Riverside; Best Opening Gate In Years

MANCHESTER, N.H.

: What everyone wants to hear is "better than last year," and that is just what Linda Turner was saying as her Riverside Antiques Show closed on Thursday, August 11, at the Executive Court Banquet Facility next to the Best Western Inn. The gate was up and the selling was also up for a good percentage of the exhibitors. "We had many people return to the show this year, more than last year, and there was a good deal of late buying after the people had visited all of the other shows," Linda said.

The three-day show opened on Tuesday, August 9, at 5 pm and the line, despite the heat, started forming at 2 pm. By the time of opening the line went the length of the parking lot and bent towards the main gate of the facility. "Some of the people were forced to wait in the road," Linda said, "as the sprinkler system came on and covered a portion of the sidewalk near the parking lot." At the stroke of five the line moved in, with more people heading for the tent than for the convention center. "We had two crews selling tickets in line, and I know one of them sold 400 tickets so we had more first-day visitors than ever before," she said. It took six minutes for the line to completely make it into the show.

A selection of early New England furniture was presented in the booth of Halsey Munson Antiques, Decatur, Ill., including a splay leg tea table in old soft surface, maple base, turned legs and two board oval top. It was of Connecticut origin and dated circa 1756. An early Eighteenth Century tavern table with a one board oval top and maple base was from Essex County, Mass. It retained some of the orangy-red paint on the base and on the underside of the top.

A lift top storekeeper's desk in pine, originally from New Hampshire, was in the booth of The Rathbun Gallery, Wakefield, R.I. A country Sheraton table with three board top and breadboard ends, pine with birch turned legs, measured 67 inches long, and a painted tramp art birdcage, 211/4 inches high, was 31/2 stories with hip and dormered roof.

Plenty and Grace Be to This Place, Greene, Maine, offered a set of four grain painted saber leg dining chairs with cane seats, Maine, circa 1820, and perfect for this summer weather was a complete croquet set, circa 1900, in the original wooden box.

Claude and Sharon Baker, 1848 House, Hamilton, Ohio, showed a William and Mary pine chest with bun feet, two short drawers over three long, 37 inches high and 33 inches wide, along with a Chippendale eight-day tall case clock with moon face calendar. The clock was late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century and was by John Esterly, New Holland, Penn.

Antiques at Hillwood Farm, Pecatonica, Ill., and Blue Dog Antiques, Stafford Springs, Conn., shared a booth and filled it with a large selection of both furniture and accessories. Most of the back wall of the booth was taken up by a chimney breast from Connecticut, Eighteenth Century, in the original blue paint. An early Eighteenth Century work tavern table with breadboard end top, Massachusetts origin, bore a Roger Bacon provenance.

"We had a very good first day, but today is just hot," Karen Olson of Newburgh, N.Y., said on the last day of the show. Daniel Olson listed a painting of a girl, four pieces of painted tole, several pieces of redware pottery, an Eighteenth Century candlestand and a one-drawer Hepplewhite stand as first-day sales.

Hanging in the corner of the booth was a two-sided trade sign from Mountainville, N.Y., Lower Hudson Valley, circa 1860-80. It showed some wear on one side, but facing out was a well-preserved announcement for A. Bennet, Blacksmith and Wheelwright, complete with a large painted anvil in the center. A set of six Hitchcock type side chairs, pillow backs and plank seats, was in yellow paint with leaf decoration.

"I have sold a number of frames, several paintings, and a tiger maple stand," John Gould of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., said after the second day of the show, but was still offering a New Hampshire high chest of drawers by Peter Bartlett Bondy. Against the side wall was a Massachusetts or Connecticut bow front four-drawer chest, cherrywood with inlay, circa 1800.

When asked how many pieces of pewter were offered from his booth this time, Melvyn Wolf of Flint, Mich., estimated 300-400. His wife, Bette, was not happy with the answer and did an actual count, coming up with just short of 500. "We had a terrific Tuesday," Melvyn said, "selling over 40 pieces and some very expensive and important ones at that." At the end of the show, Bette did another count, this time of sold pieces, and noted "we sold 12 percent of our stock." Among the best pieces offered were two sugar bowls, one by William Will of Philadelphia, 1764-98, and the second one, also from Philadelphia, 1795-1819, with beading around the lip of the bowl.

Brad Selinger Antiques, East Berlin, Penn., offered a Nineteenth Century blanket chest with ogee bracket feet, red and ochre painted surface, original eagle brasses, one drawer and an interior til. A Pennsylvania corner cupboard, 46 inch corner and 86 inches tall, dated from the mid Nineteenth Century and was in the original paint. It has a 16 light door and was of two pieces.

Pomfret Center, Conn., dealer Erik D. Wohl showed an early Nineteenth Century Windsor bench in Victorian black over the original black, supported on eight legs. A pair of Windsor side chairs, painted arrow backs, retained the original gold lined surface, and a sled fragment in red was decorated with birds at top and bottom, with a floral design in the center.

Bob Haneberg of East Lyme, Conn., was having a good show, selling several pieces of furniture including a corner cupboard with arched center door and applied molding and a drop leaf stand in flame birch; along with a whirligig; four paintings; and several other small objects including a carved bust with hearts and stars. Against the back wall was an Essex County, Massachusetts, maple Queen Anne highboy with cabriole legs and replaced brasses and a New England step back cupboard, two pieces, two doors over two doors, had the paint removed but still showed traces of white.

"I have sold a number of things, but no furniture," Douglas Constant of Orient, N.Y., said on Wednesday afternoon. His sales included a gun with tiger maple stock and brass hardware, a large Pennsylvania quilt, and some pottery. Furniture offered included a William and Mary two-drawer blanket chest, all original with bun feet, and a New England Queen Anne chair in maple, circa 1730, with old surface. Of interest was a painted chest with three panels in the front that came out of a house in Crisfield, Md. "I received a phone call and went there to look at some artwork, which turned out to be of no value," Douglas said. He mentioned that at the foot of the bed was this early chest, filled with doll clothes, and asked the lady if it was for sale. He left Maryland with it.

"It's been a good show and that flat wall cupboard will be on its way to Cincinnati after the show," David Evans said. The cupboard, in an old green/gray painted surface, bold cornice, bracket base design, dated from the early Nineteenth Century and was probably of Pennsylvania origin. At the front of the booth was a New England tea table in old red, single board top measuring 371/4 by 271/2 inches, Rhode Island-style Windsor turned legs, dating from the late Eighteenth Century.

A 50-drawer apothecary in dry white paint, cut nail construction, circa 1830, was shown by Jim and Victoria Emele Antiques of Dublin, Penn. The pattern of the drawers was five across and ten down, and the piece came from a port office in Sellersville, Penn. One corner of the booth was filled with a cherrywood cupboard, Hepplewhite feet, carved roundels below a cornice retaining a unique band of figured cherrywood, circa 1815 and measuring 7 feet 6 inches tall.

Pewter bowls and chargers filled a large wall rack with crusty old red paint, leaf and vive decoration, in the display of Charles and Lucille Berg Antiques, South Easton, Mass. Of interest was a tilt top tea table with tripod base and monkey paw feet, Nineteenth Century and of New England origin.

Among the furniture offered by Birchknoll of Wolfeboro, N.H., was a Chippendale high chest of drawers, maple and tiger maple, six drawers on bracket base, old refinish, and a Chippendale slant lid desk, also in maple and tiger maple, step back gallery and probably of New Hampshire origin.

Early signs are always popular, and often good sellers, and testing the market was Antiques on Eleven of Verona, Va. Advertising on the walls included Boats For Rent, Dutchess Trousers, Orchard Hill Cottage on a tree-shaped sign and Maine's Best From Hillcrest, an egg-shaped sign depicting a hatching chick.

Manchester, N.H., based Klassic Kace did not have far to travel to replenish the booth, a chore Frank Kace did several times. "We had a very good show, sold well the opening day and then things did slow down a bit," Sharon said. Included among their sales was a folk art wooden and polychromed carving of the upper body of a black man holding a snake, a piece that was hung in the middle of the booth and received much attention. "One man came back the next day and asked where the snake was, and I told him it had been sold. He said he had come back to buy it, but I told him he was too late," Sharon said. Others sales included two hooked rugs; a painted butter churn; a Civil War soldier cookie cutter; and two lamps, one in the form of an apple tree, the other a polar bear. Still available on Wednesday were three Pennsylvania banded christening boxes, one showing a stork and a swaddling wrapped baby, and a tiny oil lamp, cast iron, in the shape of a teapot with heart shaped fob hanging from the handle and heart design on the base. "I have never seen one like it," Sharon said. With Frank, she was one of the founders of the Riverside Antiques Show when it started in the armory on Canal Street.

"We have had a very good show," Neil Quinn of Floral Park, N.Y., said, opting to Mary to give the details of their sales. She had a long list that included an Amish mat; punched tin candle lantern; Shaker measure from Sabath Day Lake; a wall box in old green paint; a large rabbit doorstop; a prancing horse doorstop; a fine set of red, white and blue Indian clubs; set of nine pins in red and yellow paint; sponge pitcher; and tin bread tray. At this point Neil said "enough." Still to be sold were a couple of hooked rugs, including a log cabin design; a vibrant penny rug; and an interesting weathervane from a barn in Setauket, Long Island, N.Y., of an owl on a quarter moon. It dated from the Nineteenth Century and was of wrought iron.

"The show has been slower for me than last year, but I have made a few sales," Brian Cullity of Sagamore, Mass., said. A candlestand, lighting, redware and treen had been sold, but still to find a buyer was a nice collection of nine miniature pieces of redware in the form of jars, jugs and pitchers. Dating from the Eighteenth Century was a wrought iron adjustable candlestand rush light, and hanging on the back wall was a schoolboy map of the United States, 1827, by Christopher Tilden.

John L. Long of Mineral, Va., has been a regular at Riverside for many years, offering a wide selection of furniture from both his part of the country and New England. Native to Massachusetts was a cherrywood and bird's-eye maple four-drawer chest with splash back and Sheraton turned feet, circa 1830-40, and miles away from Northampton County, N.C., came an elaborate mantel in yellow pine with pin-wheel design carved into the center. It dated circa 1800-1820.

A sampler from Miss Cornwall's School, Glastonbury, Conn., executed by Phylinda Matson, 1833, and two others from the Cropwell School, Burlington County, N.J., were among the samplers offered by The Fassnachts of Canandaigua, N.Y.

Herb Windle of Wilmington, Del., brought a selection of more formal furniture this time and it was "the wrong choice." He added "we are in the side room, apart from the main exhibition area, and many people never find us." Among the furniture shown was a desk from Chester, Vt., signed John Williams, February, 1824, made from several woods including butternut, mahogany, chestnut, bird's-eye maple and tiger maple. "We had the most interest in the one door cupboard, blue paint, from the Hudson River Valley," Herb said.

Sharing the same space was Jack Geishen of Chesterfield Antiques, Chesterfield, Mass., who offered a nice running horse weathervane, circa 1880, 41 inches long, with cast zinc head. He had sold two pieces in tiger maple, one a drop leaf table and the other a lap desk, as well as a lamp, several baskets and candlesticks.

Bradford Trust Fine Art from Harwich Port, Mass., showed "Sails at Dockside," an oil on canvas, 20 by 26 inches, by J.J. Enwright, born 1905. Mohegan Wharf was depicted in an oil on canvas by Edmund Franklin Ward (1892-1991), 20 by 24 inches and a 26-by-32-inch oil on canvas by William Otis Bemis (1819-1883), was titled "Cattle, Colorado."

"We have had a great show," said Steve German of Mad River Antiques, North Granby, Conn., who had a prime spot just inside the entrance to the convention center. An empty nail showed where a Hudson River valley sandpaper painting had hung, a work that was crisp, sparkling and in mint condition. Among other sales the first day were a blue painted blanket six-board chest with tall bootjack ends, a carved and painted decoy and a decorated document box.

David and Donna Kmetz, Douglas, Mass., filled their booth with a nice collection of small works of art including an American still life attributed to George Forster (1817-1896), oil on canvas, peaches, gooseberries and a bird's nest. John Miles was represented by "Woodland Stream," 1896, and George Laurence Nelson (1887-1978), "Summer Flowers in Pink Lustre Bowl."

Antiques Week in New Hampshire is a busy time, but it should never be too busy to miss a visit to Riverside. This show is interesting, and well-presented. And one never knows+ what might show up.

Linda Turner's next show will be outside on the grounds of Hildene, not in the large field as in years past, and the date will move to Sunday, September 25.