Just inside the main entrance of the October Boston Antique and Design Show and Sale, October 16 and 17, at the Shriner’s Auditorium was an auspicious sign. An imposing Seventeenth or Eighteenth Flemish oak and ebony cabinet was marked prominently with a day-glo orange sold sticker. Greg Hamilton of Stone Block Antiques in Vergennes, Vt., sold the cabinet and enough other objects to make him proclaim the show, “one of the best shows I’ve every had.”
Boston dealer Peter D. Murphy had a good supply of tole and painted tin, including a substantial oolong tea bin with a beveled glass mirror; a Victorian coal hod with paint and decoupage; a Ceylon tea bin decorated with a landscape; Nineteenth Century lighting, including a pair of painted porcelain lamps. He reported sales of other lighting, decorative accessories and a fan-shaped table, among other objects.
A green painted children’s school bench from about 1860, the centerpiece of the booth of Witt’s End Antiques, came from a school around Marlborough, N.H. Four small students could be accommodated at once by the sturdy but untouched bench, which attracted a lot of attention and should be in a careful collection. The Wallkill, N.Y., dealer also showed such furniture as a terrific Eighteenth Century tiger maple tap table, a two-drawer blanket chest and an apothecary chest.
Bert Rosengarten of Medfield, Mass., offered some game pieces of great aesthetic appeal: a set of maple ten pins and bowling balls and a set of giant dominoes to be used on the floor or in the garden. Rosengarten has a fine eye for the fabulous and the fine quirky, and his booth was full of enticing glass and metal objects and paintings and prints of note.
Downer Art and Antiques of Wayland, Mass., showed objects of silver and other metals and paintings. Ellen Downer showed two colorful primitive paintings by Italian artist Alessandra Puppo, a wedding scene and an equestrian event scene in a park setting, which was hung above a bronze figure of a horse. She also offered Chinese and Japanese porcelain, among other smalls and observed of the show, “The booths look good!”
A tiger maple dresser was a big draw in the booth of Seasons at Calmore of Dunstable, Mass. A pine corner cabinet was filled with white ironstone; there was treenware and pewter, mirrors and a nice coffee grinder, and sales were good.
Sheila and Roy Mennell of Bradford Trust Fine Art in Harwich Port, Mass., brought along a selection of paintings they described as “priced aggressively.” It paid off. They had plenty of sales, including six paintings early on in the show. They said the show was “a lot of fun” and added that they had talked to a lot of knowledgeable people. A 1958 watercolor of a Chinese port for sale came from a missionary family who had spent time there. A Christmas tree by muralist Clara Fargo Thomas was also for sale.
The gate here was brisk, augmented by the Shriners in their jackets and fezes, who were helping out for the event. For those who needed transport within the auditorium, Shriners were piloting golf carts around the facility.
The deep and seductive tones of Oriental rugs and carpets layered in the booth of Fardin’s Antique Rugs were a great draw for shoppers. The Fairfield, Conn., dealers had pieces for every taste.
A group of Pairpoint lamps brightened up the booth of Lighthouse Oddities, Derry, N.H. They were set up in a line anchored by a Roseville “Commercial” blue vase and a pair of bronze figural bookends on green onyx bases. There was also a dandy Van Briggle planter in the form of a nude and a swan.
Bernice Conn of Voorhees, N.J., displayed a group of walking sticks. She was pleased to report that one shopper bought a walking stick on Saturday and returned for another on Sunday. She filled a case with fine glass, porcelain and silver in the way of jars and bottles, dressing accessories and tableware.
A mat depicting a black Scottish terrier dominated one wall of the booth of Stephen and Betsey Snow. A small cupboard with two doors over two drawers was topped by a jaunty beaver skin top hat and its case. There was also a diminutive maple and poplar cabinet from about 1840. The Yarmouth Port, Mass., dealers also had a sinuous mahogany whale shelf, befitting their Cape Cod location. In a postshow follow up email, Steve Snow observed, “Business is slowly getting better. By offering interesting things with a discount, good things are happening.”
Matt King and Camille Buda, Sandwich, Mass., filled their stall with enticing smalls. King is partial to purple glass bottles and jars and brought a fine selection. A note indicated they were made in the 1890s with manganese, which gives them their brilliant violet color. Their ceramics offerings were wide and one particularly pleased shopper took home a Masons blue and white washbowl and pitcher in the Chinese Landscape pattern.
Six Midcentury Modern dining chairs drew shoppers to the booth of Limington, Maine, dealer, Thomas Joseph. While they were still available at the end of the show, Joseph said his sales were healthy and included several tables.
Anne Hannon of As Tyme Goes By in Belmont, Mass., was packing up when we found her. She was jubilant, “I always do well at Marvin’s shows!” The October event was no exception. She sold plenty of jewelry, smalls, silver and ceramics.
Crones Collectibles, now located in Northwood, N.H., attracted its usual full roster of visitors. Arts and Crafts pottery is a perennial favorite and the Crones offer exceptional examples.
Heintz Collector of Brooklyn, N.Y., arrayed the shelves of a booth of Heintz objects of every description. The bronze pieces with applied sterling silver designs were offered in an array of forms: vases, lamps, candlesticks, boxes, bookends. The vases were decorated with botanic elements like iris, other flowers, palm trees, and a particularly arresting pair of vases was decorated with pussy willow.
For information, www.neantiqueshows.com or 781-862-4039.
