, preceding the Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show. For information, www.bouckvilleantiqueshows.com or 315-824-2462.