The Bromley Mountain Antiques Show has to be considered one of the favorites of the Antiques Week In Vermont shows. Opening for early buying on Saturday, October 6, at 8 am, this show gets the weekend off to a fast-paced start. The Bromley Mountain base lodge is old school, quaint and tight quartered; in other words, it is the perfect atmosphere to cram 30 quality dealers into and to create a buying frenzy.
Shoppers once again started forming a line in the early morning hours prior to opening, and once again Terri Tushingham led the charge onto the floor. Promoter Jim Dunn puts out a huge breakfast spread, but it pretty much gets ignored for the first half hour after the show opens as everyone is too busy shopping. Sales were quick-paced for a lot of the dealers. Tommy Thompson was so busy writing sales slips early Saturday morning that potential customers were lined up three deep just to get prices.
The crowd is so thick in the small aisles of the lodge that at times it can be difficult to get from one booth to the next. But it is all part of the Antiques Week In Vermont atmosphere.
Katona and Lutz, Greenwich, N.J., set up in a room off the left of the lodge and put forth their best patriotic efforts with a flag stand in the form of a pilgrim that was adorned with half-a-dozen American flags. Kensington, Conn., dealer Derek Pulito brought along a good assortment of Americana, from a small tap table in a powder blue painted base with a scrubbed top to pantry boxes in paint; blanket boxes, cheese baskets, banister back chairs and early paintings were also displayed.
Vermont dealer Harold Graff, Colt Barn Antiques, must have turned his sheriff’s badge in, as he was selling his Stetson, too. A large white felt cowboy hat with the original box was featured in the booth, as was a transitional William and Mary stretcher base table, a selection of spatterware and an eagle weathervane in an unusual small size.
A massive sheet metal stag weathervane filled an entire wall of the booth of Ken & Susan Scott Antiques, Malone, N.Y. The folky figure was in gray paint and was mounted on a strap iron base with curls at each end. The back wall of the booth was filled with a colorful Pennsylvania quilt with a vibrant floral pattern in red and green. An oversized primitive shorebird decoy with turned-up head in the feeding position was displayed atop an early table in red paint, a colorful piece of Roseville was next to it and a Shaker rocker was positioned in the corner.
Shaker items were also seen at Clint and Pat Bigelow American Antiques, East Berlin, Conn., where a tilting ladder back chair was hung on the wall. A large bank of drawers, probably from a mercantile store, was getting looks from shoppers, as was an early cast iron horse-drawn carriage toy in very good original paint.
Norman Gronning Antiques, Shaftsbury, Vt., offered a good selection of American furniture, including a five-drawer New Hampshire tiger maple chest with bandy feet that sold right off the bat. A porringer top tavern table was in the center of the booth with a large flint enamel Bennington bowl and a pair of early tall hog scraper candlesticks atop. “That is a rare thing,” stated Norman Gronning as a shopper looked at a runner that was partially opened up in the booth. The rug was filled with Masonic symbols and was thought to have remained unused due to the lack of wear.
Antiques at 30B, Cambridge, N.Y., was cleaning up, or rather the dealers were providing shoppers with an opportunity to clean up as they offered three massive Victorian shower heads. One extended from the wall with pierced decoration around the rim and sold right away to a buyer who was in the process of refurbishing a bathroom. The buyer commented with glee that a soap dish in a very similar pattern had been found elsewhere at the show. An early wooden hobbyhorse in original paint was displayed on a handsome Sheraton washstand in paint.
Pewter & Wood Antiques, Enfield, N.H., was ready for the autumn season, specifically Halloween, with an assortment of paper mache carved pumpkin-form lanterns, black cats and other spooky objects. A nice architectural door with dome top was offered; alongside of it was an early jelly cupboard in a bright red paint.
A tall single-door cupboard with a paneled door and in a dry powder blue paint was at Steve Cirillo and David Proctor, Brookfield, N.H. The dealers also displayed an early highboy with cabriole legs ending in Spanish feet, a trestle table in a great old finish and a treen trencher with the original green paint remaining on the exterior.
