Huge crowds greeted Cord Shows’ dealers for the 15th annual July 4 Antiques in the Church Yard.
Show manager Vivien Cord was sold out, with 124 dealers booked into the show, and attendance exceeded 3,000 people for the one-day affair. Rain in the afternoon shortened the stay for many visitors, and may have reduced sales slightly, but dealers were generally pleased to have been exhibiting there.
Dave Nelz was too busy selling several pieces of furniture and many interesting small antiques to even notice the rain. His business, Platypus Antiques, Dix Hills, N.Y., offered a mixture of early painted furniture, folk art and household accessories. Sales included a primitive bachelor’s chest in butternut, a painted step back cupboard and a blue buttermilk painted blanket chest. “That made pack out in the rain real easy and felt great going home from my fourth year at the show,” Nelz said. His feelings were echoed by many, according to Cord.
Rick Pirozzoli, trading as Sport Hill Antiques from Redding, Conn., sold several American hardwood pieces, including an American Hepplewhite taper leg stand, circa 1800, a quilt, an oil on canvas of a sailboat, other furniture and some accessories. Coming from Sunapee, N.H., brother Tom Pirozzoli offered early pine furniture, most in milk paint. Finding new homes from his collection were a green six-tin pie safe, a yellow pantry cupboard, a painted wall box and a later Westport green painted chair, an outdoor piece. Both dealers called the show great for the sales and fun of it.
The show is not just a local event anymore. The word is out among both potential buyers and sellers, attracting them to the event from throughout the Northeast. Asbell’s Antiques from Oley, Penn., has been there for several years with a collection of Nineteenth Century dining table items, furniture, and even some household textiles. “It was good and we even sold some furniture,” said Dart Asbell.
From Lady Lake, Fla., Dona Frankel brought a large collection of vintage and estate jewelry. One of her exhibits was a large collection of Bakelite bangle bracelets. Bill Cower is originally from South Af-rica but now trades as Heritage Antique Maps from Doylestown, Penn. He had an exhibit of maps of New York and surrounding areas for the perusal of the visitors.
Maple Side Antiques of Titusville, Penn., showed an assortment of tin lanterns. Some were for candles, some for oil lamps, but they made for an interesting assortment of lighting devices, often called barn lights.
Maine was represented at the sale as well. Albert Burrows’ Highfields Antiques from St Albans showed his collection of early country pieces, which included a rocking horse made from log sections of a birch tree. Next to Burrows, Joe Spader and Joni Lima were selling early iron garden furniture as fast as they could write the receipts, according to Cord.
Cottage Antiques of Long Valley, N.J., exhibited many early Twentieth Century objects such as painted ladders, Ouija boards and painted wooden toys interspersed with furniture of the same age and older. The display had so many different objects that there was something to ponder at every turn.
Lara Joyce Antiques, Westfield, N.J., was offering its collection of tartan ware †all kinds of house-hold objects with the tartan plaid design painted on them. A mother-daughter team, the dealers do most of their shopping in Great Britain. Sugar Princess, Montville, N.J., had a collection of early electric clocks in Bakelite or plastic cases along with other Art Deco decorative pieces.
Hand Picked from Stowe, Vt., brought a large stack of blanket chests, a tapered stack, all in original surfaces dating as far back as the Eighteenth Century. Greg Jackson is from Connersville, Ind., and he offered a collection that included beaded hand bags from 100 years ago. Witt’s End Antiques, Wallkill, N.Y., was selling early painted furniture.
The show has attracted many diverse collections for both buying and selling. Dealers consider the show so important that even for an outdoor event Cord had a waiting list for exhibit space. She can be expected to be in that same position again next year. Cord Shows’ next event is in Katonah, N.Y., on Labor Day, September 3. For information, cordshows.com or 914-273-4667.
