“I think it is great that Frank moved the Pickers Market to Monday. Now I go from Ron’s auction, right into four days of shows and never miss a day for buying antiques,” one early visitor to Bedford Pickers said while on line waiting for the show to open at 9 am for early buyers. That seemed to be the general opinion among the gathering of about 450 people who were in line on Monday, August 4, for the first show on the calendar of Antiques Week in New Hampshire.
“The weather is with us, not too hot and no rain for Pickers, and this year I added another air-conditioning unit for the tent in case of a heat wave,” Frank Gaglio, show manager, said. The tent was comfortable and drew the largest audience when the show opened. One lady, who was among the first in line to shop the convention center, apparently raced through that area and then went to the tent where she had to get in line again, as not all the people wanting to visit the tent had made it inside. She questioned Frank as to why she had to get at the end of the tent line.
“We don’t have an answer for that one,” he told her, “but we will work on it.” So goes the life of a show manager.
This year the 113 “pickers” put on a nice show, offering many things that were fresh to the market to an audience that included collectors and many dealers who were in New Hampshire to do one of the other shows. People moved rapidly about the center and the tent, hoping to be first to discover some sort of treasure. Sold signs appeared quickly in some of the booths, but, “I think selling was a bit lighter this year for Pickers,” Gaglio said. Most of the dealers agreed that “smalls” were more popular than furniture. “People want things they can carry away easily,” one exhibitor said.
“I like doing this show and I like my new booth,” Justin Cobb of Captain’s Quarters, Amherst, Mass., said while relaxing during setup with the air-conditioning blowing on him in his new aisle location in the convention center. As usual, he offered a mixture of nautical items, including an oil on canvas by Adam Edouard (French, 1847‱924), showing the SS Antinoui of the Blue Star Line, 1920. It was signed lower right and measured 22 by 30 inches. One of his ship models was of the S.Y. Nokomis.
Joe Collins of Middletown, Conn., offered a set of four arrow back side chairs, scalloped backs with tree decoration on yellow ground, and a large arrow weathervane, old gold surface, pointed the way into his booth. Three race horse games were at the front of the booth, one of French origin, the other two English. “Middletown is my new address as I have sold my location at Cobalt. I got tired of being a shopkeeper,” Joe said.
A pair of Shaker side chairs, cherrywood and birch, with tilters, early rush seats, were from New Lebanon, N.Y., circa 1830‴0, in the booth of Foxfields Antiques, Columbia, Md. Storage boxes, with from three to five fingers, were in shades of red, green, blue and yellow, and three Shaker berry pails, excellent condition, were red and yellow.
Windle’s Antiques, Wilmington, Del., displayed a circa 1700 iron Punch and Judy door latch from either Lancaster, Penn., or the Hudson River area. A blue cupboard with raised panels and a single door, New England, circa 1800‱830, had a scalloped base, and two rare fly catchers, light blue and dark blue, were offered. These glass jars, with a hole in the bottom, were filled with honey to attract flies. Once they went in for the honey, there was no escape.
An early ball toss game with a clown was shown by Pioneer Folk Antiques of Ellsworth, Maine, and among several signs was one advertising “Boats Built By Boblin Boat Works, Fort Plain, N.Y. For Sale Here.”
“It took time to set up part of our booth, a collection of 97 totems,” Sy Rapaport of New York City said, pointing out the interesting collection he had acquired. They sold right away as a collection, “but we still have our grouping of 52 thermos bottles,” he said. The bottles, dating from the early to mid Twentieth Century, were by various makers, including Icy-Hot.
Ron Stayer Antiques of Lowman, N.Y., showed a selection of stoneware, including a two-gallon crock, Edwards & Co., Charlestown, Mass, circa 1852‱868, with strong cobalt deer decoration. M. Woodrieff & Co., Cortland, N.Y., was the maker of a four-gallon churn, circa 1867‱869.
Don Olson of Rochester, N.Y., showed a rare baleen decorated folk art picture from Maine, early Nineteenth Century, depicting a tree with figures below and a pond with sailboat and fisherman. “That box just came out of an attic in Maine,” Don said of a dome top box, green with leaf decoration on top, original leather hinges, brass lock and measuring 11½ by 5¾ by 6 inches.
David M. Evans Antiques, Cincinnati, Ohio, offered a set of four bow back Windsor side chairs, dark green with yellow/gold seats over light green. They dated circa 1800 and were ex Lefkdwitz collection. A wooden Uncle Sam by the “Kentucky Whittler” was from the early Twentieth Century, painted and in fine condition.
A large wood carved lady, from the hips up with red dress, circa 1940, was thought to have been one of the display pieces at the Danbury Fair and was holding down a corner in the booth of Staneika Antiques of Durham, Conn.
A stack of ten painted pantry boxes stood at the front corner of the booth of Quiet Corner Antiques, Sterling, Conn., and a large two-sided game board in a cloud pattern, checkers and Parcheesi, 21 by 33 inches, was just out of a Maine collection. Another board, backgammon and checkers, 14½ by 15 inches, late Nineteenth Century, hung near a small barber pole, red, white and blue stripes, 26½ inches long with a gold ball at each end, that came from a New York collection.
An Eighteenth Century hutch table with folding four-board top, 53 inches in diameter, pegged base and the original red wash, was in the booth of McClellan Elms Antiques, South Woodstock, N.Y. Other furniture included a New England cupboard, circa 1825, two doors, shaped front shelves, dental molding and pegged construction. It was ex Roger Bacon.
Traveling up from Charlottesville, Va., the Hagadones showed a Chippendale chest with bracket feet, molded top, four drawers in the original paint, measuring 40 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 40 inches high, and an Eighteenth Century hutch table in pine and maple with storage box and scalloped base, old finish, with the top measuring 46 by 40 inches.
A selection of Shaker items was displayed on one wall in the booth of American Decorative Arts & Associates, Canaan, N.H., including a child’s rocker, bonnets, stocking molds and brushes. And Staffordshire filled an entire set of shelves in the display of Bittersweet Antiques, Springfield, Vt., including Neptune and Venus, very rare rabbits dating 1850‱860, several pairs of dogs in different colors, and a set of four Walton bocages, “Elements,” circa 1825.
Antiques at Hillwood Farms, Pecatonica, Ill., and Blue Dog Antiques, Stafford Springs, Conn., shared a booth and offered a William and Mary table of Massachusetts origin, Eighteenth Century, that started life as a joint stool and had a top added in the early Nineteenth Century. Also from Massachusetts was a Pilgrim Century six-board chest, Plimoth County.
In the booth of Tom and Marcia Brown, Osceola, Ind., a muzzle loader made by G.G. Demrick, circa 1865, with the original stock and patch, hung over a three-drawer poplar dower chest, old yellow over the original red paint, circa 1850. Michael Buscemi Antiques, Easthampton, Mass., had a Nineteenth Century carved and painted Santos, 7 feet tall, and a large hooked rug, mounted for hanging, had a large lion lying down in the foreground, with a smaller standing lion in the background.
Sheridan Loyd American Antiques of St Joseph, Mo., hung a large sandpaper drawing of Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine, dotted with sailboats. It was in a period gold frame and dated from the Nineteenth Century. Also from the Nineteenth Century was a large hand carved basket of flowers in white pine, the basket in gold leaf and filled with painted daffodils, tulips and wild flowers.
Brian Cullity of Sagamore, Mass., filled a circa 1750 step back cupboard with example of slip decorated redware, spatterware and pewter, and a stand-up desk in the original paint, circa 1820, had a single drawer in the lower portion. A rare tin chandelier, two tiers with four candleholders in the small top ring and nine in the lower one, dates circa 1820.
Marching across the back wall in the booth of Robert M. Conrad Antiques, Yeagertown, Penn., was a pair of soldier whirligigs of large size, circa 1900, red coats and black hats and boots, that just came out of an estate in Hagerstown, Md. An interesting oil on canvas, signed Decker Bros, circa 1870, depicted Ewing’s Mill, Indiana County, Penn.
“He came right out of a dance hall in Maine,” Bill Powell of Franklin, Tenn., said of his 6-foot-tall figure of a male dancer, dressed in a sparkling outfit complete with top hat and cane. The combination of material and bright booth lights made this booth come alive with color, all from a selection of early advertising pieces that hawked the Hotel Syracuse, trucking, ice cold watermelon, a dentist, watches, barber shop and “Baseball Today.” And to add to the brightness, an American red, white and blue shield was illuminated with a series of lit light bulbs.
Hanauer & Seidman Antiques, Colchester, Conn., displayed a Nineteenth Century cast iron book press with dolphins and fluted columns, while Adrian Morris Antiques of East Aurora, N.Y., showed a nice collection of chalk figures including deer, cats, dogs and a pair of birds. A Pennsylvania dower chest from Lebanon County, circa 1800, was grained and had three drawers across the bottom.
Centered on the back wall in the booth of Ken and Susan Scott, Malone, N.Y., was a rare collection of school girl creations, all of fabrics, that came out of an attic in North Bangor. There were room settings with tables and chairs, houses were just a bit taller than some of the human figures, and trees and animals were in some of the scenes. “We have never seen anything like this and we are selling it as a collection,” Susan said. Among the selection of furniture was a shoe-foot chair table with blue painted surface and three-board top.
Bruce Emond of Village Braider, Plymouth, Mass., said, “I had the best ever Pickers Market and have been doing it from the start.” He sold a large cast iron sculpture, a large apothecary, several paintings and early trade signs and a marble bust of a gentleman, among other things.
“Our gate has increased since we moved Pickers to Monday,” Frank Gaglio said. All but a few of the dealers had packed out of the tent by 9 pm, and new paper was being put up for the next wave of dealers Tuesday morning.
“All went well and we hope to have all of our exhibitors back with us next year,” he said. Pickers is the only Barn Star show with early buying, $35 per person, and is sold in combination with a ticket to Mid*Week for $45 per person.
