It was appropriate that a Rutgers University professor of ecology, evolution and natural resources was seen in a booth admiring a circa 1900, hand painted Lutheran banner of the life of Christ, 128 inches long. In this case it was not the origin of the species, but rather the origin of this Swedish religious artifact that intrigued this educator.
The June 16‱7 Prallsville Mills Antique Show attracted a host of knowledgeable dealers and patrons, who also experienced an educated interplay regarding the treasures found at this Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz event.
A pair of carved wooden hands, priced at $595, greeted patrons in the booth of Kurt and Deborah Englemann, Long Valley, N.J. From the Nineteenth Century, they were probably intended as models or molds for a statue. Also found in their booth was a biscuit board, long and wooden with breadboard ends, with a wooden roller and handle in the middle attached with screws and having a dark brown patina. It was priced at $145.
Other noteworthy furniture was a paint decorated bedroom set tagged at $1,880; it consisted of one Nineteenth Century twin bed, and a Twentieth Century bed and dresser custom-made to match.
A good, early two-handled Taconic basket, finely woven with characteristic compressed double-wrapped rim and notched handles, was offered at $425. Another basket was a lidded example that was originally used for transporting poultry. It carried a price tag of $215. A decorative conversation piece was a 3-foot long clock hand at $195. Early in the show, the Englemanns sold a Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania sponge-painted, two-drawer blanket chest that was signed by the maker.
The dramatic, large scale gears of the grist mill seemed to look down from the ceiling on the equally dramatic sales of Larry and Helen Bryan, Princeton, N.J., whose sales included a large farm table, a painted blanket chest, a pipe box and various ironware items.
Others items offered to showgoers included a Nineteenth Century country chest of drawers with original red paint over black at $1,200, a three-branch punched tin chandelier cone body with drip pans at $375, a late Eighteenth Century lollipop salt box for $325 and a circa 1860s campaign desk with its original hardware and bird’s-eye maple drawers at $2,000.
For $2,400 one could have extra storage using an unusual six-drawer cupboard with a bucket bench top, and for $1,600, a two drawer, circa 1840, jelly cupboard. Larry and Helen Bryan also offered a Southern pine, two-drawer hunt table with a lower shelf for $825.
Chester, N.J., exhibitor Jim Woodruff offered a two-piece, woven coverlet (72 by 90 inches), floral and star pattern, red and blue wool and white cotton weave. Made in the Allentown, Penn., area, it was priced at $395. Also found in his booth was a Joe Ellis (attributed), circa 1880, doll carriage for $650; a bird-decorated sled, signed Paris Mfg. Co., So. Paris, Maine, at $600; a mahogany two-drawer, dovetailed drop leaf worktable at $550; a grain-painted box for a navigational quadrant at $225; a wooden trencher at $375; and a 14-inch, full-figured, hand painted, cast iron cockatoo doorstop for $650.
Front and center in Woodruff’s booth was a set of six New Jersey fancy chairs with rush seats for $750. Among his stoneware and redware offerings was a Union Pottery, Newark, N.J., crock (1871‱906) with a German/Pennsylvania Dutch tulip motif at $425, a bird decorated stoneware cake crock at $775 and an early redware shaving mug with manganese glaze for $325. A safety pin that hung from a wall and measured 4 feet tall was probably once used as a store display. It carried a price tag of $350.
Gordon and Normandie Schell, Galloway, N.J., offered a two-drawer pine stand, circa 1830s, for $575; an early 1900s oak spice cabinet for $265; and a Hepplewhite mahogany bow front chest, circa 1790‱800, for $4,975.
Also found in their booth was an old work sled with original green paint (from the Quaic Hill Restaurant, Smithville, N.J.) for an appetizing $145. For $2,950 one could have gone home with a circa 1790 Hepplewhite sideboard or serving mahogany table. Offered for $1,295 was a circa 1820 mahogany New England Sheraton Pembroke table.
Rounding out furniture selections was a circa 1800s bracket base blanket chest with its original red paint at $850, a circa 1860‱870 walnut two-drawer drop leaf stand with its original key at $575 and a circa 1880 country Sheraton two-drawer stand with its original dividers for $685. The Schells also offered a James Dixon & Sons, Birmingham, England, pewter teapot for $295.
Reporting they had a good show, some of the Schell’s sales included a Windsor armchair, two Eighteenth Century Connecticut Valley banister side chairs, an inlaid tilt top candlestand and a Bucks County salmon-colored blanket chest.
Another dealer who also had a strong show was Royal Port Antiques, Salem, N.J. Included in dealer Michael Cooke’s sales was an 1860s Pennsylvania painted blanket chest, a grain-painted lift top grain bin that dated to the early 1800s, a pine drop leaf table, two ladder back chairs, several architectural pieces, a cast iron rain catch and an oil painting of the interior of a barn.
Marvin and Leslie Wies, Baltimore, Md., wrote up a reverse-painted Federal mirror and a lot of folk art.
First-time exhibitor Charlene Meany will likely be back at this show given the good amount of merchandise that left her booth. The Florham Park, N.J., dealer reported sales of brilliant cut glass, Wedgwood, Spode, Blue Willow, cottage ware, pink luster, antique bird prints, a stoneware crock, a set of graduated copper measures and several toys.
A large toy also left the booth of Charlene’s neighbor, Marcia and Michel David, Madison, N.J. For the Davids, who trade under the name of Aimarc Antiques (a combination of their children’s names), it was a large Nineteenth Century rocking horse that proved to be a must-have for one patron.
Along with sales in the categories of pewter and Staffordshire, a cast iron Siamese cat bank turned out to be the pur-fect Father’s Day gift for a patron who purchased it to complement real Siamese cats.
For Gene Elliott, Doylestown, Penn., it was music to the ears †and eyes †of patrons to see a 1902 Letraitre Prelude Opera silhouette for $250 in his booth. Among his offering of artwork was an oil on canvas of an evening campfire along a river by Ruthven Holmes Byrum (1896‱960) from Anderson, Ind. It carried a price tag of $1,000.
Richard Suydam, Lahaska, Penn., lightened his inventory with the sale of a pine dry sink, while River Country Antiques, New Hope, Penn., sold a geometric hooked rug and an 1800s washstand.
Bob Lutz and Ellen Katona will return to the Prallsville Mills for the summer edition of this show September 1′.
They have also announced that they will be managing another brand new show in New Jersey this September. The first annual Hunterdon County Antiques Fair will be held at the Hunterdon County fairgrounds in Ringoes, N.J., on Sunday, September 23. All exhibits will be in covered pavilions with unlimited free parking. This event, which is co-sponsored by the Hunterdon County Department of Parks and Recreation, will help benefit the Hunterdon County 4H Leaders Association.
For more information, 856-459-2229.
