More than half the dealers at the show shared space under two open-sided pavilions.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring
GUILFORD, CONN. — Collectors of antique, vintage and retro furniture, decorative arts and collectibles could not have had more perfect weather to check out the offerings of the First Annual Shoreline Antiques & Retro Market. Located on the Guilford Fairgrounds and managed by Debbie Turi, the inaugural event hosted about 40 dealers; more than 1,400 people attended during the show’s two-day run, June 1-2.
Turi was in good spirits when Antiques and The Arts Weekly checked in with her after the show. “I’m thrilled with how the show did. The weather couldn’t have been better and we had more than 1,400 people, which is pretty amazing for a new show. Most of the dealers did business — some more than others — and many people who came were impressed at the quality of the things being sold. We got a lot of new people in the door — ‘retro’ is a buzzword with younger collectors — and many people said they’d heard of the show through social media or from friends who came on the first day.”
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Hyland House Museum, a Guilford historic house museum named for George Hyland, a settler who purchased the land it sits on in 1657; the house itself was built in 1713 by Hyland’s son-in-law, Isaac Parmelee. According to promotional materials available at the show, the house is described by the National Registry of Historic Places as a “landmark building in the history of domestic architecture.” Since 1918, the house has been a nonprofit museum. The show is a revival of sorts of the Guilford Antiques Show that took place at the Elisabeth Adams School until 2015, when it was run by Frank Gaglio and Barnstar Productions.
Hyland House Museum curator Pamela Besse, in the striped shirt in the center, speaking with show visitors about the Hyland House Museum and other Guilford historic properties.
“I am overjoyed at the positive response that we had at the Hyland House Shoreline Antiques and Retro Market!” Bob Donahue, president of the Board of Directors for the Dorothy Whitfield Society that operates the Hyland House Museum told us. “Our event included more than 45 dealers with an eclectic mix of treasures for personalities of all kinds. We are grateful for the support of the more than 1,400 attendees and we look forward to an even more successful and even larger event next year.”
Near the show’s entrance gate, Olivia Garay had a great selection of vintage jewelry as well as silver, coins and scarves. While some of the pieces she was selling came from estates, the term “estate jewelry” falls a little flat for pieces by Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Hermes, Georg Jensen and Gucci. Garay said she does 50 shows a year, including events in Miami Beach, Roundtop, Texas, and Brimfield. She told Antiques and The Arts Weekly that one of her clients had been New York City fashion icon Iris Apfel (1921-2024), who she met in the 1990s.
Garay’s neighbors on the lawn at the fairgrounds were Ellington, Conn., dealers, Karen and Paul Wendhiser, who brought a good amount of Americana, including quilts, flags, stoneware, small wooden pieces and glass. They also had a great story to share about on of the sales they’d already made at the show. A sampler they found in Titusville, Fla., had been made in 1838 by Ceilia Ann Scranton of Guilford and who married Luther Woodford of New Haven, Conn., in 1845. Someone who came to the show was a direct descendant of the Scranton or Woodford family and was absolutely delighted to acquire it. “We knew we had to bring it back to New England and are just delighted it found its way back to the family,” Karen enthused.
Royal Bayreuth Sunbonnet Babies plates, made only in 1974 before they were discontinued. Jessica Dorner had this set of seven. Hodgepodge Bricolage, Southington, Conn.
“I’m open to offers!” declared Jessica Dorner from Southington. A registered dietician as her “real” job, she is a crafter who upcycles sweaters into bags but for the Guilford show — her first time at one of Turi’s shows — she brought a good selection of vintage housewares and toys. By noon on the first day, she said she had sold “a little bit of everything!”
Stonehouse Vintage, hailing from Newtown, Conn., was spread out under the shade of a tree and had sold several things by noon on the first day, including a patio set, large urn, stacking unit, a Salterini lounge chair with ottoman and a butcher’s table.
Lisa Padovini, Hyde Nor Hair Productions, had vintage pieces used in shooting several movie and television shows, including Boardwalk Empire, Gotham and I’m Not There, the 2007 film about Bob Dylan. Vintage paperbacks, buttons and clothing had been snapped up by shoppers all morning.
Carl J. “Carmelo” Lana was set up under one of two open-wall pavilions on the fairgrounds. He has been an interior designer for 40 years but is now selling antiques — alongside interior design services — under the business name “Sandra Rose Home” in South Salem, N.Y. Colorful small objects in a variety of media — glass, ceramics, metals — sat next to small, framed works.
Sandra Rose Home, South Salem, N.Y.
In the same pavilion were Margaret and Vin Rowan, Fenwood Studios, Mahopac, N.Y. Sales on the first day included a Southern sugar chest and a captain’s box that sold to a new client from Mystic, Conn., and a number of “small, good primitives.” A walnut pie safe with punched tin panels they had found in New York but which they thought was from Virginia, circa 1830-50, was prominently displayed in their booth.
In the second open-wall pavilion, Mod Pots & Plants had a spacious booth full of custom-designed cement pots full of succulents that evoked a sense of refreshing calm. The small, family-owned business in Lakeville, Conn., hand-makes the pots and planters, which are sturdy and come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Michael Friedman and Donna Vita, from Rowayton, Conn., were in the adjacent booth and offered a broad selection, from framed prints and photographs to antique and vintage furniture, some Native American artifacts and a three-piece Mexican copper garniture were among the eye-catching things in their booth. Friedman is a photographer and several of his framed photographs were available for purchase, as well as the book Friedman and Vita co-authored, EXPOSED The Lost Negatives and Untold Stories of Michael Friedman (2023).
Michael Friedman was a music manager and producer as well as a photographer. He and his wife, Donna Vita, published his photos in EXPOSED the Lost Negatives and Untold Stories of Michael Friedman. The couple were selling it — and some of his framed photos — at the show. Rowayton, Conn.
Across from the open pavilions, a barn with sturdy walls housed the rest of the show’s vendors and was full. Immediately upon entering, one was faced with the eclectic offerings of Period To Mod / Brennan & Mouilleseaux Antiques & Design, which included a lot of garden furniture and ornaments in stone, teakwood and iron. Tim Brennan was watching the booth when we came through and said he’d sold a teakwood table and four chairs. While we were road testing some comfortable outdoor seating furniture, he closed the deal on a small garden urn.
The red-walled booth of Patrick Hastings that was hung salon-style with gilt-frame paintings provided an interesting visual juxtaposition to Brennan’s outdoor furniture. The show was the first such event the Pittsburgh, Penn., dealer was doing in Connecticut and he brought a good selection of paintings. He noted that his best-selling works are usually landscapes, seascapes and sporting pictures of dogs, as well as paintings of cats.
Though Beth Poindexter is a long-time friend of Turi, it was the first time she was doing one of her shows, telling us she prefers to do shows that run over several days rather than single-day events. The Greensboro, N.C., dealer had a variety of vintage designer handbags, jewelry and scarves that she said really appealed to local residents and show attendees.
Gil Rodriguez was selling autographs from a variety of notables, in prices from $35 to $375. Gilann Books, Darien, Conn.
From Darien, Conn., Gil Rodgriquez, Gilann Books, had a booth popular with attendees browsing his vintage and first edition titles, a selection of vinyl albums and autographs by such cultural and historical personalities as Tyrone Power, Dr Jonas Salk, Gracie Allen and George Burns, Leo Buscaglia, Arlo Guthrie and Clare Booth Luce.
Across from Rodriguez, Barnsville, Ga., dealer John Carroll was another dealer who had never previously participated in a Turi show. He brought formal furniture, ceramics, small decorative objects and framed works of art. Some lamps were among his early sales and he was pleased to be there.
A tradition from previous Guilford fairs was the onsite presence of appraisers to appraise items, with the cost of the appraisal benefiting the historical society. Fred Giampietro and some of his staff from New England Auctions — Don Menzies, Mark Surowiecki and Michelle Staffa — from neighboring Branford, Conn., came to the show to lend a hand. As most of them are pickers in their off-duty hours, they brought things they’d picked up to sell at the show.
Framed fine art in several media, decorative smalls and diminutive pieces of furniture were what Cathy Cwilichoski brought from Ansonia, Conn. One of her more important works was a watercolor of Jamaican musicians that was painted by Ethel Blum (American, 1900-1991), who studied at the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School and who lived in Stonington, Conn.
Ethel Blum’s watercolor of Jamaican musicians, top center, was an alluring piece Cathy Cwilichoski had at the show. Chester Cwilichoski, Ansonia, Conn.
Lara Rudd is a dealer who often shows with Debbie Turi and brought a wonderful assortment of antique jewelry and decorative smalls to Guilford. Painted, silver and cameo brooches lined one case, with one devoted to painted cast metal animals she had tagged and priced individually. Jade carvings were in another with mother-of-pearl boxes in a third.
Rudd’s neighbor was David Weidner, Dark Flowers Antiques, Haverill, Mass., who was delighted to be there, specializes in Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Arts and Crafts pottery. Vases in the Iris pattern were among some of the sales he’d had on the first half of the first day. He brought a large quantity of pottery pieces that were painted between 1900 and 1930, when china decorating was a popular hobbyist pastime for painters who would acquire blank pieces from European potteries. Weidner said that his selection of Zsolnay porcelain pieces with Eosin glaze were also getting a lot of attention at the show.
Antique and estate jewelry is Merle S. Koblenz’s primary focus. The third-generation jeweler, who grew up in Albany, N.Y., has been in business since 1980. To add some visual diversity, the Kent, Conn., dealer brought framed artwork she hung from the pegboard that surrounded her booth.
Orv Haberman, Connecticut River Books, brought prints, photographs and books in a broad range of ages and topics. For local shoppers, Joel Eliot Helander’s A Treasury of Guilford Places (self-published, 2008) enjoyed a prominent placement at the elbow of the Glastonbury, Conn., dealer.
Judith Lesser had acquired the pink and green cotton quilt on her side wall from a Pennsylvania dealer and said it dated to the 1920s or 1930s. Antiques from Home, Bethesda, Md.
“Garden is selling!” enthused Judith Lesser, Antiques from Home, Bethesda, Md. Quilts were hung on either side of her booth while pottery and metal wares were arranged on stepped platforms on tables on the sides and back. It was impossible to miss the striking blue and white striped set of vintage Cornish ware kitchen ceramics, boldly lettered for loaf sugar, salt, coffee, tea and flour.
W.S. Korzick had only a short distance to travel from New Haven, Conn., and had a varied selection that ranged from stoneware and weathervanes to decoys and Arts and Crafts pottery. Tucked in between two large stoneware jugs was a Louis Vuitton vanity case he had found in a closet that he said had never been used. “The turnout has been great!” he noted.
Charlie Guinipero, Pantry Box Antiques, sold a Steiff scary cat, some stickware, several pieces of early lighting and a blue and white spongeware pitcher. The Stafford Springs, Conn., dealer does a lot of shows — we’ve seen him at no fewer than four in the past two months — and has a good idea of what people might be interested in.
“I’ve sold a little bit of everything — rugs, topiaries and furniture,” said Kevin Lawrence, whose business name is The Southern Gent, in Easton, Penn. The show was only his second-ever show — following the Antiques at Kimberton show in Oaks, Penn. — but one would never know that from the elegantly assembled booth he put together.
A date for the 2025 Shoreline Antiques & Retro Market has not yet been announced. For information, www.dturiantiqueshows.com.
