The 37th Connecticut Spring Antiques Show proved once again that it is the singular popular showcase for American furniture and decorative accessories made prior to the year 1840.
The two-day event, conducted March 13 and 14 at the Connecticut Expo Center, just north of downtown Hartford, gathered nearly 70 antiques and fine arts specialists in room-setting displays to warm the hearts of serious collectors from throughout the tri-state area and beyond. Well run by show manager Karen and Ralph DiSaia and some 60 or so volunteers from the Haddam Historical Society, the show featured the serious antiquers’ prerequisites †fine dealers and desirable merchandise.
Haddam Historical Society show co-chair Rusty Clowes said the gate was up 20′5 percent over the previous year, “which we like for the sake of our dealers.” However, it is not so much how many show up as who shows up, he added. With much of southern Connecticut and points south coping with monsoonal rain on Saturday, it was interesting to note that many attendees came down from Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire. Clowes, a 30-year advertising veteran, also knows the value of continually prospecting new markets. One innovation: one can now become a “fan” of the show on Facebook and watch a clip of collector Bill Cosby interviewing Lisa Malloy, executive director of the society, and antique glass specialist Jeff Nordsy of Cornwall, Vt. “What’s important is that we treat everyone like a customer,” said Clowes. “That’s what they like. We welcome everybody.”
The DiSaias set up a sumptuous display at the front of the show with stellar Oriental rugs from their collection. Showcased at Oriental Rugs Ltd, Old Lyme, Conn., was a large turn-of-the-century Bidjar, measuring 9 feet by 12 feet 7 inches, a late 1920s Afshar measuring 4 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 2 inches and a Kurdish example from 1890 with an overall floral pattern measuring 4 feet 3 inches by 7 feet 10 inches.
A matched set of Pennsylvania chairs with original salmon paint decoration encircled a flip-up chair table, Connecticut or New York state, circa 1820s-30s, at the booth of Daniel and Karen Olson, Newburgh, N.Y. Made of white pine with birch as secondary, the table had a generous 50-inch diameter top, which the Olsons put to great use by using it to place a hollow body rooster weathervane attributed to Cushing & White, Waltham, Mass., dating from the mid to late 1800s.
“We don’t know who Mrs B.B. Baker was,” said Betty Berdan of the enterprising Nineteenth Century woman who had emblazoned a shop sign advertising “Dry Goods, Trimmings & Notions.” The Thomasville, Penn., dealer and her husband Mike Newsom were getting a lot of interest in it nonetheless. Also featured in their booth was a Nineteenth Century Maine hooked rug, a large late Eighteenth Century burl bowl exhibiting great form, patina and remnants of red paint on the bottom and a colorful Nineteenth Century farm painting found in Ohio.
Brian Cullity showed a maple and birch Vermont chest, circa 1820, a great inlaid box with original surface, circa 1840, and three pieces of scratch blue tavern ware made for export to America in the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century. A furniture highlight in the Sagamore, Mass., dealer’s booth was a cherry Chippendale drop leaf in original surface, circa 1780.
“Bev and I both agree that the show looked great and is very well run by Karen and Ralph,” said Thomas Longacre, Marlborough, N.H., “Also, the volunteer group from the historical society could not be nicer to work with. As to sales, like most shows today, the word on the floor was that sales were mixed with a steady crowd of knowledgeable buyers on opening day. We had a nice show with sales of a large painted millinery counter, two hooked rugs, a large bucket bench, a Yale Brewery trade sign and numerous smalls.”
The show turned out just fine, too, for Tom Jewett and Butch Berdan of Newcastle, Maine. They sold an early sewn and shirred rug, a theorem and a watermelon painting, a couple decorated boxes, four pieces of redware, an early rag doll and some other good smalls. “A solid, good show,” said Tom Jewett. “It’s a fun and easy show to set up at, and Karen and Ralph DeSaia are great to work with.”
Merrimacport, Mass., dealer Colette Donovan showcased a crewel embroidered coverlet with a folky house, birds and flowers that had been worked on a seamed homespun wool blanket with an applied fringe. The New England textile, dating to the early Nineteenth Century, was displayed above a New England bedstead that was covered with a “saffron indigo” quilt, dyed and woven by Moses Richardson of Protectworth †later Springfield, N.H. Also featured in her booth was an early child carrier, hand hewn with chamfered and mortised in slats dating from the Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century.
Many of Blue Heron Fine Art’s clients came to see the Cohasset, Mass., fine art dealers James Puzinas and Shelley Brown. “And many were eager to consider new purchases,” stated Puzinas. “We sold several paintings, including a lovely Impressionist scene of an apple orchard in bloom by Henry Hammond Ahl, as well as a large landscape by Charles Gordon Harris, which was in the center of our booth. Overall, I think interest was high, though sales still haven’t returned to levels seen several years ago. After last year, this was a much appreciated shot in the arm.”
“The show was exceptionally well attended throughout the weekend,” said Arthur Liverant of Nathan Liverant and Son, Colchester, Conn. “We did reasonably well, selling a Chippendale cherry oxbow bureau, two-part step back cupboard, a fine Chippendale side chair attributed to the Chapin School and some other things.”
A two-drawer blanket chest originating from Connecticut’s Pioneer Valley drew attention at the booth of Derek Pulito, Kensington, Conn. Structurally all original with some minor repairs to the moldings and replaced brasses, the Nineteenth Century piece glowed in its original red paint now that a later black shellac had been removed. A rare engraved silvered face Daniel Burnap grandfather clock with a cherry case and East Windsor origin stood in one corner of the booth. The circa 1785 clock had an interesting feature in its calendar wheel, which Burnap had used the back of to practice engraving his signature, where it appears twice. A Nineteenth Century white pine folky cutout figure of an elephant on one of the booth’s walls was actually a rare form of a weathervane.
Marking his third year exhibiting at this show, Don Olson of Rochester, N.Y., brought some excellent folk art, including an endearing oil on linen double portrait of a brother and his sister rendered in full length, circa 1835. The well-executed portrait evoking the innocence of childhood, with the older brother holding his sister’s hand and the family dog nearby, sold early in the show. Other folk art gems on display included an oil on board of a cat in a crate painted by a Nineteenth Century American artist who had signed his name, “Gaylord,” in the lower right hand corner of the painting and a folk portrait by William Mathew Prior (1806‱873) of a pleasant looking young woman, measuring 17½ by 13½ inches. With its original frame and backboard, the circa 1840 portrait had recently been acquired from a 35-year-long collection.
Endearing, too, was a painting of “The Cat & Fiddle” that hung in the booth of Donna Kmetz, Douglas, Mass. Possibly by Agnes Dean Abbatt (1847‱917), the small work depicting a professorial red tabby accompanying a baying small dog on a cello while a trio of cats peer with apparent curiosity over a picket fence.
Salem, an actual cat, came down from Limington, Maine, with his owner, dealer Bill Kelly, this time bringing an upstate New York step back cupboard, circa 1830, in its original blue paint. A Pennsylvania country Hepplewhite style dresser, circa 1815, exhibited cream and salmon paint decoration and featured three secret drawers under the till.
Cats, in fact, were everywhere at the show. Pam and Martha Boynton had one †in the form of an oil on artist board of a cat found in Maine. The Groton, Mass., dealer also displayed a set of six paint decorated thumb back Windsors, a rare Eighteenth Century double splayed leg tavern table with button feet, a graphic Grenfell mat of geese in the snow and a well-weathered “Mrs Cow” weathervane.
A Queen Anne corner chair looked inviting in the booth of Jeffrey Tillou Antiques. The Litchfield, Conn., dealer had also brought a Queen Anne flat top highboy from Massachusetts, made in the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Its long fan-carved drawer. Probably used to store bonnets, was a noteworthy feature.
Fine furniture is also the calling card of Guilford, Conn., dealer Edwin Ahlberg, who showed a Federal mahogany inlaid four-drawer chest with nicely shaped apron, circa 1810, a cherry spider leg candlestand, circa 1815, and a Chippendale gumwood linen press from Pennsylvania or New Jersey, circa 1775.
Notable furniture shown by Sheffield, Mass., dealer Samuel Herrup included a painted hutch table of maple and pine, probably from Massachusetts, circa 1780, and a painted two-drawer blanket chest that the dealer believed to have come from New York state, circa 1820‴0. An Erastus Salisbury Field painting, a portrait of a man, probably Israel Dimmock (Chaffee) of Coventry, Conn., circa 1833, had descended in the Dimmock family until recently purchased.
In a well-appointed booth at the front of the show, Thomas Schwenke of Woodbury, Conn., displayed a Salem, Mass., Sheraton figured mahogany two-part secretary desk, circa 1815, that featured a pull-out butler’s desk fitted with cubbies and small drawers. These were above three graduated beaded long drawers. On one of his outside walls, the dealer showcased three large framed Oriental painted oil on canvas wall panels from the turn of the century, two depicting geishas and the third with Japanese nobility.
Also from Woodbury, Conn., Harold Cole and Bettina Krainin Antiques brought a standout North American pewter cupboard in pine and hemlock, circa 1820‴0. A highboy attributed to Chapin, circa 1788, exhibiting his early attempts at fashioning a fretwork top was among the highlights, as was a French wire basket, circa 1880, containing a large collection of stone fruit from Italy, including rare forms such as half pieces, walnuts and strawberries, also circa 1880.
The show also featured well-attended booth chats on several collecting topics. On Sunday, John Keith Russell of John Keith Russell Antiques and Arthur Liverant presented “Polar Opposites †an Interactive Discussion about American Artifacts.” Judith Livingston Loto of Russack and Loto Books presented “Kindle Can’t Cut It †Real Books for Real Collectors.” In addition, Jeff and Holly Noordsy, specialists in early American glass, educated the crowd on “Early Connecticut Glass Houses and Their Wares 1790‱830.”
Next year’s spring show will mark the 100th anniversary of the Haddam Neck Fair, which will be featured in the entryway theme. For information, www.ctspringantiquesshow.com or 860-345-2400.
