Good Business at the Home of 'The Good Earth' Author

DOYLESTOWN, PENN.

: Bucks County Antiques Dealers Association Show

Doylestown is the former home of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize author Pearl Buck, who wrote The Good Earth. And on November 29-30, the Delaware Valley College in Doylestown (Bucks County), Penn., also proved to be a "prize" location for some fertile sales as attested to by the 43 dealers who participated in the 74th Bucks County Antiques Dealers Association Show.

It was not surprising that Eleanor Scott from Penns Park, Penn., who trades under the name The Red Sleigh Antiques, should sell an early sleigh that was reupholstered by Scott in, you guessed it, a reddish colored fabric. Early on in the show, Scott, who also holds the distinction of being the president of the Bucks County Antiques Dealers Association, sold a pair of brass candlesticks and a wall shelf (that handsomely held a grouping of pewter teapots, mugs and plates). As a customer paused to study the shelf and confirm its sale, Scott commented that she could have sold that particular item several times over the course of the weekend.

Other standouts in Scott's booth, many of which were perfect for the holiday shopping season, included a circa 1900 Christmas linen banner of Washington Crossing the Delaware advertising Interwoven Socks, an early Belsnickle ice cream mold, a late 1800s horse pull toy that was found in the Alsace Lorraine area of France and was used as a display item in print ads for Harden Furniture and a circa 1900 hand-carved, red oak American eagle that was made by either James or George Huntington, who were ship carvers from Randolph, N.Y.

Show neighbors, Bob and Sandy Schuler from Lake Ridge Antiques, Quakertown, Penn., also reported having a good show. Already on Saturday they had removed three American samplers; a West Chester, Penn., print; an early egg basket; and a brass scale from their inventory. Several of their furniture items included a two-drawer drop leaf stand; a set of four, circa 1860, paint decorated plank seat chairs that were found in Lancaster, Penn.; and a Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania blanket chest with turned feet and its original decorated surface that was also found in Lancaster.

Show promoters Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz, Greenwich, N.J., were also off to a good start on Saturday with sales that included a long painted bench, a braided rug, a hooked runner, an oil on canvas of a maritime scene, a wall box, a lantern and a doorstop.

Quality Americana was the norm in the booth of Temora Farms, Newtown, Penn. Commanding presence in their booth was a Nineteenth Century Berks County Pennsylvania two-part corner cupboard that was priced at $8,700. A circa 1740-1750 Queen Anne period chest on frame with graduated drawers, $7,200, was another show stopper. Also garnering the attention of showgoers was an Eighteenth Century Delaware Valley dressing table, an Eighteenth Century American (and believed to be New York) tilt-top table with molded edge, a circa 1785 mahogany Philadelphia Chippendale looking glass, a Bethlehem, Penn., sampler done by Elizabeth Cressman in 1836 and another sampler created in 1829 by Catherine Deidrick that featured two houses, birds, trees and flowers.

Capturing attention in the booth of The Rathbun Gallery, Wakefield, R.I. was a circa 1825-1850 Pennsylvania Dutch church pew armrest. Measuring a diminutive 12 inches wide by four inches deep by 101/2 inches high, it was made of a cherry or walnut wood with a covered upholstery top, and designed with splayed, pieced and cutout legs that were also decorated with Hex signs.

Also noted was a circa 1925 Mennonite multicolored table mat, a Mennonite crib quilt, and a whimsical Twentieth Century wire and tin mouse cage that dealer Richard Schneider termed an "exercise center." It sold during the weekend, perhaps to someone who owns some overweight rodents.

Two of the larger items that Herb Yannone from H&L Antiques, Marlton, N.J., sold on Saturday were a small size Pennsylvania dry sink that retained its original copper lining, and an early Nineteenth Century slave-made washstand from North Carolina. Wares looking for new surroundings included an early Twentieth Century goose store display on a signed porcelain base, a circa 1940 military theme quilt that was decorated with Army Air Force shoulder insignias, a Nineteenth Century paint decorated doll cradle, a dated 1848 Chester County, Pennsylvania downspout, an early Twentieth Century cupboard and a Nineteenth Century dentist sign.

Antiques at Olcott Square, Bernardsville, N.J. presented artistic arrangements of both antique clock dials and equestrian weathervanes, along with their collection of clocks that are always in working order. Also filling out this booth was a selection of Nineteenth Century pewter, an early 1800s sawbuck table, a Nineteenth Century dry sink, a miniature chest of drawers with serpentine top and turned legs, a 60-inch-long mortised leg country bench, a Nineteenth Century butter churn, an offering of copper cooking implements, a pine double wide one-drawer washstand with side towel bars and a nautical hooked rug with an anchor motif.

Another nautical hooked rug took center stage in the booth of Ewing, N.J., dealers Paula Foley and Breck Carrow. Made of silk strips on burlap, it prominently featured a tall ship and was signed and dated M. Sheldon, 1935. Included several years ago in an exhibition entitled, "Art Under Foot: American Hooked Rugs" at the Noyes Museum, we hope a new owner gives it the wall space it deserves.

All game board collectors would have left the show as winners after shopping the booth of Primarily Primitives, New Hope, Penn. Some of their offerings included a circa 1890 two-sided board that featured an unusual mill game on one side, a late Nineteenth Century game wheel of New Jersey origin with great original paint, a homemade 1930s Monopoly game board from Bangor, Maine, and a Twentieth Century baseball dart game.

Visible sold signs in the booth of Point Pleasant, Penn., dealers Nancy Fulton and Warren Moser alerted us to sales that included a Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania fowler curly maple rifle, a walnut shelf that was carved with kissing doves and a sampler.

The next show sponsored by The Bucks County Antiques Dealers Association will be Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27, at the Moravian Tile Works, Doylestown. For information, 215-860-1345.