The Pennsylvania Spring Antiques Show

YORK, PENN.

: "York in May and November will never be another New Hampshire experience, but Barn Star Productions is doing everything it can to make those two time periods positive and a worthwhile experience for the antiques buyer," Frank Gaglio, show manager, said after his two-day show closed at the York Expo Center on May 8. He filled the East Hall of the new building with 126 exhibitors and a display of mostly American furniture and accessories. Lots of painted pieces were available and if a dealer had objects of Pennsylvania origin, they were sure to be included in the booth.

Both Frank Gaglio, with his Pennsylvania Spring Antiques Show, and Jim Burk, with his Greater York Antiques Show, opened at 10 am on Friday. The shows are run side by side in two different halls and a metal openwork partition separates the two lobbies where people lined up prior to the opening.

Upon entering the show it was just about impossible to ignore the booth of David M. Evans of Cincinnati, Ohio. For there, right out in front, was a large version of Bugs Bunny, seated at a slant front desk and posed to either greet visitors or take pen in hand to write a letter. He brought a comment and smile from many of those who came to the show, and was still in command of the booth when the show closed on Saturday. Behind Bugs hung a needlework picture of an American eagle with shield, probably China Trade, framed and measuring 273/4 by 23 inches sight. A set of six fancy Sheraton side chairs in tiger maple, early Nineteenth Century, was among the furniture being offered.

Steve German of Mad River Antiques, North Granby, Conn., mention that sales were OK, but all smalls. He indicated that lots of interest had been shown in his country Chippendale/Hepplewhite transitional chest of drawers, old blue surface over the original red, with bracket feet. The piece dated from the early Nineteenth Century, measured 391/4 inches high, 38 inches wide and 191/8 inches deep, and was from Bergen County, N.J. Across the aisle Steve Smoot Antiques, Lancaster, Penn., showed a set of 19 carnival ball-toss figures from Lancaster, circa 1920, in the original clothing.

"This piece dates from the mid-Nineteenth Century and started life as a students' desk," Colette Donovan of Merrimacport, Mass., said referring to an eight-foot-long piece in old gray paint. At this stage the desk tops were missing, but "it is still wonderful and would make a great potting table, or something like that," she said. Over the years students had carved names and initials into the piece. Other furniture included a Queen Anne blanket chest, three fake drawers over three long drawers, inverted cupid's bow drop to the base, and in old red over gray over the original red. It was in pine and of New England origin.

The Norwoods' Spirit of America, Timonium, Md., had a number of weathervanes, including two sheet metal horses, and a yellow dog and two blue cats were woven into a hooked rug. In the next booth, Country Treasures of Preston, Md., a Moravian corner cupboard was attributed to Karsten Petersen of Salem, N.C., circa 1840. It had an old mustard interior and grained surface. The top of a three-board scrubbed-top table, circa 1820, Lancaster County, served as a display area for five large wooden bowls, some in green paint, others in old red.

A large basket that hung on the back wall in the booth of Gloria Lonergan of Mendham, N.J., was sold, along with several "other smalls, but no furniture," according to Gloria. Among the furniture offered was an early red-painted desk with sawbuck base, New England origin, and a pair of captain's chairs from a lodge, Windsor style, Nineteenth Century, in old blue paint.

"It was a window display for paint and wallpaper," Mark Moody of Shohola, Penn., said of the large model of a house he had on display. This building, complete with glass windows and a wraparound porch, dated circa 1920.

Salt Box Antiques, Sugarloaf, Penn., offered a Sheraton schoolmaster's desk in the original red paint, complete with pencil edge, and a mid-Nineteenth Century meal bin, original oxidized surface, pegged and square nail construction, from Dauphin County, Penn.

"Two different people wanted my paint decorated server," Paul Phillips of Bryn Mawr, Penn., said, "and one of them made the decision to buy it while a couple was still thinking." His booth is generally ticking away with a selection of clocks, and he offered a variety at York. An English tall case example, early Nineteenth Century, has an eight-day brass movement, oak case with satinwood and mahogany inlays, and measured 7 feet 10 inches high. The face was decorated with Masonic symbols. An American triple-decker shelf clock was by Brige, Mallory & Co., Bristol, Conn. It dated circa 1834-43 and retained the original reverse painted glass tablet featuring a white house with red roof and large trees in the foreground.

There were a number of pie safes at the show, including two in the booth of John T. Roth American Antiques, Milan, Ohio. One was from Wythe County, Va., with two doors each with four punched tin panels, and the other was from Virginia with four panels on each side and eight in the front.

Reilly and Jenks, Inc, New Oxford, Penn., showed a corner cupboard, Queen Anne, pegged construction with a 12-light door over one long drawer and two paneled doors. It was in yellow, with trim and drawer fronts in old blue. A corner cupboard signed Rupp, Hanover, Penn., was in the other corner of the booth, plume and sponge decorated, with a nine-light door in the top over three drawers and two doors in the lower section. The finish was original, as were the porcelain pulls.

Two blanket chests, one in yellow paint, Albany County, N.Y., bracket base, circa 1790, and the other from New England, snipe hinges, circa 1760, dry attic surface, were in the booth of Colleen Kinloch Antiques of Laurel, Md. Gold Goat of Rhinebeck, N.Y., had a number of wooden weathervanes including a small elephant and a swordfish, and a Drunkard's Path quilt, New York State, red and black, dated from the early Twentieth Century and hung against the back wall.

A New England Sheraton yellow dressing table, with green freehand leaf decoration, was accompanied by a pair of matching side chairs, all done by the same hand. They were found together and were being offered together by A Bird In Hand of Florham Park, N.J. An interesting cast-iron architectural element, Tree of Life, was hung on the back wall with four screws due to the weight of the object. For decorative reasons it had been converted into a mirror.

Ted and Jennifer Fuehr of American Spirit Antiques, Shawnee Mission, Kan., had some interesting furniture including a Rhode Island seven-drawer tiger maple tall chest, two short drawers over five long drawers, circa 1780, with dovetailed bracket base, and a Vermont sideboard in cherry wood and tiger maple, two drawers over two recessed panel doors. It dated circa 1815-20 and was probably from the Shaftsburg area.

"I was the lucky one," Judd Gregory of Dorset, Vt., said, as by noon on Saturday he had experienced a very good show. Among his sales were a Philadelphia lowboy, a William and Mary gate leg table from Virginia, a couple of paintings, and a woolie. Paul and Karen Wendhiser of Ellington, Conn., indicated the show had been good for them as well. Sales had included a two-board breadboard-end sawbuck table and a 13-star naval flag, circa 1870.

Portraits of Mr and Mrs Peace by W.W. Kennedy, 1847, signed on the reverse, hung in the booth of Patricia Stauble Antiques of Wiscasset, Maine, and Shirley Chambers, Westford, Mass. They also offered a large carved and gilded pilot house eagle dating from the mid 1800's.

Don Heller of Woodbury, Conn., showed a cast iron and painted eagle, large size with folded wings, once the logo of The White Eagle Oil Co and used at gas station locations. The firm, headquartered in Kansas City, was bought by Standard Oil, circa 1930. A set of brilliant chrome yellow fanciful side chairs, shell decoration, was accompanied by the original bill of sale, 1839.

"Red Sails" was the name given to a hooked rug shown by Robert Snyder and Judy Wilson, Wiscasset, Maine. This rug showed a sailboat with black hull, bright red sails, 331/4 by 191/2 inches, of Maine origin and in excellent condition. A barber pole in first paint came from Montpelier, Vt., 37 inches tall, complete with the original mounting bracket.

Pennsylvania furniture was brought to the show by Joseph Lodge, Souderton, Penn., including a table with 25-inch-wide board top, turned legs, circa 1840, and a chest in chrome yellow with compass decoration, original condition, circa 1825. Causing visitors to stop and smile was an animated Amish farm scene, complete with a nodding horse, man raking a garden, and other moving figures, shown by Bill Powell, American Antiques, Franklin, Texas. A number of early signs decorated the walls including ones for Strawberries, Ice Cream, Bar Room, Beauty Shoppe, Palm & Card Reading, and Rabbits - Dressed or Alive.

West Chicago exhibitor Patriot House Antiques, offered a Southern Ohio eight-tin pie safe, mid-Nineteenth Century, walnut scraped to the original green paint, and an early Nineteenth Century chair table with pegged two-board top and shoe-foot.

Furniture filled the booth of Birchknoll Antiques, Humarack, Mass., including a pair of pine and maple four-post beds, circa 1860; a New England Queen Anne tiger maple flattop highboy, circa 1750, and a Chippendale slant lid desk in maple dating from the late Eighteenth Century.

A very nice harvest table of New England origin, original red paint, turned legs, circa 1850, was shown by Garthoeffner Gallery, Lititz, Penn., along with a large hooked rug with standing dog in the center, circa 1850, and a sampler worked by Sally Allen, age 11, silk on linen, with a basket of fruit, tulips and flowering trees and strawberry edge motif.

From Mercer, Penn., Chuck White Folk Art and Antiques presented a paint decorated sack back Windsor armchair, circa 1780, with Nineteenth Century paint over Eighteenth Century red. It was from either Connecticut or Rhode Island. A large house and sulky weathervane, circa 1880, "as found" condition, had a painted man in the driver's seat.

Costa and Currier of Portsmouth, N.H., offered a nine-panel door from an early home in Kittery, Maine, and a nice pair of bow back Windsor side chairs, seven spindles, red decoration, probably of Vermont origin. In a neighboring booth, Autumn Pond Antiques of Woodbury, Conn., showed a maple and pine tavern table, New England origin, circa 1740, with original surface. "Zeke Liverant sold this table to a private collector 20 years ago," Norma Chick said. As usual she had a collection of delft tiles, some in a fireplace surround, and a number of weathervanes including a nice plow, American, circa 1870.

In addition to a number of America flags, Jeff Bridgman of Dillsburg, Penn., had a pair of matching paint decorated stools, circa 1860; a green and yellow decorated blanket box with two drawers at the bottom; and a yellow country Hepplewhite dressing table with two-tier glove box on top.

A large meat market sign, red letters on white, was mounted over a pair of sheet iron longhorn silhouettes, part of a farm fence from Middlebury, Vt., in the display of Otto and Susan Hart, Arlington, Vt. An interesting pair of downspouts, Nineteenth Century, zinc with the original surface, was in the form of gargoyles.

American Garage traveled to York from Los Angeles and "had a great show." Eight Pennsylvania frakturs were sold, all to one person, and other sales included a circa 1820 cobbler's bench with the original leather seat and in old green paint, and two Nineteenth Century fish bowls. A pair of spade-shaped barn vents in old green and a wonderful early 1900s child's wheelbarrow was in bittersweet and black paint with the initials LJS.

"I was very happy with our show, we had a reasonable gate and the dealers did their best," Frank Gaglio said. His next show in York will be in the fall, November 5-6, but so far he has not announced his hours. As for returning to York in May, "I will be there and during the same time period as this time," he said. He had no intention of moving to the Memorial Day weekend, as Jim Burk has announced he will be doing with his Greater York Antiques Show.

Dates for the May show will also be announced in the future.