More Than 130 Exhibit At Birchwood Manor

WHIPPANY, N.J.

:The Birchwood Manor Antiques Show - with more than 200 booths, more than 130 dealers gathering together for more than 30 years - is a show with strength and stability. JMK Shows' Jesse and Rona Kohler and, more recently, daughter Allison, have been producing the show twice each year since the early 1970s. In the beginning years, it was conducted at the famous old New Jersey road house turned banquet and meeting hall, the Meadow Brook, but in about 1980, the Meadow Brook was torn down and the manager went to the Birchwood Manor. The Kohlers followed with their shows.

The site offers a variety of large ballrooms for the exhibiting dealers, inside with air conditioning - a treat for summer antiques shows - with easy access and plenty of onsite parking. The most recent event, July 22-24, featured, according to Jesse Kohler, everything from Tang to Tiffany and lots in between.

For this biennial event, dealers bring extremely large collections of household decorative items and dining accoutrements for the refined collector. Offerings included Chinese art from 2,000 years ago, porcelain from Dresden of the Nineteenth Century and Art Deco pottery of the 1920s and 1930s. Furniture offerings were generally of the more elegant styles of Europe.

Adele Grodsky was there from her Fort Lauderdale, Fla., home with her collection of early electric lighting and decorative glass. Her best lamps at the show were Pairpoint, including an apple tree design, circa 1910, priced at $45,000. There was also some Tiffany art glass, along with Bradley and Hubbard lamps to peruse.

Englishman Geoff Jackson was there with an extensive assortment of Staffordshire and transfer ware from his native land. Now a resident of Stewartstown, Penn., he has been seen at many shows in America in recent years, while his son Kester does the shopping back in England. Just across the aisle from him, PKG Antiques of Stockton, N.J., had an Irish hutch for sale, in addition to a varied collection of small antique accessories.

Nancy Kasting seemed to be arranging for a home of the 1880s with a variety of household items, including an early globe and some walnut-face American clocks, known as gingerbread clocks. Elegant Reflections, a Chicago dealer, was offering antiques from the same time period but of a very elegant nature. The dealer, George McLeod, said his clock was a palace piece from about 1860-70, made of white Carrara marble with gilded bronze and in good working condition for $55,000.

Next to him was Antique Expo, the business of Luis Artivia, Largo, Fla., who offered French, English and American furniture of the Nineteenth Century. For this show and this marketplace, these dealers claimed, "We bring our most elegant antiques." The style offered by most dealers was Continental or European more than American country.

There were, however, many examples of the traditional American look of the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. Mimi's Antiques was offering a room setting booth filled with furniture of the look and feel of Boston or Williamsburg. Of particular note was a pair of Chippendale chairs with owls head back splats.

For a variety of offerings, this show takes the prize. Vickie Turbeville is a native New Yorker who trades exclusively in Native American jewelry and artifacts. She had an oversize booth filled with the jewelry and accessories. Gail Dunn, Waterville, Ohio, specializes in beaded purses. She had dozens, most of which were from 1900 to about 1930, all highly decorative and colorful.

David and Susan Byerly, Highpoint, N.C., have been doing shows since they were married, and before that David Byerly participated in his father's business. Now they shop in England and Europe for their inventory of furniture and a very broad collection of accessories. Kathy Rothschild-Jensen, a Chatham, N.J., dealer offered Victorian furniture. Liz Donnelly calls her business Dolls of Liz, and her collection is from many of the finest makers from about 1900. A couple examples at this show included a Kastner for $950 and a Simon Halbig for $895.

More specialists in this show seem to give it variety. Mary Ann Null offered several tables and showcases filled with, as she said it, "mostly Shelley, that's English bone china." Carol Ann Kooperman, Blue Bell, Penn., trades in majolica, the very colorful and pictorial porcelain from various European countries, most of it made in the 1800s.

Meg Chalmers and Judy Young are from Brewster, Mass., and have been collecting and trading pottery for many years. Their book, Saturday Evening Girls, is due to be published soon.

Marvin Baer is from Ridgewood, N.J., but, as with many antiques dealers, he probably is not there too often for all the shows he does. His collection is primarily porcelain and dishes from China. There was too much Rose Medallion to count and a great deal of Imari, Satsuma and Sumida from earlier periods.

Phoenix and Dragon is operated by Dale Sherman from Heathsville, Va. His merchandise was probably the oldest at the show and all from Asia. A stone statue of a horse lying with rider dated to 206 BC-220 AD and was priced at $4,400. Another horse sculpture, circa 550 AD, was $18,500. These pieces had attached to their stands a certification issued by the Chinese sellers as to what the piece was and its age.

Bill Union is a dealer of fine art and antiques, with an emphasis on art. He had one of the largest exhibits in the show and it was all art, generally oil on canvas paintings in original frames. He is a widely respected dealer, found at this and many other shows from Worcester, Mass.

The Kohlers also produce this show in early January, the next being January 6-8. As they have the next generation of the family in the business, they are still adding to their schedule with an Atlanta show at the Georgia World Congress Center on December 30 and 31 and January 1.

For information, 973-586-0820 or www.jmkshows.com.