A Blizzard of Sales Reported for the Winter Antiques Show's Opening Weekend

NEW YORK CITY

:Snow fell by the foot, but a blizzard of sales warmed the opening weekend of the 51st Winter Antiques Show, which continues at the Seventh Regiment Armory at 67th Street and Park Avenue through Sunday, January 30.

"In the 11 years that Chairman Arie Kopelman and I have worked together, we've never seen weather like this," said Catherine Sweeney Singer. The show's executive director and her staff were ready for the storm when it arrived in the metropolitan area on Saturday afternoon.

"The entire perimeter of the building had to be cleared of snow. We helped exhibitors get cabs and arranged accommodations for staff," Sweeney Singer explained.

One thousand revelers - Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ivana Trump, among them - attended the Thursday evening preview benefiting East Side House Settlement. Though the gate was sharply down on Saturday and Sunday, exhibitors said the floor remained busy through the weekend. Attendance was expected to pick up through the next nine days of the fair.

"It's rolling along. We're having a very good show and so are our neighbors," Connecticut dealer Stephen Huber said Sunday afternoon.

This year's show sparkled with spectacular rarities, from the best James Bard ever, a double portrait of "The Thomas Hunt with The America Following Behind," $1.25 million at Olde Hope Antiques of New Hope, Penn., to a bonbonniere in the shape of a rose at Taylor Williams. A gift from Queen Mary, the box, the only item in the booth not for sale, was the centerpiece of the famous Ionides Collection of enamels. The Chicago dealer recently secured the collection and is offering selections for the first time at East Side.

Returning after several years absence, new exhibitors James and Nancy Glazer of Maine were off to a brilliant start. On preview night they sold a 1779 kist that had belonged to metalworker Samuel Yellin, a sgraffito dish, a fireman's parade hat, a Berks County drawing and a sailor's knotwork basket, to name a few items.

"It's going to be a good year," New York dealer Leigh Keno said confidently. "The market for great things is incredible and we are seeing new buyers extending themselves at the highest levels."

"New York is beautiful in the snow," said Sweeney Singer, serene as ever.