Ironstone Antiques, Hardwick Mass.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
BROOKFIELD, MASS. – Kris and Paul Casucci again hosted about 50 antiques dealers in their big backyard, the Walker Homestead, which includes their house that was built in the late 1600s and restored and maintained by them over the years as their home and antiques business. This most recent edition of the Walker Homestead gathering was conducted on September 23, with more than 200 visitors patiently waiting for the starting bell on Saturday morning – at which time they quickly began buying.
For a small, out-of-the-way show, Walker Homestead has quickly become popular, drawing a large audience for the 10 am Saturday opening.
Charlie Guinipero, trading as Pantry Box Antiques from Stafford Springs, Conn., said, “I had no chance to lift my head out of my receipt book, just writing tickets all day!” He brought a collection that included vintage Halloween holiday décor, Steiff animals, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century woodenware and early New England stoneware. Sales were very good in all those categories, he said, but he also sold a good large stretcher-base table in original red paint.
Nearby, Woodview Antiques, Sandwich, Mass., was enjoying the morning as well. Concentrating on small antiques from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, this collection featured American and English pewter and woodenware, still ready for use a couple of centuries later. Also available was a hanging shelf with ornate cutout patterns on its sides and a large semicircular plant stand.
Another great success for the day was had by Ann McDonald from Barre, Mass. She was offering an exhibit filled with charm. Opening at the front was a small plant stand featuring about ten pairs of 100-year-old children’s shoes. By the time the day was over, half were sold, along with several antique farm tools, a cultivator and seeder, a painted cheese box, stoneware, carved wooden trenchers, a set of kitchen scales, a set of painted kitchen chairs and more. McDonald also had good sales with her Christmas collection of antique ornaments.
Cottage Antiques, Sturbridge, Mass., was selling from the starting bell as well. Several small cupboards went out, along with primitive accessories and an assortment from a Christmas collection.
Dianne Sandman, East Brookfield, Mass., put out early textiles and sewing notions. She also had an assortment of birdhouses made from repurposed materials, wood and metal.
The promoters give exhibitors two days to set up their booths, so many put great effort into the look of their small space to reproduce the early pioneer setting where the articles they are offering would have been used.
Milltown Primitives of North Stonington, Conn., is one of the many such dealers. The business’s tent is largely camouflaged by the brown and tan walls erected with similar shelves where all its Pioneer-era tools and household accessories are on display and available for sale. Robin Rock said sales included garden items, in some cases made from vintage tobacco drying sticks, outdoor décor, treen ware, redware, firkins and several buckets. She said she was very pleased with the day’s results.
Log Cabin Country Primitives, Meredith, N.H.
John Melby, Eastport, Maine, also likes to create the look of an early settler’s homestead with his short-term shop. Here he was offering the mantel to go with it, covered with pewter and woodenware. Alongside the mantel he had a painted blanket box, likely from the Eighteenth Century in red, an American bannister back chair and more.
Cindy and Joe Shepard, West Brookfield, Mass., offered several very early sap-gathering buckets made of wood.
Jane Desjardins and Linda Burr from Ware and Wilbraham, Mass., respectively, love to have their picture taken in the one single frame; their tradition, they say, at the shows. It keeps their string of good luck with sales of their Nineteenth Century furniture, stoneware and woodenware going strong.
Steve Cirillo, Castleton, N.Y., is a softy for a pretty face, that is, so long as it is depicted in a painting from about 200 years ago. Here he was offering an oil on canvas of a lady from about 1800, life size, in what appeared to be the original frame. He sold several pieces of his Eighteenth Century furniture in original surface.
The Casuccis present their Walker Homestead show twice a year, so look for it again next June.
The homestead, at 19 Martin Road, is also the site for the Tailgate Antiques Show, Thursday October 26, a short affair 9 am to noon only, with free admission to the public.
For additional information www.walkerhomestead.com or 508-867-4466.
