: - "Antiques Week in New Hampshire is remarkable when you consider
how it has held its own in this slow economic climate," Nan
Gurley said after sorting through the many show reports that had
filtered down to her. And she can take credit for getting this
entertaining and buying frenzy week off to a grand start.
Americana Celebration, staged at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, is a
one-day show that draws first blood from those regulars and
newcomers to Antiques Week. The early buyers line starts forming
before daybreak and by 8 am an eager crowd has discarded the
coffee cups and donut wrappers to prepare for the rush onto the
grounds. The dealers, 139 strong, set up in four of the buildings
and also about the spacious grounds. Those who are outside are
generally under tent, as the weather has been quite damp in years
past and the same was true for this year.
Nan Gurley and Peter Mavris, from a vantage spot just inside
building one, offered a collection of objects including a sign
advertising "America's Favorite, F.P. Corsets," framed reverse
painting on glass; a farm table with white painted surface, 61/2
feet long; and a paint decorated server-cupboard attributed to
Rup. The furniture offered from the booth of Pregent's Antiques
of Keene, N.H., ranged from a formal four-drawer mahogany chest
on bracket base with inlay top, to a country wagon seat with the
original splint seat.
Green seemed to be a favorite color for George and Sandy Goldring
of Essex Junction, Vt. They showed a two-drawer blanket chest in
apple green paint, crackled surface, found in the attic of a home
in Montgomery, Vt., Eighteenth Century, and a tall one-door
cupboard, Vermont origin, with early green surface.
A tall-case clock in mahogany, with Dobson Leeds on the dial and
a painting of a young girl reading at the top of the dial, was
shown in the booth of Ware House Antiques of Boylston, Mass. Also
offered was a two-drawer blanket chest in pine, Chippendale style
on bracket base, and two doll houses, one with more age and
charm, complete with a railed porch and shutters.
Within minutes of the show's opening a sold tag hung from a one
door hanging cupboard in the booth of Blue Dog Antiques of
Stafford Springs, Conn. The cupboard had glass in the door and an
upside-down heart carving in the crest. A number of hooked rugs
was shown, including one that spelled out "Good Luck."
A Nova Scotia cupboard that was once a built-in, Nineteenth
Century, scrubbed down to the original red wash, came east from
Pecatonica, Ill., and was shown in the booth of Antiques at
Hillwood Farm. Other painted pieces included a folding wall table
from Maine, Nineteenth Century, in the original mustard paint and
breadboard ends. A large penny rug had bright red circles a dark
red ground.
Falcon's Roost, Grantham, N.H.
Many of the exhibitors made it a point to bring New Hampshire
furniture to the shows, and such was the case in the booth of
Hebron Hills Antiques of Salem, N.Y. A sawbuck table, as found
condition, breadboard ends, dated from the Nineteenth Century with
a top measuring 45 by 271/2 inches. A miniature chest was
configured with two doors over 25 drawers with wooden pulls. Red
Barn Antiques of Fitzwilliam, N.H., showed a set of six arrow back
Windsor side chairs, 1810-1840, made in Worcester, Mass. Each had
floral decoration on the top back splat.
Among the more formal pieces of furniture was a Hepplewhite game
table with inlaid front, possibly Massachusetts or Maine, in the
display of Mal-Res Antiques, Cincinnati, Ohio. Also shown was a
set of four bow back Windsor side chairs with bamboo turnings.
The end booth in one of the buildings provided two walls for the
display of hooked rugs by Michael McCue of Bryn Athyn, Penn.
Among the ten examples shown, designs included sailboats, a
basket of flowers, graphics and the date 1925. The Other Drummer
from Toftonboro, N.H., sold a double desk early into the show,
and a painted sled and Shaker baskets stirred interest from the
visitors.
New England South of Roswell, Ga., had a very full booth,
offering an American four-drawer chest with inlaid eagle from the
Mid-Atlantic states, a pair of Sheraton fancy chairs with rush
seats, yellow with floral decoration, and a large hooked rug
showing an urn of flowers in fall colors.
Another sawbuck table was shown by Family Tree Antiques, Gorham,
Maine, this one with a three-board top, traces of old gray paint,
and a child's wooden wheelbarrow, green painted with red wheel.
"Life is looking up," a smiling Betty Zwicker said midway into
the show, noting that, in addition to a number of small objects,
she had sold a nice hutch table and a leather fire bucket from
Maine with the name Osborne on it. The Bristol, Maine, dealer
still had interesting things to offer including a large shadowbox
with a four-masted schooner and a small dry sink, mustard paint
over the original red.
Another hutch table was shown by Colleen Nordengren of Pepperell,
Mass., a New England example with red surface dating from the
early Nineteenth Century. From the Eighteenth Century was a slat
back, ladder back armchair with sausage turnings, in old black
paint and the original splint seat.
New England Home Antiques, Wethersfield, Conn.
Returning to a corner booth was Falcon's Roost of Grantham,
N.H., with a collection of nonpainted furniture including a Queen
Anne tiger maple highboy with carved fan in the lower center
drawer, Vermont origin, and a cherry wood and bird's-eye maple New
York desk, circa 1820.
"The lady of the house loves this chair and she has gone to find
the man of the house," Ron Chambers of Higganum, Conn., said,
pointing out his ladder back armchair with mushroom caps, circa
1700-1720, from either Massachusetts or Connecticut. He always
has a selection of chairs, many banister backs with Spanish feet,
along with a good selection of American pewter. "This show has
been good for me every year, and this looks like another
successful one," he said while listing sales that included
several pieces of pewter, a fire bucket with the original paint
decoration and a sled made in East Hampton, Conn., labeled "Pride
of the Hill."
"A few of the dealers did not have very good shows, but for the
most part they did well," Nan Gurley reported several days after
the show. She also mentioned that toward the end of the show she
motors around the fairgrounds in her electric chair encouraging
dealers to be in their booths to catch any last minute sales.
"When I got back to my own booth there was a man waiting there to
buy a rug," she said, proving her point about end of the day
sales was well taken.
Nan Gurley is now gearing up for her next show, September 4, in
Sturbridge, Mass., with 100 dealers, all inside.
