Antiques at the Center

PHILADELPHIA, PENN.

:Barn Star Productions chief Frank Gaglio was running on empty by the time Antiques at the Center, his 85-dealer show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, opened for three days on Friday, April 8.

"It's a difficult setup, but we got the job done. We're thrilled to be celebrating our ninth year in Philadelphia," said the promoter, clearly pleased with results as he strolled through the wide, symmetrical aisles of the expansive fair, which moved to the Center from Philadelphia's Navy Pier two years ago. This year, the show moved again, from the center's second floor to a smaller hall at street level.

Everything about show was improved. Last year, dealers complained that the event was too large, the setup too difficult and the hours too short. Eighty-five exhibitors, down from 133 last year, pulled out all the stops, offering fine American formal and painted furniture, folk art, silver, ceramics, textiles, architectural pieces, paintings and sculpture along with a smattering of European and Asian art and decor.

"The dealers worked very, very hard," said Mr Gaglio, who organizes and pays for the popular shuttle service that runs between the center, at 11th and Arch Streets, and the Philadelphia Antiques Show, at 33rd and Market Streets. He credited his assistant manager, Brenda Klaproth, for her dedication, as well.

Philadelphia Antiques Show exhibitors and collectors in town for the city's Antiques Week were among the first to arrive when the doors opened at 10 am. It was not long before Jan Whitlock sold a tin lantern to Pat Bell of Olde Hope Antiques, Stephen and Carol Huber snapped up a pair of samplers at Heller Washam Antiques, and Stephen Score succumbed to the temptation of a 6-foot carved and painted snake, which wriggled its way into his booth across town. The Keno brothers -Leigh, Leslie and Mitch - were delighted to find a rare New York State incised and cobalt decorated urn at T.L. Dwyer Antiques.

"Attendance was very good on Saturday and also on Friday, up until around 4:30 pm," said Mr Gaglio. "We probably lost some people on Sunday, when the weather was beautiful."

"Weathervanes and folk art sold very well. Big furniture was softer. Last year, the opposite was true," said the manager.

"Hats off to everyone," noted Thurston Nichols, praising the fair's quality and general appearance. The Breinigsville, Penn., dealer sold an Indian weathervane, a Hudson River Valley illuminated painting, an exceptional Eighteenth Century sawbuck table, and a marble statue of Philadelphia's unofficial mascot, Benjamin Franklin. The figure turned up in Fred Giampietro's booth a few hours before.

"It's a beautiful show with a great range of price points," said New Hampshire dealer George Spiecker, who bracketed a Pennsylvania tall chest, $16,500, with two lustrous Salem, Mass., card tables.

"We had 28 sales - five during setup, 11 on Friday and seven on Sunday, when we sold to four new people," said Leon Weiss of Gemini Antiques, whose biggest sale was a $65,000 whale and rider weathervane. Overall, toys sold better than folk art for the New York dealer.

"It was my best Philly show ever," said tramp art expert Clifford Wallach. "We sold 19 pieces, though not a lot of furniture, in the $300 to $12,500 range." The New York dealer's fortunes were boosted by a group visit from a client and her friends from Florida, where she winters.

The pains SAJE Americana of Short Hills, N.J., took with its well-appointed display of American furniture were also rewarded. "We sold a wing chair, a two-drawer tiger maple drop-leaf stand, andirons, a watch hutch, a wonderful tole tray and a really nice paint decorated dome-top box," said Alice Shapiro.

"We sold pretty much across the board: wall signs, a smoking table, a pilot house eagle and a codfish weathervane. Wood carvings were in demand," said Susan Hart of Vermont. The dealer's piece de resistance was a spectacular pair of carved and gilded fan lights, now on their way to Chicago, that were made circa 1900 by John Griffin for a mansion on Long Island. The lights were $24,000.

A large fountain burbled at Francis Purcell, who offered the Fiske catalog piece patented April 1871.

Brant Mackley of Hummelstown, Penn., one of several Native American art specialists in the show, offered a bead decorated Sioux woman's hide dress, $24,000, dating to circa 1870. The dress was collected by a clergyman in 1902.

Joan Wenger, a Philadelphia dealer in American Indian art, hung a circa 1890 Navajo pictorial weaving, $16,500, on her right wall. Rich Rasso displayed a circa 1900 Hopi cow mask, $12,500, and a Zuni ceremonial bowl, $3,950.

It was better and best at Judd Gregory's, where two figured maple Federal sewing tables dating to about 1810, $4,800 and $9,500, stood side-by-side. The more elaborate table had an octagonal top and stencil decoration on its top and side. The Dorset, Vt., dealer also unveiled a New London County, Conn., bonnet-top chest-on-chest, $27,500.

Douglas Constant, of Orient, Long Island, N.Y., had a New London County bonnet-top chest for $32,000. Portsmouth, N.H., dealer Ed Weissman featured a dish-top candlestand with a finely molded top, $3,300, and a tamarack wood Queen Anne high chest of drawers, $19,500. Rutabaga Pie Antiques of Chesterfield, Mo., sold a cherry four-drawer chest of drawers.

"This is probably the most exciting one of these I've had," Don Heller said of his Portsmouth Federal armchair with robust turnings and exuberantly flaring wings, $17,000. The Woodbury, Conn., dealer paired it with a Boston Queen Anne wing chair, $52,000.

Textiles in Heller's display ranged from a 22-foot, 6-inch by 13-foot, 4-inch Bidjar, $48,000, to two green linsey-woolsey samplers. Probably from New Hampshire and worked by sisters Maria and Esther Barley in 1801, the samplers reappeared later in the day in Stephen and Carol Huber's stand at the Philadelphia Antiques Show.

Pennsylvania furniture was plentiful. Among many paint decorated blanket chests was a Somerset County example with a tulip design and the inscription "Samuel Lichty/May 24, 1844." The chest was $22,000 in the booth of Jackie Radwin, who sold a paint decorated tall case clock and featured an exuberant pieced and appliqued pictorial quilt, $24,000.

James Grievo sold a Berks County paint decorated lift-top blanket chest made for Catharina Reibert, dated 1789. Also in the New Jersey dealer's stand was a tall case clock with applied spindle decoration, $22,000, attributed to Jacob Moyer of Salford Turnpike.

A Berks County corner cupboard, $9,500, and a pair of circa 1780 Chester County ladder back chairs, $4,800, in attic surface with make-do replacement wooden seats were highlights at Steve Smoot, Lancaster, Penn.

Gloria Lonergan, Mendham, N.J., had a Berks County paint decorated blanket chest, $14,500, circa 1785-90. A Philadelphia dressing table with ball and claw feet was $38,000 at Robert Zollinhofer, Medina, Ohio. At T.L. Dwyer Antiques, Barto, Penn., a circa 1770 Chester County bonnet-top tall case clock from Charlestown, Penn., was $75,000. "There are only about six of these clocks known," said dealer Dwyer.

Outstanding painted furniture included, at Costa Curran Antiques, a set of five classical side chairs, $7,500, whose splats were ornamented with anthemion and griffins. John Mitchell of Philadelphia is thought to have decorated the chairs.

American classical furniture expert Aileen Minor of Centreville, Md., built her display around an attributed Quervelle marble-top pier table, $11,000, bearing the ivory label of its original owner, Sabina Catherine Escher (1791-1862); a Baltimore or Philadelphia Grecian couch, $14,500; and a New York window seat, $8,700.

"You almost never see these," said Lampeter, Penn., dealer William Kurau, gesturing to a circa 1825 Staffordshire tureen, cover and under tray, $3,400. The trio was decorated in brown transfer ware with Penn's Treaty, a quintessential Philadelphia subject.

In contrast to all the American furniture on the floor, Alison Gibson and Ian Wright of John Reeder Fine Art, Newtown, Penn., presented Colonial era portraiture and early oak furniture, most of it English. A Seventeenth Century Indo-Portuguese "Zanzibar" chest with brass mounts was $3,900.

Another oak dealer, Running Battle Antiques, Millbrook, N.Y., showcased an Eighteenth Century Welsh dresser, $15,000, and James Higgins' oil on canvas ship's portrait, "British Bark off The Cliffs of Dover," 1837, $11,500.

The nautical theme continued at Harvey Antiques, where an outstanding ship's diorama was $6,200. The Evanston, Ill., dealer's eclectic display included a cobbler's bench in red paint, $4,500; an Acoma pottery pot, 11 inches in diameter, $3,500; an African American pieced quilt in an abstract pattern and neutral palette, $3,200.

Far from subdued was a Germantown Quaker pieced and appliqued quilt in brilliant primary colors at The Herrs. An important pewter tankard, $30,000, by Henry Will, ex-collection of pewter authority Henry Kauffman, was also for sale by the Lancaster, Penn., specialists in Pennsylvania folk art.

"Anything with language is hot right now," said New York dealer Laura Fisher, who mounted an early Twentieth Century Hutchinson hooked motto rug with a Spring theme. At Neverbird Antiques, an 1830 Pittsburgh sampler by Sarah Brickell was $3,700. Schweiz-Mar of St Joseph, Mo., showed an unusual Lancaster County, Penn., appliqued wall hanging in the form of a bird tree. Brandegee Antiques of Pittsburgh retailed a needlework picture, $35,000, by Mary M. Burns. The family history of the textile was etched into the back of its wooden frame.

Among Jan Whitlock's many treasures was an artfully constructed three-dimensional sculptural fabric still life, $24,000. Styled as a compote of fruit and flowers and housed in a deep shadow box, the work was accented with charmingly rendered butterflies, walnuts and a large sewing needle of appliqued fabric.

Scott Powers, a specialist in treen, featured beautiful, tactile pieces of turned and carved wood that had been burnished to a warm patina. Selections ranged from an assembled set of nine Pease ware covered containers, $4,500, to a large burled ash bowl, circa 1820, $3,600.

Probably Indian made, a rough hewn burl bowl dating to the Eighteenth Century was $4,500 at David Good/Sam Forsythe Antiques of Ohio. Connecticut dealer Lillian Cogan sold the bowl to an Ohio collector in the 1970s, said Mr Good, who showed it with a gutsy Connecticut comb back Windsor side chair, $10,500.

Folk sculpture specialist Fred Giampietro made a splash with a Jewell rooster weathervane, $32,000; a tobacconist Indian trade figure, $115,000, possibly depicting the armless Iroquois Warrimen Boseth; and a New England apothecary in pale mineral blue paint, $115,000.

Rye, N.H., dealers Russ and Karen Goldberger started off well with sales of an apothecary chest and several decoys. Among their best pieces was a Dentzel of Philadelphia reindeer carousel figure, $48,000, in old paint, and an unusual paint decorated game board with keeper box, ex-collection of G.W. Samaha, $17,500. A 341/2-inch-long horse and sulky weathervane, $26,500, was attributed to Cushing & White, Waltham, Mass., circa 1870.

Weathervanes starred at Judith and James Milne, New York City. A Rochester Iron Works rooster from New Hampshire, circa 1880, 32 inches high, was $14,500; a circa 1870 Blackhawk, $3,850; and a circa 1870 running horse weathervane with old verdigris surface, $2,950.

"State flags are very hard to find," said Pennsylvania dealer Jeff Bridgman, who produced a Pennsylvania National Guard Headquarters flag, circa 1870, $16,500, and a centennial-era Pennsylvania state flag, $12,500. Bridgman paired the flags with a cast bronze Philadelphia state crest, $6,500, and a late Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania blanket chest, $15,500, repainted in mural style in 1937 by Paul Kirtland Mays.

East Dennis Antiques of Cape Cod featured "A Bird's Eye View of Philadelphia," $990, from an 1872 edition of Harper's Weekly.The rarest paper on the floor belonged to Princeton, N.J., dealer Leo Arons, who offered a 1796 document signed by George Washington confirming the diplomatic appointment of John Trumbull of Connecticut. The certificate was $55,000.

"We have a very good Philadelphia following," explained new exhibitor Matthew Baer, putting the final touches on a display strong in Satsuma and Sumida Gawa, the early Twentieth Century Japanese art pottery that is not as well known in this country as it should be.

Chinese porcelain of the Ming and early Qing dynasties were the strong suit at Ita J. Howe, Bethlehem, Penn. Jeff LiaBraaten, Annandale, Va., sold 20 pieces of English creamware. Of note was a late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century cruet set, $4,800.

"I don't know if there's such a thing as perfection," Frank Gaglio said Monday, following the show's close. "But many customers tell us how much they love Antiques at the Center. It's relaxed and accessible." And getting better.