Having been part of the Greenwich Antiques Show for many years, fine art dealers Joel Fletcher and John Copenhaver have seen it grow and evolve. At the 50th anniversary event, which kicked off with a champagne opening gala on November 29 and continued through December 2 at the Greenwich Civic Center, Copenhaver said he could not help but feel the energy of the late Claire Vanderbilt, who was instrumental in founding the show, as the dealers’ clients were selecting additions to their collections.
“We are honored to have the privilege of helping a number of clients in the Greenwich area build significant collections,” said Copenhaver. “The level of sophistication and knowledge of most of the clientele make the experience of being involved in the show gratifying. One client was so excited about finding a particular collection, she drove back and forth from the Bedford Hills area three times, adding ‘just one more!’ We had to start a waiting list for two paintings, which sold preview party night in the event the original purchaser changed his mind!”
Two elements †one long-term and the other fairly recent †combine to ensure the success of this glittering holiday gift box of a show, according to Copenhaver. “The committee for this show has for years been vital, energetic and the inner core of Greenwich society. Those ladies could run the world and have great fun doing it!” he said. The second essential element is show management, in this case, Josh Wainwright and Sandy Keeling Wainwright, who took the reins in Greenwich just last year and produce other upmarket shows such as the Ellis Antiques Show in Boston, the Philadelphia Antiques Show and the Charleston International Antiques Show.
“Josh and Sandy are superb as well,” added the dealer. “Anyone who missed this show should now mark their calendars for next year. This one is not to be missed!”
The event marked its golden anniversary as the principal fundraiser for the Historical Society for the Town of Greenwich, heralding the holiday season as it led a weeklong celebration of style and design. In addition to the antiques show, Antiquarius Week includes holiday house tours, designer forum lectures and a gift boutique at the Greenwich Country Club.
There was a high-quality and well-balanced mix of merchandise among the show’s 41 exhibitors, including couture, textiles and modern furniture and decorative pieces.
Back to its traditional three-day format, the show’s gala preview party on Thursday night as usual swarmed with enthusiastic Greenwich socialites, who enjoyed champagne served in 1920s-style gold-rimmed flutes and munched delectable hors d’oeuvres as they got a first look at exhibitors’ merchandise.
After that, it was up to the show management to get “customers in the door” and the customers’ responsibility to “shop the show” †and it appears that both of these occurred. Selectively, as is always the case, a number of dealers had their holidays brightened over the weekend.
For Tim Brennan and David Mouilleseaux, Northfield, Conn., dealers who continually push the envelope beyond period American and Continental furniture into Midcentury Modern and exhibit a self-described “almost pathologically eclectic taste,” the show gave lie to their sense that “for the last seven months, things weren’t going at all well on the show circuit, even for us,” according to Brennan.
The Greenwich show, was, he added, “by a very narrow margin, just slightly short of our best show ever. We sold from setup right through until the last hour of the show. The categories that were especially robust for us were mirrors †four sold †painted decorative furniture from the early Twentieth Century, unusual lamps and period decorative objects and sets of antique prints. Also †and this was a bit surprising †we did manage to sell three pieces of very good period American furniture.”
In analyzing what went right, Brennan posited this: “We think that if you can put together a combination of material that is visually more interesting than the usual time-honored lineup of brown wood and gilded-framed mirrors and paintings, people do take notice. Because we are blissfully unafraid of pairing a period chest with a Midcentury decorative object, say, or of combining all sorts of disparate things in a single booth, it becomes harder for showgoers to breeze by. People stopped, really looked and bought. In fact, we were shocked by the number of multiple sales we made to single customers. And, finally, even in Greenwich, realistic prices help †a lot.”
The Greenwich show also went quite well for Mark McHugh and Spencer Gordon of Spencer Marks, the antique silver dealers from Southampton, Mass., who noted that “it attracts a wonderful clientele.” Some of the items they sold included a rare Tiffany sterling ice bowl in a pinecone pattern, Shiebler Aesthetic knives with applied dragonflies, a Gorham sterling ice cream serving dish with 12 ice cream dishes and server.
“Items we sold ranged from Eighteenth Century English to Twentieth Century American,” said McHugh. “Customers seemed to be acquiring items they could use and entertain with or give as unique gifts for the upcoming holidays. With the caliber of the dealers and quality of the antiques, it was a stunning show.”
The dealers also received a nice postshow addendum when a customer who had stopped in on Sunday to admire a six-piece sterling repousse coffee service on tray, which was the centerpiece of their booth, called after the following week and purchased it. Made by hand at the Meriden Britannia Company, circa 1890, the remarkable set was seemingly alive with floral and foliate hand chased repousse work, and was almost certainly a commissioned service, according to the dealers.
The marquee painting on display at Fletcher/Copenhaver Fine Art’s booth was a touching domestic scene by Alyx Ayme (1894‱989). “An Interior with Two Young Girls,” South of France, tempera on canvas, was executed in the mid-Twentieth Century by the Marseilles, France, native who studied in Paris, traveled extensively in Indochina, India and Ceylon and returned to Paris. The large interior Aymé was sold, according to the Alexandria, Va., firm’s co-owner Joel Fletcher, as well as works by Henri Morisset, a floral still life by Zoum Walter, several works by Chas Laborde, several more by Hermann Paul, drawings by Mario Pezilla, Victor Prouvé and Hélène Rivière. “We sold to a mix of old customers and new ones,” said Fletcher. “It was a very successful show for us. We always look forward to this show and were certainly not disappointed.”
“Small treasures for the discerning collector” was how Westport, Conn., dealer George Subkoff characterized his sizable collection of miniature furniture †the pieces took up an entire wall in his attractive display, highlighted by an Italian bombe and serpentine commode in walnut and tulipwood, circa 1760, and an American mahogany and bird’s-eye maple late classical chest of drawers, circa 1830. The Italian commode was just 12 inches high and 13 inches wide, while the chest of draws measured just 22½ inches high by 25 inches wide.
Further defining his booth was a large head of Buddha, Gandhara, circa Fourth/Fifth Century, and a set of three French wallpaper panels, the larger one depicting an English horse race at Ascot with a multitude of spectators in the stands, while the two smaller side panels showed bookmakers and bettors making their transactions.
“I always look forward to doing the Greenwich Show †it always has top dealers with exciting booths and this year was no exception!” said Aileen Minor, Centreville, Md. Specializing in American antiques, Minor filled her booth with significant pieces such as a pair Late Nineteenth Century Greek classical muses in plaster with old terra cotta finish and excellent detail. Standing 43 inches high, the “inspirational goddesses” on the night of the show’s gala preview were patiently awaiting the arrival of a customer who called Minor to say she was coming on Saturday to view them, having seen the pair advertised in preshow publicity.
“I had a great show in Greenwich, with strong interest in many areas,” said Minor. “I sold some major pieces, including a rare neoclassical Philadelphia center table with Egyptian marble top, the design inspired by Thomas Hope, a fabulous convex giltwood mirror with entwined serpents, a Boston mahogany neoclassical arm chair, a Baltimore settee, a Chinese carved stone head sculpture from the Ming dynasty and many small items, too. The preview party was strong, and in addition there were two major corporate events where we sold.”
In addition to her trademark tea caddies and antique boxes and games compendiums of all kinds, Sally Kaltman of Sallea Antiques, New Canaan, Conn., displayed crystal boxes of French opaline that would make beautiful gifts, as their lustrous, sleek look goes with both modern and traditional décor. Tortoiseshell tea caddies from the Eighteenth Century were also hot sellers, according to Kaltman, whose inventory comprised many examples in brown, green and ivory †all flawless, because “I only buy the best,” she said.
“The show went pretty well for us despite a slow start,” said Kaltman afterward. “We were very happy to acquire a few new customers. Porcelain and brass items sold especially well for us. We were especially pleased when somebody who asked us for a wine cooler at the show, after learning that we had a great one at our store †just a few miles from the show †went there and bought it.”
Colchester, Conn., dealer Nathan Liverant and Son was highlighting a Queen Anne cherry flattop high chest of drawers featuring a sunburst carved top drawer. A Wethersfield School, Connecticut River Valley, Conn., piece, circa 1760‱780, its compact proportions gave it a stately stance without being imposing, according to Kevin Tulimieri. It was similar to a piece illustrated as part of John Roberts group in the Connecticut Valley Furniture catalog. The oil on canvas likeness of Herbert Goodwin, son of Silas and Margaret Goodwin of North Saco, Maine, was “untouched” in an original frame thought to have been made by the attributed artist, Gideon Elden Bradbury (1833‱904) of Salmon Falls, Maine. Also getting notice was a Queen Anne walnut corner chair, Norwich, Conn., circa 1750‱770, with a rare balloon seat and unusual turned elements.
Show newcomer Ross Vintage Poster Gallery added a vibrant splash of color to the proceedings with its selection of poster art in a wide variety of categories. Having just augmented its Westport, Conn., gallery with a spacious new gallery on 54th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City the previous month, gallery co-owner Jodi Ross was anticipating an enthusiastic crowd of poster collectors, and certainly she appeared busy at preview, answering customer queries about the colorful works attractively hung in the booth and assembled in stacks on a table.
The Greenwich, Conn., marketplace exhibits “all of our demographics,” said Ross, who runs the gallery with husband Mickey. She had brought turn-of-the-century Cherets and Steinlen examples, as well as chocolate-themed art and travel posters of ski resorts, which she said do well around during the winter holidays.
Also new to the show was Hastening Antiques, a Middleburg, Va., specialist in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century French, English and Continental furniture. At his large store in Middleburg, owner Louis Shields not only sells signature pieces, like the rare baroque Seventeenth Century Swiss “Cabinet of Curiosity” he had on display, but also offers a full range furniture restoration and interior design services. Other highlights on view were a massive French provincial burled ash library, circa 1818, and a rare pair of early Eighteenth Century mirrors with red lacquered frames.
Keith Funston, an antiques dealer from Sudbury, Mass., appropriated not just a cabinet of curiosity, but rather turned his booth space off the hallway leading to the center’s Finch Room into a “wunderkammern” paying homage to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century chambers where the rare and exotic were displayed for the delectation of a privileged few. Exotic natural history specimens, including seashells and minerals, antique maps, carvings from around the world, globes and more reflected Funston’s lifelong fascination with the art of collecting.
It is easy at times to overlook the Civic Center’s Holley Room, an area to the right of the main Bush Room, and that is a shame because it always presents a strong lineup of exhibitor booths, this year, for example, David Booker Fine Arts, Running Battle Antiques of Newagen, Maine, Philip Suval, Maxine Antiques and Mark and Marjorie Allen were a few of the dealers to be found here.
Helen and Hamilton Meserve of Running Battle Antiques said they had a pretty good show, although not as good as last year. “The preview was lively, but the next three days were very quiet,” said Helen Meserve. “We sold a Welsh farm table, a Thames Valley Windsor chair, a William and Mary sideboard and several small paintings. We still have interest in several things that may materialize after the show.”
This year, Peter Rosenberg was in possession of the exhibitor “catbird” location, the stage, which is centered and above the floor in the Bush Room. All the better for show visitors to see the massive Chinese compound cupboard made of camphorwood that the Wilton, Conn., Oriental antiques specialist had on display. Featuring original hardware, the Ming dynasty (Seventeenth Century) piece measured an imposing 104 inches tall by 55 inches wide and 22 inches deep. It was flanked by two Tang dynasty sancai glazed earth spirits that Rosenberg said were excellent examples of both glazing and sculpture, one 47 inches tall, the other 44 inches.
It may seem like a long way off, but those who missed this 50th anniversary show should mark their calendars for next year. Always the first week end in December, this one is not to be missed. For information, 203-869-6899, 301-263-9314 or www.keelingwainwright.com .
