Review and Photos by R. Scudder Smith

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE, N.Y. — T-shirt weather in the middle of September in the Adirondacks is really not what one would expect. And on top of that, not a leaf seemed to have any intention of thinking color; rather, the leaves were falling to the ground from the lack of rain. Regardless of the weather, however, the Adirondack Museum Antiques Show & Sale went on as planned, opening on Friday afternoon, September 18, from 3 to 6, with a preview party and early buying. Just over 200 people, up slightly from last year, attended this event and there was a good crowd on Saturday and a weaker attendance on Sunday, which is the general rule.

Blue Line Antiques, Port Leyden, N.Y. 

“In spite of a smaller gate on Sunday, several dealers came up to me and said they sold well and had a very nice day,” Rod Lich, show manager from Georgetown, Ind., said. He also reported that a number of the exhibitors had the “best show ever at the museum,” while some noted just the opposite.

The show, a benefit for the Adirondack Museum, is set up on the museum grounds under tents, ranging in size from the center one holding about 10 to 12 exhibitors, to the smaller, one-dealer size. Some of the tenting is provided by the museum, and some of the exhibitors bring their own. The setting is perfect for an outdoor show and the entire museum is open and included in the show ticket price. The museum’s café is open with a nice variety of food and drink, and it becomes very easy to spend the day there with interesting objects for sale by the dealers and interesting things, including a large boat exhibit, not for sale, by the museum.

White & White, Skaneateles, N.Y.

A longtime exhibitor at the show, Linda Davidson, Landrum, S.C., offered a log cabin model that was originally a south Georgia builder’s sample. “I have had a couple of these in the past, but this is the first one to have a screened porch,” Linda said. Among the furniture she showed was a twig swing with traces of the original blue paint and a pair of hickory armchairs.

The next booth under the large tent in the middle of the museum’s main yard was Stephen White of White & White, Skaneateles, N.Y., with a wall of paddles and a wall of creels, each with a red, green or yellow sticker on the tag that signified the cost, “a system that I use which really makes pricing easy for the customer,” Stephen said. He followed the same method with the large variety of pack baskets he offered, some hung on a pegboard, while others were stacked around a small boat.

“We had never seen one of these tables until this one came along,” Bonnie Ferris said about the Maine sailmaker’s table they were offering. It dated circa 1880–1900, measured 13 feet 3 inches, and was shaped like an old iron. Together with husband Dave, the Lake Luzerne, N.Y., couple also showed a Nineteenth Century cast iron urn on base in old red paint by Timmes, Brooklyn, N.Y., a rustic birdhouse in the shape of a log cabin and a sheet metal weathervane with a couple of pine trees and two deer, with some of the original paint still showing.

Parrett/Lich, Inc, Georgetown, Ind.

Parrett/Lich Inc, Georgetown, Ind., had a collection of furniture that included an Indiana hideaway drop leaf table, circa 1930, an Old Hickory slat seat rocker, a pair of Old Hickory rockers, Marlingville, Ind., circa 1910, and an Indiana hickory settee dating circa 1930. A large pond boat had a natural hull with red painted trim and the original sails.

Cherry Gallery, Damariscotta, Maine, was in its regular location at the front of the large tent, offering a wide selection of furniture and rustic material under good lighting. A Lee Fountain root base table, a twig planter and an Old Hickory open weave hoop arm settee were shown, along with an Old Hickory three-seat porch glider and a peeled pole dining table together with a set of four chairs. A set of four Old Hickory bar stools were set off to the side with a sold tag attached, ready to be picked up by the new owner.

Loose Moose Antiques, Nineveh, Ind., had a mixed selection of things, including a standing red fox mount, a large collection of carved bears of different sizes and poses, a very comfortable pair of circa 1940 leather armchairs and a 30-hole cabinet that maybe once was used for mail or possibly bottles, but now could either stand on the floor or hang for any objects that would fit in one of the 4-by-6-inch holes.

Cherry Gallery, Damariscotta, Maine

A large eagle, carved from one block of wood and originally found in Virginia, dominated the back wall in the booth of Blue Line Antiques, Port Leyden, N.Y. On a smaller scale, other carvings, some painted, were of owls, dogs and several human figures. A large wooden trade sign in the form of a key hung on the back wall, a late Nineteenth Century piece that once hung outside a locksmith’s shop.

“This is our first year at this show and it is really nice, the weather is great, we have a perfect spot with lots of room, and it was easy loading in,” Clifford Wallach said just before the opening of the benefit preview and early buying time. In addition to a number of frames and various sized boxes, this Manalapan, N.J., well-known tramp art dealer brought a few clocks, including a tall case grandfather example with extended elements and topped off with a gold-colored eagle, and a polychrome mantel clock festooned with animals, roses, maple leaves and soldiers, and an English flag and Union Jack surround a photo of King George V.

Jessie Lich, the show manager’s special helper.

Also new to the show this year was David Allan Ramsay of Cape Porpoise, Maine, and Lake Worth, Fla., with a large collection of cutting boards in a number of different shapes. “We are selling them as a group, since it took so long to put it all together, and there are 11 pigs, 12 fish form and several odd ones,” David said. Covering the major portion of the back wall of the tent was an enlarged 1930s postcard which, until a day before the show, was a fixture in one of the stores in Blue Mountain Lake. “I guess we happened in at just the right time, for the picture had never been for sale, but the owner told us he would sell it,” David said. It pictured the Gardeners Camp at Lake View Lodge, Big Moose Lake, N.Y., and it has been used in a couple of books about the Adirondacks.

John Provo from Plymouth, Minn., had a great spot to set up his booth, with a roof overhead and a view between the trees of a portion of Blue Mountain Lake from the museum’s grounds. There he spread out his furniture, and a few accessories, including an Old Hickory armchair and rocker, an Old Hickory bounce chair and a circa 1920 Adirondack dressing screen decorated with a lake view, lots of trees and a sailboat off in the distance. Inviting people to stay awhile was a signed Indiana willow porch glider, 87 inches long, from which one would get a perfect Adirondack view with mountain-clad trees and a still lake. The window at the back of his booth, pictured, reflects what glider sitters took in.

All kinds of fishing plugs and cases of trout flies dominated one side of the booth of Black Bass Antiques, Bolton Landing, N.Y., while a mixed selection of bear traps and a couple of trade signs for Remington Rifles were on the opposite side. A Neptune Mighty Mite sign stood on its original stand.

An Old Hickory armchair showed off its original blue paint in the bright sunshine just outside the tent set up by Michael Friedman of Weston, Conn. Leaning against tent posts inside were a couple of early trade signs, one reading “Buy Fat Fred’s Hickory Smoked Sholders, Backon and Ham,” all written white on black on wood in the shape of a pig. Another sign, pointing the way to Bear Lake, included the picture of a black bear. Both signs were sold, as was a set of four hickory armchairs shortly after the show opened.

A lifetime bookcase from the Arts and Crafts period, School of Harvey Ellis, was filled with things in the booth of David A. Zabriskie, Lake Placid, N.Y. A rare pair of figural andirons featured two large bronze owls, and an slab console came out of a Lake Placid camp. Nine hand colored copper plate engravings of tropical fish, Elizer Bloch, German, hung on the back wall in the booth of Anne Hall Antiques Prints, Sturbridge, Mass., along with nine German watercolor copper plate engravings of parrots.

Anne Hall Antique Prints, Sturbridge, Mass.

Also from Lake Placid was Antediluvian Antiques & Curiosities with possibly the largest deer mount in the show. In fact, this one was of wood, with red antlers, that measured 42 inches between the tips of the antlers and 7 feet from the base of the plaque to the top of the antlers. “It is going to take a very big and high wall to hang that carving,” Christopher English said. On a smaller scale was a collection of 11 model boats, including a racing boat, cabin cruiser, ocean liner and power boats. Hanging was an interesting BPOE banner with a stag’s head pictured in the middle of a clock face at the center of the piece.

A collection of six Kitchen Aid coffee grinders with the original catch glass, circa 1940s and all different colors, as well as a table filled with early scales and coffee grinders manufactured by Dayton, along with a 1904 General Electric six-speed fan in “out of the box” condition, drew lots of attention, and questions, in the booth of Child’s Play Antiques, Marietta, Ga. The man behind it all, Terry Wright, noted that he had been collecting these old machines for more than 20 years and restoring them, with each one taking upwards of 30 hours. He said that he achieves the bright surface by using automobile paint, and to some of the pieces he adds gold striping, but he has one problem. “I find these things faster than I can restore them,” he said.

Child’s Play Antiques, Marietta, Ga.

For those who plan ahead, the 2016 Adirondack Museum Antiques Show will open with a preview on Friday, September 16, and run through Sunday, September 18. For additional information, 518-352-7311. The museum is at 9097 State Route 30.

Seen On The Street:
Adirondack Mountain Antiques Show
Welcomes Dealers & Buyers

Review and Photos By R. Scudder Smith

INDIAN LAKE, N.Y. — As the old saying goes, “You can find everything except the kitchen sink.” Not true at the Adirondack Mountain Antiques Show that recently crowded the main street of Indian Lake and then jumped a short drive down Route 28 for more roadside activity in Blue Mountain Lake.

The ADK Antiques Show (shortened version) was advertised to run Wednesday through Sunday, September 16–20, but dealers were setting out their wares as early as Monday morning, and some of them were packing out either Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. Around noon on Sunday about 70 percent of the dealers were still operating, and the customers were still milling about.

As for the dealers who set up along Route 28 in Blue Mountain Lake, their number increased towards the end of the week when the Adirondack Museum hosted its two-day antiques show, Saturday and Sunday, with a three-hour preview late afternoon on Friday (a review and pictures at that show appear in this issue). Many of those who attended the museum show also scanned the roadside people in hopes of uncovering some treasure that had been overlooked for the three previous days.

In addition to that lone kitchen sink, shoppers and collectors plowed their way through countless canoe paddles, mounts of all shapes and sizes, guns large and small, plus ammo, fishing rods, reels and plugs and flies, boats, hunting clothing, furniture of many styles, fishing badges, floats and bobbins, vintage posters, and a good deal of routine household stuff that nobody seems to want.

The weather was bright and clear all week long, with temperatures higher than one would expect in the Adirondacks at this time of the year. However, complaints were few, especially from those dealers who have been doing the shows for a good number of years and gone through some very wet and unpleasant times.

Lodging runs short when these two antiques shows are in season, so early reservations are highly recommended. The dates next year are September 14–18, encompassing both shows.