The Farmington Show

Review By Anne Kugielsky; Photos By Anne Kugielsky And David S. Smith

"This is the first year we've come to this show. Next year we're coming back without the kids and with a bigger car!" That seemed to be the sentiment of many at Farmington Antiques Show, June 11 and 12. Or, "You just know that at Farmington you will either bake or get rained on, or both!"

But that did not seem to deter people from flocking onto the polo grounds when Steve Jenkins signaled it was time to drop the ropes and let everyone in. Within minutes booths were filled and seemingly doing a brisk business. What was selling? Everything from a large Nineteenth Century cupboard to Majolica and lots of "folky type items," would be the answers from Karan Oberg of Richmond House and Rick North of Hilltop North.

At Richmond House's booth they were still smiling over the recent sale of a Nineteenth Century corner cupboard and were featuring an architectural cupboard, circa 1800, New England, that retained its original grained painted surface. "Look at that lovely green color," exclaimed Karan Oberg, "its really something." She was startled when a customer brought her a bag with freshly made muffins to thank her for the cupboard she had purchased just a week earlier.

Rick North came to the show for the first time without his wife Marian, who passed away last October, but with her partner, Bobbi Hennessey. They hoped to demonstrate that Marian's "eye" for "just what to bring to Farmington," was correct, said Rick. Of special interest was a 1910-1920 Welsh cupboard with banded mahogany inlay. He thought, after the show, that this was a show that would have benefited from an early buying session. "It got to be so hot that traffic was down, at least from what I could tell. Maybe if people could have come in early, before it got so hot, it would have been better."

Still, he was pleased to have Marian's choices vindicated with several sales including a wicker bench, Black Forest bears and more folk items. A pair of 1860 portrait paintings of Charles and Catherine Dickens was a highlight of the booth. At $9,800 they were a good buy but perhaps "not what was going at this show." He thought that perhaps the heat was also a factor in people choosing to buy smaller items rather than "carrying heavy tables or cupboards through the aisles."

This year the operative word was "hot." According to the National Weather Service, the temperature in Farmington reached 96 degrees, in the shade, with a humidity index exceeding 85 percent.

Farther down the aisle was an oasis at Michael D. Higgins and Son's booth. Coolly decorated with several antique Navaho and Arapahoe rugs, Higgins said he comes to Farmington each year "more to buy, and see what's out there, than to sell." He flies in from Tucson each year so the temperature of the day was not bothering him, seemingly. He had two pairs of beaded Sioux moccasins and one Arapaho pair displayed on a 1895 Navaho transfer blanket, and several other blankets/cloths as well as some pre-Columbian pieces that appeared to be almost museum quality. According to Higgins, "In the late 1800s Native Americans began making rugs for the tourist trade, in bright colors made with original vegetable dyes; that's what these are."

At the booth of Robert T. Baranowsky, many people were looking seriously at his assortment of art, Americana and especially at a French iron, brass and marble top pastry table, the base painted in an old deep red. At the back of the booth Baranowsky had a circus banner from the 1920s with painted details - a squid, fish, shells, a shark and large octopus - in good condition. The price tag read $2,200. Bananowsky has been coming to Farmington for some 26 years and he saw "more energy, more enthusiasm" from the crowd than he has seen "for some years."

A first-timer at Farmington was John Tyler of Colophon Books, Layton, N.J. He had a large field microscope by Nachet, circa 1900, and an English tripod microscope by Watson, circa 1915. But it was the circa 1870 Victorian Ross Binocular Microscope with its original box of accessories, separate and complete - each item carefully surrounded by a cutout made perfectly for it - in the wooden box complete with latch, that was the outstanding piece in his booth. Priced at $7,500, Tyler even had a photograph of a scientist using the microscope from the 1950s. Tyler indicated he was happy to be at Farmington, "This is where my roots are, even though this my first year." He plans on returning next year.

Another first-time dealer at the show was Susan Barr of Susan Barr Antiques who specializes in English and French furniture, brass, copper and nautical items from her shops in Woodbury, Conn., and at Shippan Center for Arts and Antiques in Stamford, Conn. She was having a great day Saturday, having made some "excellent sales already!" In the cool interior was a large, approximately 2 feet tall, English child's pond boat from around 1910-1920 with colorful painted wheels. A couple were looking with great interest at a wooden English campaign chest, complete with lock and key, that could be used, Barr suggested, as a coffee table.

Unlike Tyler and Barr, Jeanne and Ted Storb, of Storb Antiques, Rowayton, Conn., has been coming to Farmington for years. Ted thought that the show reflected the state of the business, as he sees it: "Three or four years ago we did three times the business, this year we did about three-quarters that. Its not Farmington, it's the way business is going and has been since 9/11. We didn't see people from far away, like we used to." But he also said that they did a fairly brisk business, especially with their D&S (Dodd and Struthers) ten-sided, four-star lightening rods from the 1920s-1940s. A pair of early Twentieth Century brass helmet lamps and a wonderful old hay rake that was about 7 feet tall also caught the eyes of several shoppers.

Susanne Edgerly of Main Street Antiques, Kent, Conn., has also been showing at Farmington for many, many years. She thought the show is "getting better and better." She was trying to stay cool in her corner booth filled with a sampling of apothecary bottles, some which dated to about 1800. One in particular had a wonderful painted label of its former contents. She agreed the heat was daunting, but commented that for her, "Sunday was fantastic. Saturday was slow, I did not have a good day, especially with the heat, but on Sunday I did twice as much as would be usual, I'm calling it 'fantastic Sunday,' and that's a first!"

Many dealers brought old tools with them. There was a whole wall of mainly kitchen tools, all old, at the booth of David and Susan Ryan Antiques from Harwinton, Conn. David showed a rare, Nineteenth Century biscuit piercer with a wooden handle that he said was very "rare."

Ron Kelly at Brass Lantern Antiques, Syracuse, N.Y., had an oak dental cabinet made by the Ransom & Randolph Co., which dated from the late 1800s. Its most unusual feature is the swing-out trays on the sides. It has two slide-out milk glass work surfaces. He also sold two Art Deco white leather chairs, circa 1950, just as the show opened.

The Jenkins family has been running the Farmington Show for five years and found this year to be, overall, a good success, despite the heat. Jon Jenkins confirmed that many dealers commented on the heat, but overall had "successful shows," even on Sunday, which is often "the slower of the two days." The Jenkins will hold their second Farmington Show on September 3 and 4, the Labor Day weekend.