The January 26–28 Birchwood Manor Antiques Show showcased treasures fit for a king from Eighteenth Century furniture to fine art.
Roger Winter, Solebury, Penn., showed period Georgian furniture, Copeland Spode and Nineteenth Century oils. Patrons admired a fine Georgian mahogany bookcase with molded cornice above glass, mullioned doors with diamond and rectangle design, and set on a base with a double bank of graduated drawers. The circa 1800 piece measured 92 by 64 by 19½ inches and was priced at $14,500.
A circa 1825–35, partial dinner service of 41 pieces of Copeland Spode in the Imari pattern was priced at $12,500. There was also a George III serpentine front mahogany sideboard with satinwood inlay on top and bellflower inlay on legs, with a bottle drawer, circa 1790–1800, that was offered for $18,500.
Georgian highlights included a circa 1790–1800 three pedestal dining table in figured mahogany with two original leaves with two additional leaves giving extra length, turned columns with reeded sabre legs, extended size 14 by 4 feet, which was selling for $24,000. Priced at $9,500 was a fine Georgian low dresser with cabriole legs and pad feet. Also noted was a circa 1720, George II walnut lowboy with herringbone inlay around the top, cabriole legs and pad feet, and its original chased brass at $6,800.
For a refresher course in medieval English monarchs, the elaborately carved Jacobean court cupboard, dated 1625, with four carved wood panels depicting stories from early English royal history, found in the booth of The Main Event, Eustis, Fla., could be a wooden $10,000 study aid. One panel depicted Edward the Martyr out hunting and stopping at his stepmother Elfrida’s home at Corfe Castle. He asked for wine, and her servant stabbed him in the back; Elfrida wanted her son Ethelred to be crowned king. Another panel depicted Edward the Confessor (1042–1066). A unique Mexican silverplate plateau and a set of 1920s glasses were among the sales.
One could receive three credits in military history after leaving the booth of Sword & Pen, North Wales, Penn. Scott Condello had a Samurai sword of a captured Japanese officer in the Philippines, September 1945. Both weapon and World War II photo of the officer cost $1,495. And speaking of vintage photos, Condello also had an 1870 picture of West Point cadets, and he mused, “I wonder how many of them were killed in battles with Native Americans”
For $550 one could own a British cannonball from Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., during the French and Indian War. A circa 1800 Albanian engraved brass flint pistol (Mique lot) was also found. This “rat tail” pistol, a real cat’s meow, was priced at $1,750.
Also found at the booth of Sword & Pen was a circa 1780 French blunderbuss brass barrel flint pistol with silver wire inlay that was priced at $1,995. At an impressive 83 inches in length was a late Victorian ship builder’s model at $7,500. An oil on canvas by listed artist George Washington Brown Low, dated 1889, was offered to patrons for $8,250.
Another affable and knowledgeable dealer was Kathy Sapio of Pierce-Archer II Antiques, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., whose booth displayed a circa 1890 English mahogany wheel barometer (five dial with onion top by J.J. Shepherd of Hamilton, England), and a circa 1820 Georgian mahogany chest of drawers with boxwood stringing and a circa 1860 English leather gun case on stand.
English mahogany pieces Sapio was selling included a circa 1900 tall chest, a circa 1890 revolving bookcase, a circa 1880 lady’s writing desk and a circa 1820 tilt top table. She also showed a set of circa 1890 double brass scales and a circa 1900 oak and leather library chair.
Renaissance Fine Art & Antiques, Tampa, Fla., certainly did have fine art. For example, there was a Walter Emerson Baum (American, 1884–1956) oil on canvas, “The Medieval Village” with exhibition tag verso, a Nineteenth Century Madonna and Child after Murillo; a Benjamin Constant, (French, 1845–1902) oil on canvas, signed upper right, “The Masquerade”; and an attributed Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen oil (1813–1886), “Removing the Splinter.”
First-time exhibitor Peter Spanos, who traveled from Tampa specifically for this show, said that he was “encouraged by the knowledge and interest of the patrons.” Featured in Spanos’ booth was a circa 1970 Russian Impressionist signed oil painting of Talin Street, Kooli by Boris Rubankov. American artist John Whorf (1903–1959) chose a Moroccan doorway as the subject of an oil painting.
Another first-time exhibitor was Barbara Booz, Perth Amboy, N.J., who specializes in postcards. “Postcards are very collectible and very affordable,” she said. As the former president of the Garden State Postcard Club, she said patrons often look for cards featuring their own city or town as a historical keepsake.
While the real estate market may be flat, the dollhouse market was booming at this show in the booth of Ammerman House Antiques, Raritan, N.J. By Saturday afternoon dealers Harvey Moledzky and Jack Franks reported that eight of their rare dioramas sold at this show. All of these dioramas were designed by Phyllis D. Sterbakov (b 1944), whose work is on display at the Delaware Toy & Miniature Museum in Wilmington, Del. Once we examined the detail on a two-story Bourbon Street, New Orleans diorama on display at $4,500, we understood patrons’ fascination with them.
Some of the artwork and decorative items featured by Ammerman House Antiques included a painting by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s son, Ernest, “Pyramids of Egypt,” an oil on canvas, of a sunset, pink clouds over two large pyramids along the Nile, man on camel, with flock and herder in distance. The poet’s son’s work was priced at $8,500.
Also found was an oil on canvas by George William Whitaker (1841–1916), “A Welsh Landscape,” at $4,000. Priced at $10,500 was a Nymph and Bacchus iridescent jug by Delphin Massier. A huge, 29-inch-tall, 1877 Doulton Lambeth faience floor vase, decorated with flowers, butterflies, birds and foliage, by Doulton’s best artist, Florence E. Lewis, was offered for $9,500.
Florham Park, N.J., exhibitor Charlene Meany was happily busy on Saturday packing up the extensive 79-piece Haviland Limoges dinnerware set, which she sold. Other sales included a Davenport Flow Blue pitcher, a Blue Willow platter, and a red and white Staffordshire covered tureen in the Italian Villas pattern.
For Kathy Rothschild-Jansen, who exhibits in antiques centers in Summit and Little Falls, N.J., both jewelry and pottery proved to be popular with patrons. Another of her sales was a pair of bronze buffalo bookends from the Teddy Roosevelt period. Her interesting mix of merchandise included a 48-star American flag, a Nineteenth Century marble top and bronze-mounted, all-original escritoire and a circa 1910, hand carved and Griffon head, mahogany partners’ desk.
JMK Shows will return to the Birchwood Manor July 20–22. For more information, www.jmkshows.com or 973-927-2794.
