New Hampshire Antiques Week 2026: New Hampshire Antiques Show
Oliver Garland, Falmouth, Mass.
Review & Onsite Photos by Andrea Valluzzo
MANCHESTER, N.H. — It might seem like an oxymoron, but “fresh” and “new” are in vogue at antiques shows. The annual New Hampshire Antiques Show, now in its 69th year, has cemented its stature in antiques circles as an event that offers buyers fresh material and “new” items seldom seen. In the same vein as people who attend a fashion designer’s runway preview to get the first peek at what’s being offered, so too buyers flock to this show knowing they will see unusual and interesting material.
Closing out New Hampshire’s Antiques Week, the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association (NHADA) hosted the 69th Annual New Hampshire Antiques Show August 6-8 at the DoubleTree by Hilton with nearly 60 dealers setting up booths.
“We always save our most exciting finds for the New Hampshire show, especially folk art, redware and stoneware,” said Thomas and Cathy Rawson, who traveled from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “The show was very successful for us and was expertly run, as always, by mostly dealer volunteers. The crowd seemed every bit as strong as in past years. We travel 21 hours to get to the show, and it has always been well worth the effort.”
The Rawsons’ folk art sales included a signed Harris Blackhawk weathervane, eight bottle whimseys, a wooden whimsey carved from one piece of wood, a large Paul Bunyan whirligig and a smaller very colorful whirligig, a wildly carved mirror, a ventriloquist head, a cloth boy doll, a black bottle doll, a carved pig pull toy, a landscape painting on wood, a pair of carved wooden dancers and four decoys. Pottery sales included an important William Pecker stoneware jar with four incised decorations plus two other stoneware pieces, an extremely rare Massachusetts redware pitcher and three other New England redware pieces. They also sold two of the three cast iron bell toys they brought, plus a few more minor objects.
Nathan Liverant & Son, Colchester, Conn.
Connecticut dealer Arthur Liverant is a veteran of this show, and like most dealers who exhibit here year after year, he carefully chooses the merchandise that’s brought. “There’s not a lot of recycled objects that came from recent auctions and other sites. I think a lot of the stuff on the floor is very fresh material that has come up on the market within the last year,” he explained. “The New Hampshire dealers promote the idea that dealers who do this show bring fresh goods, and I think that is probably very true. A lot of the things we had never seen before; it’s all fresh-picked. People love a new restaurant and everyone’s anxious to go and see what they are offering on their menu and that’s basically what we did. We brought to the marketplace the new menu of what’s available for people to buy and collect.”
Describing the show has having a “wonderful environment” with a fine cross section of material, Liverant said there were probably 1,000 “smalls” on the floor that were good antiques along with good furniture, important paintings and more to make for a broad selection. “I think across the board dealers did very well, and that’s always pleasing when your colleagues are doing well and everyone can share in the excitement of selling.”
Reached after the show, NHADA vice president and communications chair Sharon Platt said, “The 69th New Hampshire Show was met with a robust gate and enthusiastic collectors — many under 30 — along with exhibitors reporting strong sales in a wide variety of categories, including furniture, historical objects, glassware, paintings, textiles, folk art, ceramics, holiday, Shaker objects and garden ornaments and more. We welcomed wonderful new exhibitors to this year’s rooster, who presented an array of exciting specialties.” She added that the association’s board of directors and show committee volunteers are already hard at work preparing for the 70th anniversary of the show next year.
Early arrivals poured through the doors as soon as the show opened.
In his own booth, Liverant was pleased with his sales and commented that about 90 percent of the items exhibited had never been at another show. Some may have been in their Colchester, Conn., shop but were making their show debut. Among sales was a William and Mary oval-top tavern table with bulbous turned legs, circa 1725-50, Rhode Island or eastern Connecticut. Still waiting for a new home at press time was a striking wholecloth linsey-woolsey coverlet in watermelon pink with an olive-green background, New England, 1775-1810.
Jeff and Holly Noordsy reported having an extremely good show this year and are among the dealers who have already set aside items for next August. “We saw interest in most everything we displayed — the crowd was large and very acquisitive,” Jeff Noordsy said. “I thought the show looked fabulous this year. The new dealers were wonderful additions, and it seemed everyone brought their best and ‘freshest’ material.”
The Noordsys wrote up 45 objects in a wide range of categories and price points. Among their most notable sales were a recently discovered portrait of a young woman by E.W. Blake, a stoneware jug decorated in blue with a very folky stag, a piece of David Morgan stoneware and a blown glass pitcher created at one of the Stoddard, N.H. glass houses.
Jeff & Holly Noordsy Antiques, Cornwall, Vt.
Canines were an especially popular subject with several figures spied at the show. A pair of black dogs was a standout with Michael Whittemore, who had a “great show,” selling the dogs along with five weathervanes and a lot of good, early painted “smalls.” He added that his sculpture and furniture offerings nearly sold out.
Sheridan Loyd also was having a good show and admitted to being happily surprised to do well with furniture. “I sold a diminutive English secretary and a Queen Anne table, plus many ‘smalls’ and wall items,” he reported.
Ceramics specialist David M. Kurau also had a productive run, selling many things in different categories. “We sold several pieces of mocha ware and Whieldon along with several other pieces of early English ceramics. One of our favorite pieces that sold was an English creamware Liverpool pitcher with provenance from the original owner who fought in the War of 1812,” he said, adding “a huge ‘thank you’ to all the show staff and board members that make this show possible and run smooth.”
Pat and Rich Garthoeffner said the show was “terrific,” noting that they “love seeing all the returning customers and their enthusiasm for the show! Many only make this one show a year and are never disappointed! We had one of our best shows ever!” The dealers quipped that they could have sold many things twice. “When people come in excited to buy, they are rarely disappointed at New Hampshire! The painting I placed in The Bee [Antiques and The Arts Weekly] was sold before the show, and I had lots of people sorry they couldn’t buy it at the show! Counting the days ‘til next year!”
Pat & Rich Garthoeffner, Lititz, Penn.
The “Show Section” ads the Garthoeffners alluded to ran a few weeks before the show and resulted in quite a few sales while drumming up interest for the event. (They also saved this editor money, as the stone gnome seen in Whittemore’s ad was sold before she could buy it.) New dealers to this show Z & K Antiques reported selling the large carved eagle and rare Morgan horse weathervane that they featured in their ad.
Other notable transactions for Z & K, dealer Bob Zordani said, included a 5-gallon Baltimore stoneware water cooler from the Alice Booth collection, a Norton 1½-gallon stoneware jar with reclining deer in landscape decoration, a mid Nineteenth Century barber pole with acorn finials in untouched original paint, a miniature Tennessee basket from the Nancy Goff collection, three gameboards and a various array of other items.
“We had a lot of interest in our two large trade signs, but no one pulled the trigger on them,” Zordani added. “We were thankful to surpass the sales goal we set for ourselves, and we’re extremely appreciative that the people took a shining to our debut booth. It was great to hang out with the other exhibitors, who are all really smart, kind and helpful people. We met lots of new to us collectors at the show and got to spend time with many of our clients who shop our website and see us at other venues. Heidi [Kellner] and I were nervous going into this show and wondered whether or not our inventory would garner attention at this advanced level, but we did just fine.”
Art Pappas Antiques, Woodbury, Conn.
Another dealer new to the show was Art Pappas, who commented, “The show was wonderful: high traffic count and so many knowledgeable people. I made a lot of sales, met many new people and had a great time.” The dealer saw a lot of interest in his hardware and sold several pieces along with his wrought iron “1838” date numerals, folk art from the Watertown barn by Daniel Zuraitis, Goddard family miniature portraits by George Harvey, a fireplace mantle, a highboy and lowboy and more. His highlight sales included a Medford, Mass., Carver armchair; a Harold Corbin door latch; miniature baskets; and many smaller items. He said he also has a few after-show sales pending and is still getting calls and texts.
Nancy and Gene Pratt were pleased with the response to the show. “The enthusiasm and excitement from the patrons is unparalleled in our industry. The dealers had beautiful displays and excellent merchandise which is the hallmark of our show. We had many red ‘sold’ dots before noon in a wide range of categories, including artwork, redware, folk art, furniture and ‘smalls’ of all categories,” Gene Pratt said. “One of our most notable sales was a beautiful early Nineteenth Century folk art watercolor depicting a mother and her two daughters in a bucolic setting along the Portland, Maine, coast. It was purchased by a wonderful lady from New York City and will find good company in her collection.”
Nancy & Gene Pratt, Victor, N.Y.
David Schorsch and Eileen Smiles were impressed by the number of young couples attending and buying at the show this year. “Once again the NHADA show has proven to be a fast-paced and successful event,” Schorsch said. “We sold a dozen items to new and established collectors and dealers. Highlights we sold to collectors included a Zedekiah Belknap portrait of a child in red in untouched condition, a Hancock Shaker curly maple snake leg candle stand in original finish and a Newport comb-back Windsor armchair in early red paint, ex Israel Sack and Henry Ford II, that we have handled twice before.”
“I was pleased with the variety that we sold. My impression of the show was positive, with some obvious faces missing but several new younger people showing interest and buying. It was all positive,” shared dealer Peter Sawyer. Notable sales that he shared with us included an Aaron Willard tall clock, an Aaron Willard shelf clock, several New Hampshire paintings, some furniture and lots of “smalls.”
Scott DeWolfe of DeWolfe & Wood said the show was strong, and the mixture of dealers really helped make the event very attractive by offering a wide range of wonderful pieces for all areas of collecting. “Opening day saw a huge, enthusiastic crowd. We interacted with longtime customers and met new ones,” he said. “Sales were brisk for Shaker pieces, as we had a good collection from the family of a Virginia collector. Among the items we sold were a Mount Lebanon, N.Y., Shaker desk; baskets; photographs; a candlestand; and two manuscript Shaker scrolls written by the New Lebanon East family Eldress in the 1830s. Antique books and ephemera also sold well.”
This show remains one of the strongest and most popular on the calendar according to Kelly Kinzle. “We sold a variety of things: furniture, folk and fine art,” he said. “The NHADA show is one of our favorites, and we look forward to next year!”
The 70th Annual New Hampshire Antiques Show will be August 12-14, but the NHADA Members Antiques Show is next up on June 6 in Concord, N.H. For information, www.nhada.org.
