“We had close to 500 people at the preview, the gate was a bit over last year, and many visitors came up to me and said what a great show it was and how much they enjoyed it,” Diana Bittel, show manager, said. She added, “Sales among the dealers were very mixed, with some doing poorly while others did all right, and we will be working again to get more buyers into the show next year.”
Within the next few weeks a questionnaire will be sent out to all of the exhibitors, asking for suggestions to make the show better and finding out who will be returning for next year’s show.
Now in its third year, the Wayside Inn Antiques Show ran for three days, opening Friday, May 11, for the preview and then continuing over the weekend. “We had a good crowd on Sunday, but the best buying was on Saturday,” Diana said. The show was staged in a large tent, measuring 180 by 120 feet, with colorful flags flying from the pointed top, that was fully carpeted over a solid floor and had only one minor leak during the heavy rains that came midweek. Forty-two dealers fit neatly into the tent, with the center area designed for storage for the exhibitors and the café. “The Wayside Inn provided the food for the preview and all during the show, and it was really first class,” Diana said.
Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers of nearby Marlborough and Boston was again one of the sponsors, and admission to the show was $10 per person. The preview, including food and drink, was $150 at the door, $125 if the ticket was bought in advance.
The show was a handsome presentation, well designed and lighted, and many of the dealers noted on their tickets that things were fresh to the market. One dealer, new to the show this year, came right up to us as we entered the tent and said, “Wait until you see this show. It is filled with great stuff and I feel like the low man on the totem pole.”
A few child’s chairs were displayed in the booth of Nathan Liverant and Son, Colchester, Conn., including a fancy painted yellow armchair in the original condition, New England, circa 1820‱840, and an American fancy armchair, possibly Baltimore, with scrolled crest and painted surface. It dated circa 1825‱840. In size contrast was a Queen Anne cherry bonnet-top highboy with carved shells and unusual turned finials, possibly Wethersfield School, New London County, Conn.
Newsom & Berdan Antiques of Thomasville, Penn., showed a Bucks County, Penn., oil on artist board of a farm scene, complete with chickens, a barn and wagon, dating from the Nineteenth Century. A Nineteenth Century oval window in a rectangular frame, original paint and condition with carved corner fans, was shown, along with a birch desk with bracket base and drop centers, original brasses, 36½ inches wide, of Maine origin.
Diana Bittel of Bryn Mawr, Penn., offered a New England figured birch high chest, two small drawers over five graduated drawers, bracket feet and the original brasses, circa 1780, and at the front of the booth was a rare octagonal sewing box, British, carved in the memory of Horatio Nelson, depicting his marine battles in watercolor and pencil on the sides and a bust of Nelson and his ship on the top. The interior is completely fitted with spools of thread and small instruments and it dates from the early Nineteenth Century.
Another Pennsylvania dealer, Kelly Kinzle of New Oxford, showed a Federal card table of Boston origin, John and Thomas Seymour, circa 1795‱800, in mahogany with curly satinwood and maple veneer. It retained the original brass foot sockets. A tray-top sideboard in cherry, New England, circa 1790, had the original whale bone knobs and inlay, and an English mahogany secretary-desk, circa 1770, had a fitted interior in the upper section, original brasses, and was signed by the maker. “I sold a few things, including two tall case clocks, a painting and a lantern clock,” Kelly said, “so it was an okay show for me.”
Examples of tiger maple furniture were in the booth of American Spirit Antiques, Shawnee Mission, Kan., including a Pennsylvania corner cupboard, the upper section with 12 panes covering four shelves and the lower section with two recessed doors, measuring 7 feet 3 inches and taking a 29-inch corner. It retained the original glass, hardware and painted surface. In addition to tiger maple, this booth generally has a selection of weathervanes, this time including a rooster, ship and four horses, one from A.E. Jewell, copper and cast zinc, circa 1870, 28 inches long and in the Ethan Allen running horse form.
Sheffield, Mass., dealer Samuel Herrup showed a pair of English decorated Regency-style tables, circa 1890, and a double full-length portrait of a young boy and girl, each holding a hat, American, probably New England, circa 1845. The canvas was marked by the firm of Hollis & Weaver, 54 Union Street, Boston, and the painting, measuring 43 by 36 inches, was in the original veneered frame. A stylish American hall tree dating from the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century measured 83 inches high and 30½ inches wide. The back was lyre shaped and curled arms were designed to hold umbrellas.
Color burst from the back wall of the booth of Jewett-Berdan, Newcastle, Maine, generated by an abstract folk art braided rug depicting many flowers, circa 1830, and in the right corner a wallpaper screen featured a house, tree, cream-colored wall and a hunter with rifle in blue coat. Filled with potted flowers was a Victorian cast iron and wire plant stand, round and on a tripod base, circa 1890, attributed to Fiske. The stand broke down into two parts for easy transportation or winter storage if used outside.
A single-door yellow painted cupboard with cutout base, New England, circa 1820, measured 78¼ inches tall, 31½ inches wide and 17¼ inches deep. It was ex-collection of Steven and Helen Kellogg and was offered by Elliott and Grace Snyder of South Egremont, Mass. A bold shadowbox with a sailboat in a harbor with village under snowcapped mountains in the background was of American origin, circa 1910, measured 26¼ by 36 inches. “It is one of my favorite things,” Elliott said, pointing out the detailed oil painting and the wooden sails of the boat.
A New England chair table, possibly Rhode Island, circa 1780‱800, was front and center in the booth of W.M. Schwind Antiques, Yarmouth, Maine. It was country Chippendale, maple and chestnut with pine top, old black paint over red, and measured 47½ inches in diameter. A Connecticut River Valley easy chair, 50½ inches high, also was country Chippendale.
A New Hampshire hutch table in the original red surface, late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century, was shown by Chuck White Folk Art & Antiques, Warwick, N.Y., sharing space with a blue painted corner cupboard in pine that was found in Bucks County, Penn. It measured 81 inches high.
Colette Donovan of Merrimacport, Mass., had a neat little candlestand with Windsor legs, chestnut with turned maple post and pine top with molded edges. It was from the Connecticut River Valley and dated from the mid-Eighteenth Century. A side table measuring 9 feet 1 inch tipped into a bench with canted back, mid-Nineteenth Century, of Maine origin, and a nice selection of early fabrics was displayed.
Peter H. Eaton Antiques/Joan R. Brownstein American Folk Paintings, Newbury, Mass., showed a country Queen Anne blanket chest with two half drawers over two full drawers, double arch molding on case and detailed bracket base. It was of pine with period brasses and was bought many years ago from a home in Boxford, Mass. The case measures 41 inches wide, 51½ inches high and 19½ inches deep. A shoe-foot hutch table with oversized three-board top, 48 by 51 inches, showed traces of the original red wash. It was of New England origin, in pine, and dated circa 1740‱760. A fine and rare country Queen Anne armchair with deeply molded crest, rolled and carved arms, tall Spanish feet, was of maple and came from Essex County, Mass., circa 1730‱750. It was offered with six matching side chairs from the same shop. “The show was soft for me,” Peter said, mentioning just three sales, a candlestand and two smalls.
A mix of New England and English furniture filled the booth of Thomas Schwenke, Inc, Woodbury, Conn., including a late Federal tiger and bird’s-eye maple server, probably New Hampshire, circa 1820, with high backsplash. A Regency carved and figured mahogany round drum or library table with tooled leather top set on a bulbous urn-form turned column raised on hipped and acanthus carved reeded saber lags, English, circa 1820‱825, the top measuring 48 inches in diameter.
A Bird In Hand, Florham Park, N.J., had a couple of pairs of cast iron figural andirons, one in the form of horse heads, the other snow owls with the original white painted surface, circa 1900. Three Eskimo curlew decoys were from a coastal New England rig, circa 1900, split tails and in the original paint.
A cat shooting gallery target, circa 1930, cast iron and in old orange and yellow park paint, 20¾ inches tall and attributed to H.W. Terpening of Ocean Park, Calif., was shown by Otto & Susan Hart of Arlington, Vt. An elaborate sign for the Locust Creek House, gold lettering on black sandpaper surface, 1870, measured 7 feet long and 27½ inches high. The hotel was located on Locust Creek Road, Bethel, Vt., and a design using two lions and an eagle cantered the sign.
In addition to three walls of samplers, Stephen & Carol Huber, Old Saybrook, Conn., offered a dated, September 1826, map of the world on paper, 15¾ by 22¾ inches sight. It was by Rosamond Wood, Hartford, Vt., with the world topped by a spread eagle.
A large lion and a small lamb were painted on a A.W. Titus trade sign hung in the booth of Stephen-Douglas, Rockingham, Vt. A large hooked rug with two vases of flowers in the center surround hung on the back wall, and a nice carving of a robin, painted and dating circa 1900, was from New York State.
An oil on canvas, 27 by 36 inches, depicting “A Royal Navy Officer Taking Leave of His Wife,” British School, circa 1774, in carved gilt frame, hung in the booth of James L. Kochan Fine Art & Antiques, Frederick, Md., along with a good number of works of art, including “Courtship in New Amsterdam,” an oil on canvas by Francis W. Edmonds (1806‱863) measuring 25 by 30 inches and in the original frame.
There was no shortage of garden antiques in the booth of Village Braider Antiques, Plymouth, Mass., where a set of four carved stone planters, very heavy, and a pair of marble urns, as well as two single marble urns of different sizes, sold to local customers. A cast stone bench had seen many years outdoors as it was heavily coated with moss. “We had a very good show as there was an interest in garden things, and I was the only dealer with any of it,” Bruce Emond said. It was his first year at Wayside and other sales included a set of wrought iron armchairs, a pair of cast iron andirons, a cast iron dog and a tall sundial.
James M. Kilvington, Dover, Del., had an attractive Chippendale-style sofa with rolled arms, camel back and blind fret carved legs. It was covered in needlepoint upholstery, English origin, and dated circa 1900. A carved walnut eagle plaque with the original surface was from Pennsylvania and dated circa 1880‱890.
Heller Washam Antiques, Portland, Maine, offered a Federal shelf clock in mahogany by David Wood, Newburyport, Mass., circa 1800. Signed and labeled, 35¼ inches tall, it had a 48-hour time chime. An eagle plaque came from the Charlestown Navy Yard, off the USS Wabash , the ship of Rear Admiral Pickey. Cohasset, Mass., dealer Blue Heron Fine Art hung a number of works of art, including “Gloucester Ducks,” an oil on Masonite, 48 by 48 inches, signed lower left by George Ames Aldrich (1872‱914) of Worcester, Mass.
J. Appleton Brown (1844‱902) was represented in the booth of The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, Conn., with nine paintings, including a pastel signed “Appledove,” lower left, measuring 16½ by 20½ inches sight; “Haying Time,” a pastel on board signed lower left, measuring 18 by 22 inches sight, and “The Old Mill,” a pastel on paper, signed lower right, measuring 17½ by 21 inches sight.
Arader Galleries, New York City, offered an interesting soil survey of Dukes and Nantucket Counties, Mass., by W.J. Latimer, lithographed by A. Hoen & Co., chromolithograph on wove paper, 23½ by 53½ inches, Baltimore publisher, 1925. A watercolor on paper of “Grouse on a Pine Bough” was by Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896‱969), signed and dated 1939 lower left, and measuring 18½ by 24 inches sight.
Jonathan Trace, Portsmouth, N.H., offered a number of pieces of furniture and a selection of silver, including a tankard by William Simpkins, Boston, circa 1740, and a handled cup by Samuel Richards, Philadelphia, circa 1795. One of several miniature candlesticks was by Joseph Bird, London.
Hilary & Paulette Nolan, Falmouth, Mass., had a Philadelphia lowback Windsor armchair with untouched paint history, circa 1786, and an early Eighteenth Century sawbuck table, American, oak and white pine, with a wonderful old patinated surface.
This show benefits the Wayside Inn Historic Site, a nonprofit Massachusetts historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. As for next year, Diana Bittel said, “We are up for it if the other dealers are, but we have to keep the level of the show up. Hopefully, all will go well and we will be back for another year in the spring.”
