Polly Thibodeau, P.T. Promotions, filled the Bath Middle School gym with exhibitors for the January 8 edition of her monthly winter show. Conducted six times each fall and winter for the last 22 years, her show is a regular trading stop for many dealers in northern New England. Friends stay in the area for the weekend, just to be able to arrive Sunday morning for the early loading in to the one-day show place.
At the most recent market, the full house included about 50 exhibitors, some sharing spaces, others in oversize or even double spaces to show their freshest acquisitions. When the doors opened at 10 am, there was a rush of several hundred shoppers †many of them dealers in their own right †searching for special additions to their homes, collections and inventories.
Many of these exhibitors have rarely missed a show in all the years of operation. Local Bath residents Phil and Bev Reynolds have their regular spot in front of the stage, where they offer a collection of early country-style home furnishings and accessories. Phil also trades in very early first editions of cookbooks and other topics, including some early fiction.
This month, Pat Reese and John Rice, Portsmouth, N.H., brought their collection of early Native American stone tools. Roger Pheulpin, Gloucester, Mass., was in the area for the weekend, shopping on Saturday and participating in the show on Sunday. His collection this month included a large assortment of vintage and estate jewelry along with assorted silver and early Sheffield plate.
Shopping in England for vintage garden paraphernalia, Anne Rowe’s collection and shop, The Sugarplum, from Wilmot, N.H., was heavy with early molded stone urns, small animals and furniture.
Robert Foley, Gray, Maine, was offering furniture just inside the front door. His prize for this day was a grain painted cupboard about 5 feet tall, which just came out of an estate the prior week.
Country primitive furniture was Richard Fuller’s offering. From Royalton, Vt., he collects in his home area and also picks from others. This week’s offering included an early pine demilune table in bright red milk paint and a blue painted bucket bench.
Sherry Kolhorst said her collection this month, which featured textiles and vintage clothing, was not her usual, but added, “It all depends on what I find each month.” Trading as Vintage Goods, she is from Yarmouth, Maine.
Polly reorganized this show to the Bath Middle School in 1990 after it had been through several promoters and a few other sites in both Bath and Brunswick. As a Bath resident, an active dealer and with a shop, The Brick Store, she was anxious to maintain the antiques market here, so this show has became her signature for these last 22 years. Her daughter, Susan Sullivan, has become Polly’s primary assistant, with the regular exhibitors calling her Little Polly.
The show has three more curtain calls this season: February 12, March 11 and April 15, all at the Bath Middle School, 6 Old Brunswick Road, from 10 am until 2 pm.
For more details and information, www.bathantiquesshows.com or 207-443-8983.
