'Cape Cod's Hottest Show'

ORLEANS, MASS.

: Billed as "Cape Cod's Hottest Show," the Cape Cod Antiques Dealers Association's (CCADA) show, which took place over the weekend of August 5, lived up to its reputation once again. Blistering heat was hanging over the Cape for set-up on Friday and although temperatures dropped somewhat over the course of the weekend, it was still a hot one.

As is in past years, CCADA's pun rang true again as a great selection of antiques were presented, thus making it the hot spot to be shopping on the Cape. Great country smalls were seen in a wide variety of booths along with a good selection of art, formal furniture, ceramics and folk art.

Now in its 35th year, the CCADA show has built a solid reputation over the years with a broad selection of dealers that do shows throughout the Northeast, and also a handful of dealers that only do shows on the Cape, thus providing a fresh look and unseen merchandise.

The show started in grand style early on Friday afternoon with a large crowd awaiting the 5 pm opening. "The heat was brutal on Friday night," exclaimed one dealer, "but we had a lot of 'be-backs' return to the show over the course of the weekend." Several of the dealers reported a good opening, others said Saturday was good and others reported sales right up until pack out. The temperatures subsided a little for Saturday and Sunday was reported as "comfortable."

Local Cape dealers Charles and Barbara Adams have been doing the show for more than 20 years and they reported a strong show selling items across the board, "except we didn't sell a single piece of Bennington," stated Barbara after the show. The dealers, who specialize in Bennington pottery, reported getting things off to a good start when the CCADA show section came out in the July 22 issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly. "We got a call from Punta Gorda, Fla., before we even got our copy of The Bee and they bought the painting on sail cloth of a Nantucket whaler that we had advertised," stated Charley Adams. The dealers further reported selling a bucket bench, a couple chairs, baskets, stoneware, paintings and a couple pieces of blue spongeware once the doors to the show had opened.

Steve and Lorraine German of Mad River Antiques also reported a strong show selling right from the opening on Friday night straight through to Sunday. "When they say it is not over till its over, I now know what they mean," said Lorraine. "We had a customer come back ten minutes after the show had closed on Sunday night and bought an Adirondack blanket box from us." The neat box was clad with birch bark that had been decorated with flying geese, an American shield and other folky renderings.

Artwork by the Cahoon family is always a staple of the paintings market on the Cape and several prime examples were offered at the show including a wonderful tole tray offered by Diamond Antiques and Fine Art. Ralph Cahoon had a reputation for painting on found objects and this tray was one of the better examples seen as of late. The tray was decorated with a sailor napping on the shore while four mermaids playfully squirt and splash water on him. Diamond also offered an oil on board by Harold Brett titled "Scallops in October" depicting two fishermen outside their shanty, and a beach scene of a man at his dory titled "Mending the sail" by George Elmer Brown.

CCADA president Roy Mennell of Bradford Trust Fine Art and Antiques also had a couple Cahoons on his walls filled with art. A Martha Cahoon whimsical painting depicting two young girls in bonnets picking flowers and titled "Sunbonnet Sues" was attracting attention, as was a more serious landscape by Charles Cahoon.

Allen Hanson was smartly armed with her hand-fan that CCADA presented to showgoers last year that boldly proclaimed the show "Hot," and when she wasn't busy putting it to good use, she was busy with customers. The dealer offered a good selection of Americana including a later fish weathervane, a small sawbuck table in old white paint, an assortment of baskets, hooked rugs and paintings.

Orleans, Mass., dealers Charles and Frances Szeglin rarely do shows anymore and they featured a good collection of "lighting and Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century wrought and cast objects of the hearth." A good selection of early iron cookware and fireplace tools such as wrought iron toasters, skillets, kettles, andirons and an assortment of ladles filled one entire area of the booth, while another wall featured an impressive selection of Betty lamps and other early lighting devices.

Nautical items are always popular in the area and accordingly The Barometer Shop was a popular stopover for those in attendance. A large selection of barometers in a wide variety of forms were displayed including an American stick barometer by C. Wilder of Peterborough, N.H., circa 1860. Numerous English examples were also offered including a circa 1790 stick barometer by D. Jones, a marine barometer by Dolland, and a stick barometer by T&H Doublet, circa 1870.

This show is but one of several events taking place in the area during the surrounding weeks making the Cape a prime draw for vacationers that love antiques. Auctions include sales at Ted Harmon's Decoys Unlimited, Americana, Sporting and Marine auctions over the course of two weekends at Eldred's, Rafael Osona's marine auction on Nantucket, The Nantucket Historical Association's antiques show and The Chatham Antiques Show.