Diehard Collectors Swarm Wilton Summer Show

Diehard serious collectors mingled with savvy summer shoppers in the 8 am early buying line.

On a weekend featuring the hottest weather since 2002, an early start at the Wilton Outdoor Antiques Marketplace on Saturday, June 25, ensured that showgoers would be able to thoroughly shop the Allen's Meadows field before the hottest part of the day.

As a result, said show manager Marilyn Gould, early buying numbers were up 10-15 percent over last year. "If the rest of the day had kept pace with the 8 am to 1:30 pm numbers, we would have had a much stronger show," said Gould, who noted that even the hardiest treasure hunters began leaving the field after 2 pm. Overall, the show's combined weekend gate was down only slightly, by about 50 people, according to Gould, over last year's event, which benefited from a halcyon mix of sunshine and temperatures in the 70s.

Wilton is known as one of the nation's premier outdoor shows, and this year it presented nearly 120 high-end antiques and fine art dealers in room settings under tents. The event is a key fundraiser for the Wilton Kiwanis and Wilton YMCA and offers everything from country and period formal American and European furniture to decorative arts, ceramics, silver, jewelry, folk and fine art, toys and garden architectural items, furniture and statuary.

The latter category was a strong suit at the show for Dan and Kathy Roe. "We're very thankful," said Kathy Roe, who, with husband Dan hails from Springfield, Ill. The Roes specialize in Americana, textiles and garden furniture. At Wilton, they sold an antique life-size crushed stone statue of Apollo the Hunter to a private collector from Connecticut. The late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century statue was set on a 15-by-15-inch square base, was rendered in exquisite detail and including base stood 64 inches tall, according to Kathy Roe. To another private Connecticut collector, the Roes sold two crushed stone statues representing "Summer" and "Fall," and they sold a crushed stone garden fountain as well. "We were pleased with the show," said Kathy Roe. "We noticed good buying activity, and had customers right up until closing on Sunday."

"The show was extraordinary, my best Wilton ever, and the second best show of my 26-year career," said Victor Weinblatt, the impresario of painted furniture and folk art from South Hadley, Mass. "Marilyn Gould's superb advertising and reputation brought out every major buyer in Fairfield County and all the right buyers from Manhattan."

Every category moved with incredible vitality, said Weinblatt. "We sold four game boards, including a signed Connecticut four-color checkerboard. Painted furniture was as strong as I have ever seen it in my time. We sold a polychrome three-door, two-drawer, paneled step back cupboard, a two-tier round country table in apple green, a scalloped diminutive blanket box in apple green, a diminutive jelly cupboard in Prussian blue with a picture frame molding, a two-color green step back bakery display rack with gilded letters; a green and white two-door server, a tapered leg farm table, a blanket box in robin's-egg blue, several monumentally scaled gearform sand cast molds, three mid-Nineteenth Century weavers skarns, a barber's razor-form trade sign, a gilded diminutive Nineteenth Century mortar and pestle druggist's sign - with the fortuitous name of Dr Champagne on it - several other painted wood signs, a good part of a circa 1900 heart motif chocolate mold collection, several hooked rugs, an Art Deco educational poster from the 1930s with the CPW skyline, and a host of folk art carvings and smalls."

Weinblatt further noted that new collectors were a big part of the buying activity. "A positive barometer for the future was the high percentage of strong affluent young buyers in their 20s and 30s, many of them the children of collectors we have sold to for decades," said Weinblatt. "We have seen the future, and it is Wilton."

The dealer's comment about the role that advertising plays in shows like Wilton was underlined by the positive experience of a new Wilton exhibitor, Jason Hietala, Bolton, Mass., who specializes in Seventeenth, Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century American furniture.

"Because it was our first ever Connecticut show, we decided to place a full-page ad in the Wilton show section of the Bee," said Hietala. "We received seven phone calls about many of our featured items."

But the kicker came on Saturday when a Midwestern collector showed up at Hietala's booth to prove the powerful lure of advertising. "One gentleman from Ohio put a hold on our period Queen Anne blockfront dressing table," said Hietala. "He drove more than 600 miles to the show to see the piece and was standing in our booth three minutes after the early buyers were let in. He quickly bought the dressing table, along with a Hepplewhite wing chair. He said the piece exceeded his expectations, which made us feel great considering the time and energy he invested into coming out here."

Our other sales for Hietala included a pipe box, a Hepplewhite card table and a rare Queen Anne footstool. "This was the best show we've done in a long time, and we will definitely be back next year," the dealer said.

Commented Diane DeMango, Hietala's business manager and fiancé: "I was impressed by the management - the show was very well organized. The load-in was staggered so you didn't block your neighbors while setting up. The load-out was just as easy. Marilyn Gould came over to greet us before the show started. She thanked us for doing the show and complimented us on our booth setup. As newcomers, we really appreciated the warm welcome."

Another furniture dealer, Wayne Pratt of Woodbury, Conn., also reported a successful weekend. According to Pratt, the gate was excellent despite the hot weather. "Marilyn did a great job and even had a water truck set up in the parking lot to control the dust in the parking lot," he said. "We sold a set of Windsor chairs and a Queen Anne chair, along with several other smaller pieces. We purchased some great items and look forward to going back next year."

There were a number of new faces at Wilton, among them Donna East of Worcester, Mass. "I had a very nice show despite the very hot weather," said East. "I sold a rare Black Forest console table along with a Black Forest bear umbrella stand. I also sold a circa 1923 Herschell carousel horse. Sales also included many nice smalls. Overall, I would call the show a great success. I look forward to next June at Wilton."

Another new dealer, David N. Salkin of Philadelphia, had a good outing showing his classic Chinese antiques. "The show went well for me," said Salkin. "I have never done a show in the Wilton area before and I found the attendees to be really interested, curious and informed. It is a very sophisticated - and a very beautiful - area and I thought my collection was well received."

Salkin added that he would characterize his best sales not on the basis of what sold, as much as who bought. "A lovely couple with four good eyes bought a very important late Ming altar table and an Eighteenth Century coffer," he said. "It is very rewarding to sell to people who really seem interested in the pieces from an historical as well an aesthetic perspective. I delivered the pieces to their home, and it was very exciting to see them in really spectacular rooms." Salkin also sold a very rare, Eighteenth/Nineteenth Century horseshoe back arm chair to a New York City antiques dealer.

"The Wilton Outdoor show was quite successful for us," said William and Theresa Kurau, historical china specialists from Lampeter, Penn. "The people who braved the heat and were not scared off by the weather reports were serious collectors and there to buy," said Bill Kurau. "We sold historical Staffordshire, several pieces of spatterware decorated with an eagle and shield, historical textiles from the 1830-40 period, colored Sandwich glass in various forms and other Anglo American ceramics. We also had serious interest in a fine grouping of Liverpool pitchers that we brought to the show. This has been our best Wilton Outdoor show to date."

Mad River Antiques, North Granby, Conn., ended up having a very good show. "Our best summer Wilton yet," said Lorraine German, who with her husband Steve bring American country, textiles and stoneware. "Sunday was slow, but sales on Saturday were better than we expected, given the weather conditions. We'd anticipated that the heat would turn Saturday into an 8 am to 12 pm show, but we were pleasantly surprised to see customers coming through our tent right up to closing. As a matter of fact, most of our best sales were between 1 and 4 pm."

Among Mad River's sales were four "very good" pieces of stoneware, a corner cupboard and a wonderfully carved Nineteenth Century cookie print, according to Lorraine German. "I think my favorite sale of the day was to a woman who fell in love with our early topsy-turvy doll - she said that her grandmother had had one when the woman was little, but it has since been lost; seeing our doll brought back a lot of happy memories," said the dealer.

Jim and Debbie Richardson, Westport, Conn., said, "All in all, we had a good show. We made a lucky sale as we were packing to leave. Setup was slow, probably because of the heat - tent flaps went down earlier than usual."

It is a long way from Wilton to Cape Town, South Africa. But the impact of a special display that was set up next door to Judith and James Milne will be felt among children who are affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic for some time to come. Circle of Friends is six women from the Ipswich-Beverly, Mass., area who formed a group two years ago to create colorful crafts such as quilts, pillows, dolls and other textile items, to sell and to send the proceeds to help those in need. Three of the women - president Dottie Winn, Linda Lynch and Eleanor Sperry - were on hand Saturday. "We did have a successful sale in spite of the very hot weather," said Winn.

"One of our more interesting sales was a flag quilt, which we made from a host of scraps given us by friends. It was bought by a woman from Connecticut who was going to use it to begin a flag collection for her daughter and create a patriotic room in her home."

Another sale was a light purple doll basket. Recalled Winn, "Lydia, a young girl of about 5,visited our booth every hour to gaze at this particular doll bed. She announced to everyone that this bed was going to be hers and no one else should buy it. She even convinced another customer to choose a different bed so as to keep the purple one for herself. Finally, her mother - another dealer - came over to see the bed her daughter loved so much. She looked at it, but did not buy it. Along came another customer and purchased the bed. Five minutes later the mother returned and said she would buy the bed for her daughter and put it away until Christmas. We had to tell her it was sold, but we agreed to make a special order of another one for Lydia and send it to her. All ended well, and we got two sales out of one doll basket."

For Patricia Funt Antiques, New Canaan, Conn., the Wilton show this year was one with a "lot of questions, measuring, writing, bargaining and little monetary exchange," according to Patricia Funt. In her opinion, the gate seemed off and, more important, people seemed to have a most unfortunate buying resistance.

In their eclectic booth, the Funts, Patricia and Ken, were showing, among other items, a builder's model, circa 1920, of the "Swordfish," a British carrier-based torpedo bomber which was instrumental in sinking the Bismarck in World War II.

"My favorite sale, on the brighter side," added Patricia Funt, "was from a lovely couple whose 'thinking' turned to purchasing the day after the show ended. The after-show sales are always a surprise."

Show promoter Gould said there are no major changes in the offing for next year's outdoor show, although she may go back to the earlier weekend dates. Her next event is the Wilton DAR one-day show at the Wilton High School Field House on September 18.

For information, 203-762-3525.