: Under clear blue August skies with not a cloud in sight and
unseasonably mild temperatures, the Maine Antiques Dealers
Association's Coastal Show, a Wednesday affair that took place
August 25, opened to an anxious crowd. "We have been awful lucky
here," stated one dealer. "The weather has been just like this
every year since the show first started."
The well-received one-day show features primarily country
furniture and accessories displayed by more than 120 dealers. It
takes place at Round Top Center for the Arts, an arts colony of
sorts, and it offers both indoor and outdoor booths. Some of the
booths are housed in the barn and others in the farmhouse that
serves as headquarters and gallery for the colony. Others are
situated around the grounds under large pavilion-style tents that
accommodate up to a dozen dealers, some bring their own "pop-up"
tents and there a few holdouts that opt for the plein air look
and set up in the wide open.
Les Dumond with his "Nester" rocker.
The show is incredibly popular with the locals and
vacationers and each year since its inception it has attracted
upwards of 1,500 people. This year was no exception and as the show
prepared to open at 9:30 am, a long line of patrons waited
patiently at two separate entrances. The crowd was ready to buy as
sold tags began appearing moments after the show opened. Crowded
booths spurred some frenzy buying, other local homeowners seemed to
take their time selecting their purchases. Weathervanes, blanket
boxes, paintings, Maine redware, painted furniture and baskets
moved off the field at a rapid pace early on. Sales went
uninterrupted throughout the day as people continued to pour into
the show right up until closing time at 4 pm.
"This show has attendance that starts strong in the morning and
continues throughout the entire day," stated one dealer. By
midday people attending the show had caused quite a traffic jam,
something that this small town is unaccustomed to. With a
"Woodstockian" look, a never ending stream of buyers were forced
to park their cars up to a half a mile away and hike back to the
show.
Dealers were kept busy throughout the event. Odd Fellows Art and
Antiques got the day off to a brisk start with the sale of a
six-board blanket box with bootjack ends that measured roughly
six feet in length. They also sold a display with four mounted
fish decoys gayly painted in red and white and graduating in size
from 14 inches to 6.
Jack and Ray Van Gelder had a big mound of early baskets neatly
arranged around the tent pole in their booth. One lady entered
the booth shortly after opening and purchased more than half of
the nice country examples. Cheryl and Paul Scott reported brisk
sales with an unusual three-drawer night stand selling along with
an eagle weathervane, a couple carved birds and numerous smalls.
"It is interesting to see where the furthest checks are from,"
said Cheryl, who had already received one from a Maryland
vacationer.
Nautical items, which were jokingly referred to as the last
remnants of boats once owned, were offered by William Sandberg
along with a large assortment of paintings of both nautical and
local interest. A watercolor of the battleship Maine sold
early and interest was being expressed in an Alfred Fuller
watercolor of the local legendary Monhegan Island.
Other items seem around the field included a nice pair of large
stoneware jars in the booth of Wenham Cross that were marked in
bold letters "Bowers Three Thistles Snuff" and an interesting
Pennsylvania work table in old blue paint with chamfered legs
that folded.
Liberty Tree Antiques.
Across the way Otto and Sue Hart displayed a variety of
merchandise including an assortment of folk art wooden carvings
that ranged from Outsider looking figures of people to an ornate
tree-form dresser mirror with punch decorated ground. The dealers
also offered a wonderful lidded Indian basket with extraordinary
green paint and pine tree decoration.
Burton Pearl displayed an impressive selection of country
merchandise ranging from a nice stand in black paint to a
stunning assortment of Maine redware including a small flared
mouth jar in vibrant green by Safford, an ovoid jar with green
ground and tan decoration by Kendrick, a small cream colored
straight sided jar and a wonderful jug in light green with brown
splotches.
A red painted crib that had a removable side and doubled as a day
bed or sofa sold quickly from the booth of Costa and Currier, and
a nice Maine grain painted Sheraton table with a set of a six
thumb backs with nice paint decoration were offered by Country
Squire.
The Coastal Maine Antiques show is a neat event that takes place
in a neat location. Its return the last week of August in 2005
will surely be highly anticipated.
