In its third year under JMK Shows as a spring show, the Atlantic City Antique & Collectors Show made its debut fall edition October 13‱4 at the Atlantic City Convention Center.
The show boasted a mix of traditional antiques, glassware, decorative and fine art to the fun and the unusual.
Exhibiting in Atlantic City for two decades, Sharon Wendrow of Memory Lane, Bayside, N.Y., filled her booth with a variety of dolls, toys and a handful of World’s Fairs collectibles, such as a charger from the 1964‶5 fair. From full-bodied dolls in their original finery to Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Temple paper dolls, Wendrow had a veritable doll store.
White Orchid Antiques, Media, Penn., set up a traditional antiques booth, but offered a little bit of everything from paintings to Oriental art, china and a smattering of furniture and decorative arts. Glass of every shape and size and for nearly every purpose †from clear to colored †sparkled in the booth of Memories, Dunellen, N.J.
Several dealers pulled out all the stops to lure male shoppers into their booths. Scott Rosenman Antiques, Baltimore, Md., specializes in vintage advertising, and his booth had fine examples of Coca-Cola and petroliana signs. Exhibiting here since 1996, Rosenman brought such gems to this show as a “Ditto” Quality Cigar ad featuring an attractive young lady dressed in Native American attire, a Dayton candy scale, an oval “We Use Genuine Chevrolet Parts” tin sign, Coca-Cola displays and a large Dr Pepper Good for Life! sign. On the other end of the spectrum and sure to appeal to many men was the firearms and militaria display set out by dealer Joe Torre. He had long arms, swords, a fine pair of Mid-Eastern pistols that were pre-1900, flight wings, helmets and Japanese tsubas and menuki.
Always having an eye-catching, larger-than-life booth at Atlantic City is Obnoxious Antiques, Burlington, N.J., which posed three stuffed animal figures (life-size): a lion, zebra and a tiger aptly in front of a large sideshow banner that read “Silent Killers of the Jungle.” Perhaps not all killers, nor all jungle dwellers; still, the trio was a fun addition to the show.
Highlights in the booth of Judith Locher, Akron, Ohio, included a Nineteenth Century French spelter clock with three cherubs and blue enamel decoration on the clock face, a spelter drummer boy, an Austrian chocolate set and a French bronze clock in the form of a drum with a figure holding a drumstick.
Only Yesterday, Ocean City, N.J., offered an early 1900s printer’s “furniture” cabinet, Hamilton Mfg Co., Two Rivers, Wis., with “furniture” the trade jargon for the wood spacers that separated the metal type. Television show-based games and pop culture figures from Popeye to Mickey Mouse could also be found.
Rounding the offerings were a Tang dynasty horse at M. Bertelli, Allendale, N.J., a cast iron coffin, Almond D. Fisk, patented November 1848, on offer from Peter Broda, and over in the booth of Wolfe’s Antiques & Open Salts was a pair of tiny bowls from Portugal vividly painted, one with a figure of a boy, the other a girl, both in traditional clothing.
For additional information, www.jmkshows.com or 973-927-2794.
