Walker Homestead, Brookfield, Mass.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
GLASTONBURY, CONN. – Bob Barrows produced for the 37th consecutive year the Glastonbury Antiques Show on January 1, at the town’s high school, sponsored by Glastonbury Exchange Club. More than 100 exhibitors were there with a large crowd, according to Barrows, which was “as big as last year in spite of the bitter cold; the line wrapped all the way down the hall at the opening!
“Dealers did pretty well with sales in small things and some furniture as well,” he added. Barrows was also an exhibitor at the show and sold from a large assortment of early Nineteenth Century antique household accessories.
Richard Fuller, Randolph, Vt.
Tom Landers of Palisades Trading Company, Windsor, Conn., deals in antique Oriental rugs. He has something of a following at Glastonbury High School as he taught there prior to his retirement. This was sort of old home week for him. And he sold some of his antiques, including a Sarouk mat and a Heriz rug, a fun day visiting with old friends.
Pieces of Time, Hamden, Conn., is the business of Steve Levine, who restores and sells antique clocks and other timepieces. As a native of central Connecticut, he specializes in the Nineteenth Century clocks from the area and his exhibit space showcased wonderful specimens, all in excellent working order. Two of the pieces found new homes: an Ansonia black marble mantel clock from about 1880 and a Connecticut shelf clock from the Nineteenth Century. He also sold several early watches.
Furniture was selling rather well that day, according to Nancy Bryer of Log Cabin Country Primitives. This Glastonbury dealer sold a roomful of furniture and accessories, including many of the items pictured in her exhibit – a red settle bench, a shelf, a small blue wall box on top of a hutch and a round candlestand. Nancy also sold a collection of treenware and some early wooden framed lighting.
And there were many more exhibitors there with great antiques and early collectibles. Middletown, Conn., dealer Joe Collins was showing an assortment of Nineteenth Century ship’s dioramas in excellent condition. One was a clipper ship and there were two other multimasted schooners, all fully rigged.
Hirsh Antiques, Pleasant Valley, Conn.
Ron Wojcik from nearby Deep River, Conn., offered a rare French music box, which played ten tunes on its comb and it also had several bells in its music system.
Kathleen and David Kuebler from Farmington, Conn., brought their rare glass collection. They feature glass from three continents and the last 200 years.
Toys from the Nineteenth Century, early dolls and vintage Christmas are the stock for the Village Antiques. The Syracuse, N.Y., dealer’s exhibit takes time to organize, for there are probably a few thousand pieces to arrange, all little things, and if you shop this exhibit, it will take time to see it all, too.
William Korzick of New Haven, Conn., had an interesting collection with a Jacobean-style blanket chest front and center in his booth. He was quick to point out that it was not from the Seventeenth Century, however, but a Nineteenth Century reproduction of the early style, made just like the original would have been, in oak with dovetail and mortise and tenon joinery and some rosehead nails. The oak was carved as it would have been 400 years ago, and looked just like a piece from 1650 but for the price, as it was only $850.
Hirsh Antiques of Pleasant Valley, Conn., was showing a collection of small Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century primitives, including several quilts and coverlets, earthenware, treenware and kitchenalia.
Chris Tisdale, Higganum, Conn.
Furniture was offered by many exhibitors at the show. For example, Connecticut River Estate Antiques, Old Saybrook, Conn., was showing an Eighteenth Century New England four-drawer chest, simple in its design but well made and sturdy in a natural finish.
Richard Fuller, Royalton, Vt., was there with his assortment of primitive northern New England home furnishings, such as a Pembroke table in red wash paint, an apothecary in black, a 250-year-old mule chest in a dark stain with what appeared to be original hardware and his collections of pre-Revolutionary-era smalls. He reported to Barrows that he had a good show.
For Barrows Show Promotions Ltd and its dealers and shoppers, this show has become a tradition for the first day of the year. Bob Barrows said, “It is the largest fundraising affair for the Glastonbury Exchange Club, which uses the money raised for good works around town.” For information, 860-342 2540. There is no website.
