Ironstone Antiques, Hardwick, Mass.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
GLASTONBURY, CONN. – Bob Barrows continued the tradition with the 38th annual Glastonbury Antiques Show and Sale sponsored by Glastonbury Exchange Club on New Year’s Day, January 1. More than 80 exhibitors were set up in the town’s high school, offering predominantly early American antiques with a selection of antique and estate jewelry and more. Barrows said the nearly perfect weather for the day, not too cold and no precipitation, made for a large crowd at the door, the highest in many years.
“Dealer sales seem to always be here, for we get a very large group of shoppers at the show every year, knowledgeable about antiques and also looking to furnish their homes,” he added. Barrows also exhibits at the show with a large assortment of early Nineteenth Century antique household accessories.
Exhibitors sold furniture dominated by primitive and country styles from Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century America. Richard Fuller, Royalton, Vt., for example, sold early that morning a William and Mary gate-leg table as the first piece of furniture from his collection. It was probably later than the British monarchs but copied the style popular in their time and was priced well. He then was able to spread out to show more of what he brought, selling an early American tap table and a dry sink, both New England pieces.
Nearby, Log Cabin Primitives from South Glastonbury, Conn., was showing a large assortment of Eighteenth Century painted furniture. The dealer’s first piece to leave the building was a charming tall cupboard in pewter blue paint with a scalloped opening at the top and door on the lower portion. There was a good deal of interest in several other pieces, prompting later calls, including a tall hutch with doors, also in old blue surface, and a 250-year-old wing chair.
W.S. Korzick, New Haven, Conn., does only a few shows but always this one with a big assortment of furniture. His inventory is well sought-after, popular with the shoppers who are quick to see what he has. This year, among the first sales was a small dry sink in pine, not original surface but nicely refinished. It sold in the first minutes of the day to another dealer. Before the day was over, it sold again to someone who took it home, still with a modest price; good business. Korzick is not fixed on only one period; he finds good pieces from the last 300 years and brings them to the show. Here he had the Eighteenth Century pine dry sink, a circa 1900 barristers filing cabinet, a Sheraton period Pembroke table, several hooked rugs and tables filled with small household items and tools.
Jewelry and more valuable small objects were the trade for Kathleen and David Kuebler from nearby Farmington, Conn. Their inventory included an Atmos perpetual motion clock, silver and gold jewelry and several showcases filled with small objects. Sales included a Samson Morden & Co. sterling emery, made in England about 1890.
Peter Manfredi, South Glastonbury, Conn.
Virginia Renschen, Middletown, Conn., finds antiques of all kinds, shapes and sizes. For this show she was offering hooked mats, some Colonial period furniture, Eighteenth Century earthenware, pewter and more. Her sales included hooked mats and a green Leeds Featheredges platter, along with a blanket chest, circa 1775.
New England Seasons, Rehobeth, Mass., is Diane Freed’s business, which she said developed from her habit of collecting antiques. Here she was selling multiple tables filled to overflowing with 200-year-old porcelain, pewter and 100-year-old glass. Her centerpiece was a miniature faience set for children.
The Village Antiques is from Syracuse, N.Y., and collects toys, dolls and holiday paraphernalia from the last 200 years. Here the display included a train modeled from about 1875, at roughly 1/12 to 1/15 scale, meaning that the engine was about 2 feet long with a tender. It seemed to have been made for the maker’s child or grandchild, with great detail, though not perfect, and was very popular at the show. There were also dolls, toys and teddy bears.
Tom Landers of Palisades Trading Company has been a regular at this show for many years for it is just a short drive from his Windsor, Conn., home. He trades in Oriental rugs as his only business. Here he gets to sell some, perhaps buy a few and also find customers for the rug cleaning business.
There was an interesting lamp on display in Ed Collector Corner Antiques of Glastonbury. Dating from 1820 and made of copper, it was Flemish, powered by whale oil, with a wick in an upper spout and a lower spout to catch the drips from above.
The show is the largest fundraising affair for the Glastonbury Exchange Club, which uses the money raised for good works around town. While there is no website, information is available from Barrows at 860-342-2540.
