Review and Photos by Rick Russack
Sherman Alden Antiques, East Falmouth, Mass., brought pewter priced from $25, woodenware, samplers, trade signs and a sawbuck table with a single-board top.
FALMOUTH, MASS. — The Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association, Inc has moved its spring show, now in its 40th year, into what it hopes will be home for the next several years. The facilities at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds seemed just right, as was the show during its recent edition June 4.
The Frost pattern rug, priced at $175, is in the booth of Bayberry Antiques, Rockland, Mass. They also had several baskets and several pieces of woodenware.
Being on the Cape, you would expect to find nautical items, and there were many. There was also a wide selection of good, early furniture in original paint, jewelry, ceramics, maps, primitives and woodenware and antique toys — something for everyone. Prices were set to attract buyers and within a half hour of opening there were several “sold” tags on the floor and dealers were pleased. A dealer from Nantucket was there when the show opened and made several purchases. Charlene Dixon, show manager, said, “We wanted buyers to see a wide variety of stuff and we wanted antiques — no new stuff.” It looked like the show committee got what it wanted.
There was a selection of country furniture and accessories. Sherman Alden Antiques, East Falmouth, Mass., had an Eighteenth Century sawbuck table from Maine with a scrubbed, single board top. It was priced at $1,850. Witt’s End Antiques, Wallkill, N.Y., had a circa 1760 sycamore, two-drawer, lift top blanket chest in old red and a William and Mary period, ball-foot, four-drawer chest with original surface and engraved original hardware. The dealers priced it at $2,995. One of the nicest small pieces of furniture in the show was in this booth. It was a circa 1730 table desk with an old blue fitted interior, crackled surface and grain painting on the back. The dealers found it in the Hudson River valley, but thought it had been made in New England. The price, $1,700, seemed very reasonable.
A wide assortment of ceramics was offered. Henry Callan, East Sandwich, Mass., had several pieces of Chinese Export porcelain, blue Canton, Rose Medallion and Dedham pottery. Callan said that he had been dealing in Dedham for about three years and his selection included some unusual patterns. He also had several pieces signed by Maud Davenport, one of Dedham’s artists. Her signature is a small “o” incorporated in the design — easy to miss unless you know what you’re looking for. Callan had prepared a handout for those interested in Dedham, with a few of the salient facts about the company’s history.
Steve and Mary Margaret Klug, Yarmouth Port, Mass., collectors, purchased two bamboo stands, which they were carrying around with them.
Several pieces of white ironstone were in the booth of Kay Linkkila Antiques, Orleans, Mass. East Chesterfield Antiques, Sudbury, Mass., also had a selection of Rose Medallion and other Oriental ceramics. Numerous Staffordshire animals were in Carole Kaplan’s booth. Ten Mile Antiques, Attleboro, Mass., also displayed a selection of Wedgwood, Staffordshire and other porcelains. Tommy Thompson’s booth included a number of pieces of Rockingham.
Maps of local interest were in several booths. The widest selection was offered by Maps of Antiquity, Chatham, Mass. A restored Walling/Smith 1857 detailed wall map of Plymouth County was priced at $2,400 and on display was an 1852 colorful wall map of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with many other maps. The well-known map dealers have an inventory that includes 18,000 maps, charts and prints.
Items of nautical interest included paintings, and one of the most interesting was in the booth of William Nickerson, Orleans, Mass. It was painted by namesake William E. Nickerson, born in 1915. Nickerson’s Cape Cod lineage can be traced back to another William Nickerson who founded Chatham in 1630. The painting, priced at $950, depicted three whale ships, including the North Star under full sail, whales being pursued by long boats with harpooners at the ready and a whale alongside one of the ships, being stripped of its blubber. There were dioramas of sailing ships and a marine themed hooked rug in the booth of Ed and Charlene Dixon, Eastham, Mass. Other exhibitors also had marine-themed hooked rugs. The Dixons had a large canvas swan decoy, and there were several other decoys on the floor. Sow’s Ear Antiques, Cotuit, Mass., offered a diorama of a lighthouse and a large pond model.
Sow’s Ear Antiques, Cotuit, Mass., brought sailing ship dioramas, a lighthouse diorama, a carved eagle plaque, Staffordshire, a pond model, a large slat goose decoy priced at $250 and paintings.
Paintings by well-known Cape Cod artist C. Arnold Slade (American, 1882–1961), an Impressionist painter whose paintings are in the collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, were offered by Ray and Sheila Mennell of the Bradford Trust, Harwich Port, Mass. Slade spent several years living and painting in Truro, on the Cape. His first solo show was at the Charles Cobb Gallery in Boston in 1909. Slade’s works were displayed at the Cape Museum of Fine Arts in 2001–02 in an exhibit titled “True Visions: The Paintings of C. Arnold Slade.” The Mennells had three of Slade’s paintings at the show. They own 14, priced between $1,000 and $16,000.There were numerous interesting items throughout the show. Marsh Hawk Antiques, Eastham, Mass., offered dozens of chocolate and ice cream molds, along with stoneware and some advertising items. Woodsview Antiques, Sandwich, Mass., had a tavern sign that although not old, would have fooled many. Several pieces of stone fruit were offered by Bayberry Antiques, Rockland, Mass., along with small Steiff animals. Dave Thompson had an exceptional reward of merit priced very reasonably at $75. And there was more.
Stoneware was available in several booths. Charles and Barbara Adams, South Yarmouth, Mass., had an unusual, unmarked cake crock decorated with blue flowers. They found it on the Cape and had it priced at $400. Their booth also included a hooked rug with a nautical motif and three framed maps of the Cape. One was a map of Nantucket published by the Old Colony Steamship Line with advertising. Ed and Charlene Dixon also had some stoneware, which they said, after the show, they had sold. Charlene Dixon commented on the cake crock that the Adamses had, saying “I never saw one of those before.”
Twenty minutes after the show opened, Charles and Barbara Adams said they had already sold three good things.
After the show, Charlene Dixon, president of the Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association and show manager, said that the association was very pleased with the show. “I was working the admission table for a while and we had lots of positive comments about the diversity of merchandise from customers as they were leaving. Selling was steady all day and some furniture sold late in the day. Anyone who had nautical items probably did well. We did. Our exhibitors all said they’d be back next year, which is exactly what we hoped to hear. The building had four exits so it was easy for dealers to get in and out. We’ll probably move the date up a week next year so we don’t compete with high school and college graduations. We know we have to get more signage out to make it easier for folks to find us. That was one of the comments that I heard from a few customers. I was glad to see that we attracted a number of younger buyers. We admit children free, and older children with student IDs also don’t get charged. That seemed to work.”
For additional information, www.ccada.com which has a complete membership list and calendar of upcoming events.
