Pantry Box Antiques, Stafford Springs, Conn.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
STURBRIDGE, MASS. – The Sturbridge Antiques Show, which ran December 31 and January 1, was a fun way to start the New Year. With its opening on New Year’s Eve, and running again on New Year’s Day for the dealers and shoppers, it included a little party time at the beginning of the show. Sponsored by several local antiques shops, including Sturbridge Antiques Center, the show featured more than 80 exhibitors with wares from the last 300 years and collectibles from the Victorian era and beyond.
David Rose Antiques, Upton, Mass.
Janice Liljestrand, a dealer from nearby Paxton, Mass., filled one table with 100-year-old Valentine cards and letters. She said that as soon as the doors opened on Monday morning she was swamped, selling more than 100 pieces from the collection. Her sales for the day also included “some of the collection of pewter from the Eighteenth Century, later doll things and a little bit of country smalls.”
Many of the exhibiting dealers make the show work by selling a large quantity of small objects rather than the few big things. That was the case for Mike Gallant of Hometown Antiques from Glenburn, Maine. His Monday began with the sale of an oil on canvas of a Maine seascape. Additional sales were a lovely black rag doll from the turn of the century, a tin and wood light with original glass, some minor stoneware, collectible marbles, which are one of his specialties, and a sign that offered “Stud Service.”
Charles Guinipero had similar success. His business, Pantry Box Antiques from Stafford Springs, Conn., was busy from the opening with sales of his German and Czech Christmas ornaments, Steiff bears and small woodenware. He had a small red wooden box that attracted a great deal of attention: bun feet, original paint on the outside and salmon paint on the inside, it sold for $350.
Smalls were also the order of the day for Susan Wirth. Her sales included some of the early woodenware in her collection and also some of the reproductions she and her husband Gary offer.
An exceptional collection of glass was offered by Annick Smith of South Windsor, Conn. She said it is her lifetime collection that she is now selling, including Waterford and more.
Janice Liljestrand, Paxton, Mass.
Chester Cwilichoski, Ansonia, Conn., has been concentrating on smalls for the last few years. This year for the show among his choice pieces was a sampler, dated 1835, in excellent condition.
Furniture was being shown as well: Hartman House Antiques, East Bridgewater, Mass., was offering a collection of cottage pine bedroom furniture from the Nineteenth Century along with the accessories; David Rose Antiques, Upton, Mass., was in the large front area of the exhibit hall, filling a large part of it with fine Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century furniture from America and England. Rose’s centerpiece was a mahogany swing leg dining table, Queen Anne design, circa 1750, in excellent condition. Surrounding it were several American Hitchcock chairs with rush seats in black paint with gold scrolling, also several candle-stands and a Nineteenth Century secretary in mahogany and at least a dozen sets of candleholders.
Next to Rose was Anthony Caputo with more furniture, including three sets of chairs, all American, two painted and one a set of Chippendale style. An English flip top game table, an Eighteenth Century American farm table, a painted hutch in two colors were decorating his booth. A set of six black Hitchcock chairs sold during the show, along with a variety of smalls.
This was the fourth year for this now annual affair at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. Look for it again next year with Dave White as the manager. For further information, give him a call at 850-399-0228 or visit https://sturbridgeantiqueshow.com.
