Bridgehampton Historical Society Antiques Show

BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y.

: Outdoors in the Hamptons is not your ordinary antiques show. It is where the dealers use Cadillac sports utility vehicles to tow their trailers filled with antiques. Customers arrive in Range Rovers and Mercedes-Benz wagons to carry back their purchases. They buy an unusual mix, but at the Bridgehampton Historical Society's benefit show, manager Morgan MacWhinnie emphasizes early American antiques. That was the dominant theme for the more than 60 dealers who exhibited under tents on June 4 for the one-day affair.

As the gray dawn broke, dealers who had parked on the side road began to move onto the field cautiously as a light spring rain made the field slippery. They were also moving about slowly because the rain was dampening their enthusiasm for setting up. An outdoor show in the rain is no fun - antiques get wet and possibly damaged, and if rain continues through the day, the customers do not come.

Fortunately, the rain was light, the kind often called a drizzle or a warm mist, and by about 9 am it had stopped altogether and the day eventually was hot and sunny. As the weather changed, so, too, did the dealers' moods, and the results of their efforts were generally good.

Mary Ross is a full-time teacher from not too far away on Long Island who does shows as a hobby but also to make a profit. She does her buying for inventory almost entirely on house calls - people wanting to dispose of some antiques call her to buy. This means her collection comprises mixed periods and categories, but she will usually have a large variety of good antiques in as-found condition. Here, early in the day she sold a cherry Sheraton stand, a hooked rug and a pair of painted ladder back chairs, and then as the day progressed, she did a good deal more.

Scarsdale, N.Y., dealers Marilyn and Ron Salant have been doing shows for years, and this one was a long day for them. They offered mostly small antiques for the dining room, dishes, silver service and other tabletop displayed items together with some furniture.

Jean Lauer has also been into antiques as a business for many years. In fact, she used to co-produce some antiques shows with MacWhinnie, which they later sold to South Bay Auctions. Her antiques were all small things, including lots of dishes. She also had some very early "wood" - all kinds of small utilitarian objects, such as a tea caddy, a tobacco box, a wall hung box and many household tools.

Garden furniture was the main attraction for Babylon, N.Y., dealer John Lidowski. MacWhinnie had two truck loads from his nearby North Sea shop, including garden furniture, nautical accessories and early painted furniture. Platypus Antiques proprietor Dave Nelz loves American country style, and he had a school desk for two in blue milk paint, a wooden butter churn and a tent full of accessories.

Dealers were not from Long Island only. Barrett Menson is from Ashby, Mass., and he came with some of his collection of sandpaper paintings made in the Eighteenth Century. These were created on board with white paint and the sand applied while the paint was wet. The artist then used charcoal or colored pastels with scraping to return to white highlights. Menson also had some early furniture and accessories and some early advertising.

Two friends who shared a tent filled with antiques were former fishermen from Massachusetts's South Shore, Jim Gahan and Kurt Mansbach. Each had his own merchandise, which included a collection of watches and clocks.

Keith Emack, trading as Blue Whale Antiques of Mystic, Conn., created a room setting in his tent with a set of paint decorated chairs, typical of Pennsylvania, a country kitchen table and accessories. He even had several Persian rugs. He shared a truck with Charlie Gardiner, Ashburnham, Mass., a self-described "ex-hippie," who has been an active dealer and also restores houses. He brought a mix of pieces, which were primarily for the porch or garden, including some early urns and an ornately designed wicker chair.

Brian Windsor, River Bank Antiques in Red Bank, N.J., had a wide assortment of antiques, but very prominent was a cast iron utility sink signed "J. Fiske, New York," a company known for its excellent early iron.

One of those antiques show stories heard often was about a find made by Don Heller, Heller Washam, Portland, Maine. While setting up, he found four chairs, barrel-shaped with vertical back stretchers every other one with a teardrop cutout; also with the set was a table; leaves down, it was square but with its four leaves up it became a four-petaled flower. It had been painted very likely when first made, circa 1860-90, in a pewter blue with stenciling and on each leaf with a sailing clipper ship. The set was priced at $4,800.

This show is only once a year at the Bridgehampton Historical Society's site, but the society was also working with Stella Show Mgmt Co. to produce an elegant affair on the weekend of June 24-26, also on its grounds. For information, 631-283-3366.