Review and Photos by R. Scudder Smith
WOODSTOCK, VT. — The Vermont Antiques Dealers’ Association opened the doors to its 41st annual show, Antiques & Art in Woodstock, on Saturday, July 25, at the Union Arena Community Center on the Woodstock High School Campus. The show ran from 10 am to 5 pm on the first day, and from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday.
John & Eileen Smart, Rutland, Vt.
Greg Hamilton of Stone Block Antiques again served as manager of the event, and he reported that the show went fine and “attendance was just about the same as last year.” He noted, “We had an active early crowd and good attendance that lasted until about midafternoon on Saturday, and Sunday was also busy.” A couple of dealers who had done the show in the past returned this year, and three new names were added to the list of 52 exhibitors.
This show is really a little gem, a good mix of dealers with a good variety of goods, and lots of friendly faces even if the show is not going well for everyone. The booths are neatly arranged, not overcrowded in most cases, and all are dressed in the same color paper, leaning toward a light beige.
Derik Pulito, Kensington, Conn.
Just inside the entrance door was the booth of Derik Pulito, Kensington, Conn., with a grouping of furniture that included a circa 1800–1830 New England stepback cupboard with the original salmon paint, 76 inches tall, and a circa 1760 Rhode Island or Eastern Connecticut slant front desk in tiger maple, Queen Anne, with a 36-inch-wide case. Three graduated chestnut bottles, some treen and a couple of painted baskets filled the shelves in the cupboard, and on a table was an American forged iron sugar tongs mounted on a pine base.
A Colonial period storage box for valuables, circa 1680–1720, with the original snipe hinges and found in the Boston area, was offered from the booth of Home Farm Antiques, Bolton Landing, N.Y., along with a pie safe, circa 1890, with two glass doors in front and screens on the sides.
“I think the show really looks great this year,” Michael Seward of Pittsford, Vt., said. Together with his wife Lucinda, they showed a pine and cherry tip-top table, a set of four chairs — one arm and three sides — all with the original surface and old rush seats. An early Nineteenth Century two-drawer blanket chest, with till, old refinish, was against the back wall of the booth.
Mario Pollo, Holliston, Mass.
A large cutout of Mickey Mouse, circa 1935 on plywood, was mounted on an outside wall at the booth of Mario Pollo of Holliston, Mass. “This is what the original Mickey looked like, and it was once used in the lobby of a New York City theater,” Mario said. And in hopes that people were still decorating their garden, he offered a small pair of white painted, cast iron urns, and a single, large cast iron urn, very fancy, with old black painted surface.
Rathbun Gallery, Wakefield, R.I., showed a nice vintage pine and painted teddy bear shelf, circa 1925–1930, the ends in the shape of a bear in the original paint. A handcarved and painted New Hampshire cottage sign, “Ewing – 7,” dated from the mid-Twentieth Century and featured a deer in foliage with a full moon in the background, all in the original paint.
Dennis and Valerie Bakoledis of Rhinebeck, N.Y., offered an 1820 New York Sheraton server, an 1830 New England turned leg, one-drawer stand in maple, and a cherry oval Queen Anne drop leaf table, New York State or New England. Signs filled the walls in the booth of Bittner Antiques, Burlington, Vt., a couple of them factory made while most of them created for special needs, such as, “Grower’s Supplies,”, “Fancy Maple Syrup — $5/gal” and “Open — Just Push.” A large sign, green with black lettering, came from “The Friendly Horseman’s Club” with a picture of horse and rider at the left end. A glass front cupboard held a collection of cast iron drag hooks of various sizes and age.
Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vt., offered a large breakfront with two large glass doors over three drawers and two cupboards in the base, an inlaid center table and a tilt-top tea table with pad feet. An intricate wood model, painted, consisted of many moving parts, including a pair of water wheels that moved a series of arms and ultimately drive a piston.
Mike Winslow, East Clarendon, Vt.
Ken and Susan Scott, Malone, N.Y., must have had a drug store in mind when they packed for the show, offering two sets of apothecary jars, seven matching with lids and vivid decoration, and a set of four, again matching decoration and lids. In addition, a large apothecary chest, with 32 drawers, was found in Vermont in the original red surface with many of the drawer labels intact. Among the pieces of stoneware was a jug with cobalt blue decoration in the form of a horse, and a selection of old straw hats hung on the side wall.
“This is a wonderful thing,” Justin Cobb of Captain’s Quarters, Amherst, Mass., said, picking up a rare Indian fan, Huron gift, with porcupine handle and feathers with two black birds decorating the center of the fan. It dates 1860 and was in the original shipping box. In addition to some nautical paintings, he had a carved busk, Dutch, dating 1792; an eagle carving on horn by E. Patton, wood mounted; and a coconut and bone scrimshaw grog dipper.
An early oval shoe-foot hutch table in old red was positioned at the front of the booth of Millbrook Antiques, Reading, Vt., and also with a red painted surface was a country-style secretary, American Empire, dating from the early 1800s. Another piece in old red paint was a pine dry sink, early 1800s, that was found in New Hampshire and had been in the same collection for the past 35 years. Standing in the corner was a Midwestern folk doll, circa 1920, a black figure with blue coverall and holding a broom.
“I brought two workbenches, one large and one small, and sold the smaller one and still have a couple more at home that I am getting in shape for future shows,” James Mulder of Liberty Hill Antiques, Reading, Vt., said. He used one of the benches to display a selection of early woodworking tools, and the other for showing off his collection of floral doorstops. At the back of the booth were two six-board blanket chests, one in old red paint, the other with a blue/green surface.
Stephen-Douglas Antiques, Rockingham, Vt.
An important embroidered hearth or table rug on black ground, 1802, New England origin, hung on the side wall in the booth of Stephen-Douglas, Rockingham, Vt., and opposite was a bright checkerboard with yellow and red squares and decoration. A Queen Anne drop leaf table retained the original surface, and a toy train was of wood with painted features.
A large red-painted fish weathervane was displayed at the front of the booth of Holden Antiques, Sherman, Conn., and Naples, Fla. This mid-Twentieth Century vane of wood and copper came out of a New York State collection and taking up most of the side wall of the booth was a folky portrait of a pig/hog on wood panel, probably English, 36½ by 28 inches and signed “Rose.” A miniature stepback cupboard was in the original yellow paint, with striping, and a basket held eight early croquet balls.
The Red Horse Antiques, Bridgewater, Vt., had a very nice wooden bench with trellis back, English, circa 1870, in old gray paint and with a cushion on the seat. Also of English origin was an ash table with pull-out serving tray, five-board top, circa 1800, and taking up most of a side wall was a two-part painted cupboard in pine, two doors over five drawers, original blue interior, circa 1820, with a black and putty painted exterior. A stack of nine round kitchen boxes, graduated, in green, salmon, red, blue and black, stood tall in the booth of Rita Masso Antiques, Burlington, Vt. Several wooden bowls, both round and oval, were shown, along with a doll cradle in green with red striping.
A fireplace mantel was centered on the back wall in the booth of Fraser’s Antiques, Chester, Vt., to call attention to some iron pieces that were kept near the fire, including tongs, tools, forks, toasters and a large cast iron kettle. A cradle in old blue was occupied by two Raggedy Ann dolls, and a pair of Indian snowshoes with harnesses hung beside a pair of snowshoe frames.
A tall Uncle Sam figure, painted red, white and blue and designed to hold a mailbox, stood in the booth of Thomas Thompson, Pembroke, N.H., near an oversized tennis racquet that was a trade sign for Donnay. A pair of decorative pipes from an organ were mounted on the back wall, and there was no shortage of cutting boards in the shape of a pig. Tommy seems to have cornered the market with a stack of six of them.
Enfield, N.H., dealer Pewter & Wood Antiques offered a folky rocking horse with worn leather saddle, on a blue painted base, and a double-sided nine-patch quilt, probably New Hampshire, circa 1880s, measuring 78 by 80 inches. A deer was featured on a circa 1930 hooked rug that was found in New Hampshire.
Heidi A. Lang Antiques & Fine Art, Woodstock, Vt. / Lavin Stickney Antiques, Woodstock, Vt. / Spencer Julian Antiques, Norwich, Vt.
Taking up a double booth, and filling it to capacity, was That Wicker Guy, Saint Albans, Vt., with a four-piece Bar Harbor wicker set, original finish, circa 1900, and a choice of three rustic bentwood rockers, all dating circa 1900. Of interest was a caretaker-made twig chaise lounge in cedar and willow, circa 1900–1910, still retaining some of its original white painted surface.
Henry T. Callan Fine Antiques, East Sandwich, Mass., came in with a stack of banana boxes filled with all makes of china and glass, and filled every inch of three good-sized tables with pieces of delft, majolica, Staffordshire and all kinds and shapes of glass. And he covered the walls with samplers, for which he is well known, with examples from Mount Vernon by Frances Williams, 1842, with verse and alphabet, and one by Mary Hagar, born in Newton, Mass., on May 30, 1813. The sampler, with three alphabets and a leaf border all around, was completed and dated March 21, 1827.
Griffith’s Antiques, Utica, N.Y., had a country Chippendale bracket-base chest, rosehead nails, red surface, dating circa 1840, along with a 30-by-12½-inch carved wood and painted trade sign in the shape of a pointing hand. An attractive fern stand had a wooden base and claw feet.
Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Mo., showed a stenciled table from Minnesota with yellow fruit and vine, a stack of six colorful nesting blocks, and an Iowa corn stalk sculpture with an ear of corn on the top and the leaves represented by cast iron wrenches. “This is a busy time for us,” Tim Chambers said, adding, “We have to drive home from here, change our load, and drive right back to take part in the New Hampshire Antiques Show.” Missouri Plain Folk is one of the new faces at the New Hampshire Show this August.
Transportation was well covered by DBR Antiques, Doug Ramsay, Hadley, Mass., through his display of weathervanes, including a train, plane and car. Another vane was in the shape of an American flag, the Nathan Beman flag, named for one of Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys. A pump wood carved barber pole, red, white and blue, had a very large painted ball on the top, and an interesting blacksmith’s sign depicted a male figure with hammer in one hand, some cast iron tool he had made in the other, standing in front of an anvil. The piece dated circa 1900 and came from a shop in Sharon, Conn.
West Pelham Antiques, Pelham, Mass., offered some pottery, glass objects and treen from an early bucket bench, and a trade sign listed several “all natural flavor ice cream” by May Gold. A country worktable, Shaker, single drop leaf, bread board ends top, retained the original red surface.
Back Door Antiques, East Middlebury, Vt. / Janice Goodwin Antiques, Hinesburg, Vt.
A large wooden bowl was displayed on a 6-foot-long meetinghouse bench, circa 1890, with turned spindles, in the booth that was shared by Jean Tudhope of Back Door Antiques, East Middlebury, Vt., and Janice Goodwin Antiques, Hinesburg, Vt. A table with checkerboard top, black and red squares, each numbered, was shown, along with a firewood log carrier made of wood and cast iron decorative handle that sold as the show opened. Across the back wall of the booth was the largest sign in the show, in two pieces and of stained glass, reading “Strand Theatre.” According to Jean, the sign came off a theater in Winooski, Vt., a building that burned in 1953.
The VADA Antiques Show has changed locations a few times over its 41 years, but “We will be back here at the Community Center in Woodstock again next year,” Greg Hamilton said. And the show is always the last full weekend of July, so the 2016 dates are Saturday and Sunday, July 30–31.
