Charlie Guinipero, Pantry Box Antiques, Stafford Springs, Conn., had a wide selection of stoneware and redware. The large Boston stoneware jug was priced at $795.
Review and Photos by Rick Russack
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – Donna Welch runs the From Out Of The Woods Antiques Center here, and on August 5, she produced an antiques show alongside the center’s offerings. It’s the beginning of New Hampshire Antiques Week, and the show started at noon, allowing buyers to shop a nearby show in Milford, N.H. Welch calls her event the “Antiques Week Buy & Fly Show,” and it lasts just three hours. In that time, the 25-dealer show, conducted under two tents, draws a good crowd, many of whom had been at the Milford show. A number of the buyers are dealers who exhibit at other shows during the week.
Although this is not a large show, there were numerous high-quality objects, and dealers were selling from the very beginning. There were at least three wonderful cloth animals and several good cloth dolls. One of the cloth animals, a badly out-of-scale black cow sold quickly. It was unusual in that it was not a stuffed cow – the black cloth was applied over a framework of cardboard that could clearly be felt underneath. Until sold, it belonged to Carol Berkoff, Doylestown, Penn. Rona Andrews, Wellesley, Mass., named her cloth horse pull-toy “Norman.” He was definitely a farm work horse and had been repaired a few times. Norman had shoe button eyes and, appropriately, a horse hair mane. He was priced at $225.
Collectors of cloth animals would probably agree that Mathew Saxton, Alstead, N.H., had a large stuffed elephant that would be a standout in any collection. The cloth had faded to a purple/brown color and his ears were huge. He had shoe button eyes, a suitably long trunk and had been found in Monroe, N.H. Repaired a few times, worn through in a couple of places, the elephant was priced at $475.
Susan Gray, Woodbury, Conn., had two large black dolls, probably dating to the early years of the last century. Each had old clothes, stitched mouth with teeth and interesting eyes. The pair was priced $950.
Dan Reidy, Discerning Eye, Manchester, N.H., sold a large, brown stoneware jug within minutes of the show opening. It went to a collector from the Washington, DC, area who said that it was a rare, early form, and that the brown color was due to the clay used, not a glaze or firing mistake. The dealer also had a tramp art chest of drawers with unusually large pieces of wood. It was priced at $685, and a large tramp art frame was priced at $450.
The tents filled up quickly when the show opened. More than 300 people attended the three-hour show.
Judy Warner, Blythe House Antiques, a group shop in Wiscasset, Maine, had a group of colorful framed children’s board games. Warner said that she had collected them for several years and decided to frame some, including two different Parcheesi boards, Pollyanna, Commander in Chief, and a particularly colorful Kitty Kat game. They were each priced at $125, and a few minutes after opening a customer was deciding whether she wanted to buy four of them, or did she only have room for two.
An unusual sign from the Painted Lady, a boarding house in Colebrook, N.H., would have immediately attracted the attention of any interested student of early, clear-cut logging in the White Mountains – as well as a collector of unusual signs. The sign was from a Victorian house that had recently been sold and the contents dispersed. The sign depicted a silhouette of a woman and the painted text said “Painted Lady, Built by Lumber Baron George Van Dyke For His Mistress Circa 1888.” Van Dyke made his fortune driving logs down the Connecticut River at a time when every tree that could possibly be cut was cut. The business methods used by Van Dyke and his contemporaries were roundly criticized in the press. Crow’s Feet Antiques, Gorham, N.H., priced the sign at $235.
A few days after the show, Welch said that there were more than 300 attendees. “Several of the dealers told me they had done well, and I saw lots of things being carried out. I sold a dry sink for $1,400, and I know other furniture was sold. The shop also had a good day.” Unfortunately, the future of the show is uncertain. Welch plans to close the antiques center, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, on October 1. She said she is not yet sure if she will be able to use the fields adjacent to the shop that she now uses for the show, or if she will seek another location.
For information, 603-624-8668 or www.fromoutofthewoodsantiques.com.
