The second stop on the Antiques Week In Vermont tour was at the Okemo Ski resort lodge where just under 30 dealers displayed a good selection of Americana. This highly anticipated show opened on Friday afternoon, October 5, with a preview party beginning at 3 pm and ending promptly at 6. Managed by Don and Pat Clegg, this show was another to have its roster mixed up due to conflicting events.
Okemo is a highly regarded country show and the merchandise displayed throughout the lodge did not disappoint the shoppers that waited several hours to get into the show. The Cleggs have a system in place for the show’s opening where tickets are presold for the preview, each with a corresponding number as to the order in which it was sold. As the opening draws near, people with low number tickets make their way towards the front of the line, this year headed up by Demarest, N.J., collector/dealer Terri Tushingham (Terri managed to be at the front of the line for virtually all of the Vermont shows). Sunny skies, warm weather and the beginning of a colorful foliage season made those waiting in line more comfortable. The line of shoppers filled the entrance to the lodge, spilled out onto a large patio and extended down the stairs towards the parking lot.
Shoppers rushed onto the floor and passionately scooped up item after item from the booths, with sales noted in the opening moments at the stands of Pratt’s Antiques, Steve Smoot, Jane Wargo, Brooks Antiques and Michael and Lucinda Seward.
The Cleggs, who not only promote the show but exhibit as well, bring along a host of their Pennsylvania dealer/neighbors to Vermont, which adds a pleasant flavor to this show as well. Yeagertown, Penn., dealer Robert Conrad featured a superb Pennsylvania paint-decorated tole coffeepot, a wooden document box with floral paint motif and a pie safe with “Sheraton”-form turned legs and two drawers over pierced tin compartments. A selection of carved and painted figures in the Pennsylvania Dutch style filled an attractive wall cupboard with two Aaron Mounts dogs and a wonderful pair of vibrantly painted carved wooden roosters.
Kocian DePasqua, Woodbury, Conn., offered perhaps the most diversity in his wares, with items ranging from a large Tiffany Studios table lamp with an acorn pattern leaded glass shade atop a stylish bronze stem-form base. The lamp was a proper testament to the success collectors can enjoy mixing and matching antiques from different periods, as it looked stunning displayed in conjunction with a slant-front desk, a dry sink in old mustard paint, a large running horse weathervane, and a selection of early trade signs that ranged from a town clerk’s black and gold lettered sign to an innkeeper’s sign in bold yellow paint.
Wallingford, Conn., dealer Jane Wargo had her husband, Phil, busy writing sales slips as she dealt with the public. Baskets, firkins in good early paint, wall boxes, gameboards and weathervanes were attracting attention as sold tags began to appear in the booth, including one prominently placed on a large scale in great green paint that a smiling young lady had just purchased for her kitchen. It was hard not to “snicker” at the Snicker’s candy advertisement that hung from the loft above the booth, and Jane quickly assured anyone who asked, that the sign was not a directive to snicker at either her or her merchandise.
Salt Box Antiques, Sugar Loaf, Penn., offered a great selection of early treen that included a nice assortment of mortar and pestles in good early paint, along with a selection of Shaker finger boxes, wooden bowls and butter stamps with intricately carved decorations. A nice sized sawbuck table was the front of the stand and a shopkeeper’s desk in old powder blue sat atop an early bench.
Erik Wohl, Woodstock, Conn., positioned a “No Parking” sign in bright yellow paint directly above a Casey Jones train-form pedal car. A wood box in dry green paint was another item attracting attention in the booth.
Joseph Martin, Brownington, Vt., featured a massive architectural eagle with a wing spread of more than 5 feet in the center of his display. The dealer kept the attractive patriotic theme alive with a selection of early framed American flags surrounding the iconic figure.
