Granite State Show Gets Off To A Good Start

BEDFORD, N.H.

:The Granite State Antiques Show, the second Flamingo Promotions event during Antiques Week in New Hampshire, got off to a fairly good start on Thursday, August 11, with about 150 people on line when the show opened at 1 pm. Under the management of John and Tina Bruno, a different flight of exhibitors moved into The Event Center at C.R. Sparks for this two-day show. "This time we had 25 exhibitors, not 35 as we had for Start of Manchester, but the show is only two years old and we are still building," John said. According to the Brunos, the show was good the first day, "but it fell flat on Friday, indicating that a change was necessary."

In 2006, The Granite State Show will be reduced to one day, Thursday, and the Granite State Book and Ephemera Show, presently two days and staged at the JFK Coliseum in Manchester, will be only one day, Friday, and moved to the Sparks Center. "We will have everything under one roof and in a neat, air-conditioned facility," John said, "a real plus when one considers the temperatures we have been experiencing during the past two years."

While Antiques Week in New Hampshire is, for the most part, American country and some formal, the entrance to The Granite State Show was a complete change with Stickley and Limbert taking center stage. Mark Eckhoff of New Hope, Penn., showed an even arm settle in oak, circa 1910, original leather upholstery, Charles P. Limbert, along with a Gustav Stickley dining table, 54 inches in diameter, signed with burned-in joiners compass.

A collection of candle molds of various sizes, along with a selection of mocha pitchers, was offered from the booth of Wayside Antiques, Marlboro, Mass. A carved wood mantel dated circa 1840, and a two-leaf work table, two drawers, was of maple. B&B Johnson Antiques, Greenwich, Conn., was showing for the first time a Massachusetts sideboard in mahogany, circa 1800, in "as found" condition. Coming right out of a local home, this piece measured 67 inches long and 38 inches high. From the same house came a red painted and decorated tole plate warmer on cast penny feet. A second sideboard with nine drawers, circa 1800, was of New Hampshire or Massachusetts origin, and an American Chippendale mirror, circa 1780, probably Connecticut, had a phoenix at the top.

A collection of butter stamps in the booth of John Rogers Antiques, Elkins, N.H., featured carved swans, eagles, wheat, cows and stars, while a selection of cookie boards showed fancy dressed figures. An Elgin National coffee mill retained all of its original surface.

The largest object in the show was a canoe shown by Canoeclub Antiques of Port Jefferson, N.Y. Painted green, this 1908 Robertson had been fully restored and once belonged to the president of Old Town Boats. Within the last five years it had played a bit part in a segment on the Martha Stewart Show.

The largest painting in the show hung in the booth of The Renaissance Fine Art Group of Tampa, Fla. It measured 32 by 72 inches, oil on canvas, titled "God's Creation of the High Sierra's" by Paul Grimn (1893-1974), California. It is signed verso and in the original Newcomb-Macklin frame.

"The Granite State Show needs work, and we are giving it plenty and moving up," John said of his show. It will be a day shorter next year, and "there will be some new faces."