The line began forming outside of the Cape Cod Dealers’ antiques show more than an hour prior to opening on a typical hot and humid afternoon on Friday, August 3. By the time the scheduled 5 pm entry-time rolled around, a large crowd anxiously awaited the start of the show, now in its 37th year and aptly coined “Cape Cod’s Hottest Show.”
Presented in an expanded format, the show hosted 11 additional dealers that were set up in a second gymnasium that adjoins the original display area. The show still utilized the cafeteria of the school and the hallways as display areas, keeping with the traditional appeal of the venue.
Also new to the show this year was a special loan exhibition, “He Painted Cape Cod&†the life and works of Charles Cahoon.” Several walls had been erected in the new display area and numerous Cahoon paintings depicting local scenes were featured. A gallery talk also proved popular, presented Sunday afternoon by Roy Mennell of Bradford Trust Fine Art.
The Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association (CCADA) is a cordial group and smiles abound at this show. Smiles are also what the association seeks from those that brave the heat and Cape traffic in August to attend the show, and they are quite successful in achieving that goal.
Nautical antiques are always popular on the Cape and the selection at this year’s show was impressive. Numerous booths kept the theme alive, including Brewster, Mass., dealers The Spyglass. Among the offerings was a “marine rarity,” a Nineteenth Century builder’s half-model of a whaleship, circa 1850. Retaining the original paint and backingboard, the piece was designed by a master builder and the model was then dissected and utilized to “measure the lines.” It would have been later reassembled and presented to the whaling merchant or hung in the Custom House office. Termed by the dealer as a “museum quality” model, it was priced at $25,000. Other items displayed included a late Eighteenth Century banjo barometer in an old surface and a rare mariner’s backstaff, circa 1760.
Not everything in the booth was nautical oriented, however. A nice folky landscape painting attributed to George Shepard Burleigh of the Quaker Hill Windmill, Little Compton, R.I., was also among the offerings.
Paintings were displayed in several booths. including Diamond Antiques and Fine Art, West Harwich, Mass. Numerous local works were offered including a selection of Provincetown paintings by Colin A. Scott, such as “Provincetown House” and “Over the Rocks.” Pieces by James Merrick, Ross Moffett and Martha Cahoon were also available.
A group of Modern Abstract works joined the usual nautical paintings offered by Bradford Trust Fine Art, Harwich Port, Mass. Included in the grouping were several paintings by Henry Kallem, including “Monhegan House,” circa 1940, and “Dancing Shapes.” Marine paintings included a selection of works by Arthur Diehl with “Sailboat at the Dock †1923” capturing the attention of clients.
Charles and Barbara Adams, South Yarmouth, Mass., featured a good assortment of country wares ranging from their usual quality selection of Bennington pottery to a nice sawbuck tavern table with good old color. Charley, the current president of the CCADA, pointed out an interesting item from the booth, a covered firkin that had been ornately painted by Ralph and Martha Cahoon.
A good assortment of stoneware was presented by Mad River Antiques, North Granby, Conn., with two Bennington crocks with decoration featured. A rare sized two-gallon crock decorated in cobalt with a stag reclining amid a whimsical fence and pine tree was attracting attention, as was a three-gallon crock with a cobalt decorated spread-winged hawk in flight over a landscape with fences.
Betsey Hewlett was on hand with a good selection of pressed glass, ranging from Lacy salts to handled whiskey glasses. Dealers typically put special things away and save them for the Cape show, such was the case with Hewlett as she kept a New England tall covered sugar in the pineapple pattern under wraps until the show opened.
Ted and Judy Harmon were on hand, having just finished their highly successful Decoys Unlimited auction earlier in the week, and their assortment included a wide variety of Elmer Crowell birds, including a rare swimming merganser, and a Joseph Lincoln brandt that sold on opening night.
CCADA will be presenting its fall seminar on Thursday, September 20, at the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich. The event runs from 9 am to 3:30 pm; for information 508-760-3290. The Staffordshire Figural Association will be presenting its sixth annual meeting September 5 through 7 in Hyannis. For information, 800-294-0324, or www.elinorpenna.com .
