One of the largest ballrooms at the Marriott Park Ridge hotel played host to the First Annual All-Holidays Show and Gathering of the East Coast Vintage Christmas Collectors.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring
PARK RIDGE, N.J. — The first-ever edition of the Spring All-Holidays Show and Gathering of the East Coast Vintage Christmas Collectors took place at the Marriott Park Ridge April 12-13. Following a meet and greet on Friday evening, attendees gathered to hear four educational talks in the hotel’s Brookside Parc meeting room by appraiser and collector Scott Luedtke, author Bob Brenner, collector/dealer and show organizer Craig McManus and antique holiday lighting expert Russ Smith. A sit-down lunch following the talks gave event participants the energy to take to the show floor, which was set up in the Grand Ballroom on the other side of the hotel and which opened to the public at 2 pm.
McManus, who was born right before Christmas, developed his love for the season as an infant when, after coming home from the hospital, his mother slid his bassinet under the tree for the family to discover. “She told me I was fascinated by the ornaments as I gazed up at the tree from the bassinet. To get me to fall asleep for a nap, she put the bassinet on the dining room table and hung a floating angel ornament from the bottom of the chandelier. She said I would watch it moving around intently, until I finally fell asleep.”
Show organizer Craig McManus with a Saalfield tree carpet, circa 1910. It sold at the show to buyers McManus had never previously sold to. Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.
He also gave Antiques and The Arts Weekly a little history on holiday collecting in New Jersey. “Years ago, we had a local collectors group called the Jersey Jingles; I was the last president. In its heyday, the Jingles had amazing local get-togethers at members’ homes. Most had met through the Golden Glow of Christmas Past organization, so these meetings were sort of regional gatherings between conventions. As our members began aging out, passing on or moving out of state, the Jingles eventually became inactive, but many of us remained friends. Fast forward to current history…as a former chair, editor of The Glow magazine, Facebook admin and convention host for the Glow, many people asked me if I would create a regional show and gathering on the East Coast, but I had put in 10 years’ service to the Glow and needed a break. Recently, I realized there was a need for a really good vintage holiday show here in the tri-state area. So, I gave in to the demand and created the East Coast Vintage Christmas Collectors group on Facebook. The idea was collectors from anywhere could join the group and we would have a gathering near me, in New Jersey.
Russ Smith, collector and expert on early Christmas figural lighting, gave a lecture titled “Collecting Antique Figural Light Bulbs.”
“When I first pitched this idea to the group, there was a lot of interest. So, I booked half of the ballroom at the Park Ridge Marriott where dealers could set up on one side and sell on the other. I envisioned this as a small regional gathering. As word spread, more and more dealers started reaching out to me to join the show. Soon I had to add another section of the ballroom and squeeze the lunch into the last part.
Eventually, I needed to move the lectures and lunch into another large room as dealers filled the entire ballroom! What you saw was the end result. I never dreamed the first show would be that big. We had almost 70 tables of dealers and about 250 shoppers. I have received some great feedback with most people wanting a repeat next year, which I am now planning for April 2025, with the junior ballroom added for extra space!”
McManus, who is from Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., fielded a booth at the back of the ballroom with husband Willy Kare. Among the standouts he brought were a Saalfield tree carpet, made circa 1910 and printed on muslin linen but that had been later backed with canvas. He noted these are rare, particularly ones that show Santa being drawn in a sled with swan’s heads on the front. Also of interest was a lighted Christmas tree platform and stand that had been made in the wood and metal shops at Ossining Prison in the 1930s. It was one of the first things to sell.
Dominic Siravo, Warrington, Penn., was making his toy show debut appearance as a dealer.
Most of the exhibitors were seasoned dealers but there were a few that were participating in shows for the first time. One of the youngest vendors at the show was Dominic Siravo, from Warrington, Penn. Among the standout pieces in his booth was a Union rocking horse Santa, Paramount Nativity plaque, a selection of Putz houses and an early German Easter egg with hen decoration that was propped in an Easter basket.
John Byrne has been collecting holiday ornaments for decades but has decided it was time to start to downsize, so he brought from Columbia, Md., a selection of lights and other ornaments to sell. When we asked how the show was, he admitted he’d already bought a few things.
Nostalgia drives the holiday toy collecting market and “I used to have that as a child” was a refrain heard more than once at the show. Holiday music piped through the hotel’s sound system did indeed make one feel as if Christmas was right around the corner.
Ron Kilfoil with some of the early Christmas lighting he brought. Queens, N.Y.
One of Siravo’s neighbors was Ron Kilfoil, who specializes in lighting and vintage glass ornaments. When asked what his rarest item on offer was, he immediately pointed to a circa 1910-20 Berwick Detect-O-Lite string of lights that he’d found at a flea market in Manhattan. Most of these would have originally come in a wooden box, to help protect porcelain sockets.
Jim Fogel brought two reindeer to the show that were impressive in both stature and price; he accompanied their display with a xerox of a Christmas catalog that showed what they would have been priced when new. The Hanover, Penn., dealer was asking $8,500 for the brown reindeer; the white reindeer, which nodded, was marked $10,500. A Santa Claus mailbox that read “Be Sure Your Letters Are Stamped” and a snow shovel whimsically emblazoned “Build A…Snowman” were just a few of the things that appealed to this particular writer.
Fogel’s neighbors were Joe and Sharon Happle, from Lafayette, N.J. Their wares included not just Christmas but a German pressed cardboard jack-o-lantern and some Easter chocolate molds. Because most things at the show were fairly small, sales did not linger on the tables long, but we were able to see that a wooly ram on a stand had a red sold tag.
Michael Connors, Kingston, N.Y.
In addition to ornaments, Michael Connors brought a rare circa 1950 bottle brush collapsible tree that stood more than 5 feet tall. He thought it had been used for display but had never put into large-scale production.
Readers of Antiques and The Arts Weekly will be very familiar with Newcastle, Maine, folk art dealers Tom Jewett and Butch Berdan, who are regulars at many shows this publication covers throughout the year in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. It’s an understatement to say that both love Christmas; they were thrilled to be at the show. Their booth was bursting with Halloween and Christmas ornaments, including Victorian Christmas cards, belsnickles, feather trees and several rare figures. One of the highlights of the booth was a rare Santa Claus dressed in soldier gear that had been made for the German market. As we passed through, Jewett closed the deal on a circa 1920 Black Forest caribou they had acquired on their way to the show.
“It’s been a great show,” Jewett reported, posting on Facebook after the show some of their sales, which included a double angel ornament, a printed advertisement for Kenyon’s Hat & Men’s Furnishing Store, a jack-o-lantern, three bats, Santas, snowmen and witches and an elaborate table-top sleigh pulled by Santa on a reindeer.
Coventry, R.I., dealer Kimberly Kittredge had a more varied selection than many, bringing in a box of patriotic paper doilies and an Uncle Sam costume for the Fourth of July, animated skeletons, Halloween candles and vintage Trick or Treat bags for Halloween, and papier mache bunnies and chocolate molds for Easter.
Mary McCall particularly loved the brightly colored ornaments in the near corner of her table. Tampa, Fla.
Mary and Phil McCall traveled to the show lightly, packing large suitcases and flying up from Tampa, Fla. She has been a lifelong Christmas collector; her favorite things at the show were brightly colored ornaments from the 1930s. Vintage Christmas pennants, early games and lighting were among Christmas fare, while a mohair bunny stood watch at the far end of their table, awaiting a new home.
Christmas is a big deal outside of the United States as well, and there were few people at the show who traveled long distances to be there. Uwe Heintze, whose business name is Antiquetoyplanet, lives in Legenfeld, Germany, and exhibits in Germany (in Böblingen, Bruchsaal, Munich, Geissenheim, Rheinhausen and Hof-Döhlau), as well as shows in Paris, London, Milan, Yokohama, New York, Chicago and Atlantic City. Among the things he brought across the ocean were a Bavarian dessert service with Santa decoration, a Erzgebirge farm set and large Erzegebirge miner, a shepherd set complete with six sheep and dog and a circa 1930s angel two-light candleholder.
“Yuletide Yankees” are members of the Golden Glow based in New England. Several of the dealers in the show also participate in the Yuletide Yankees Show, which took place on April 20, in Leominster. One of these was Mark Langdon, Christmas Past, Southbury, Conn. He also participates in shows in the Midwest and told us that more and more holiday shows are sprouting up.
Interested in starting a collection of Christmas antiques and collectibles? This book by George Johnson would be an essential beginning read and could be had from Mark Langdon, Christmas Past, Southbury, Conn.
Also hailing from Connecticut were Beth and Tom Snyder, who have been in the antiques business between 30 and 35 years. A patriotic set of Tom and Jerry Czechoslovakian pottery mugs and a basin were among the unusual items. Beth explained that Halloween collectibles are fewer because Halloween was considered a more disposable holiday. Christmas checks — once issued by banks and used by children or families to buy holiday presents — are rare survivors and Tom had several he was particularly pleased to have.
John Soran specializes in decorations from the 1950s-60s. Books of holiday recipes, a Santa phone, an animated Coca-Cola Santa and a homemade felt Christmas dress provided variety to his extensive selection of lights.
The April 2025 All-Holidays Show and Gathering of the East Coast Vintage Christmas Collectors will take place April 26-27. A website for additional information is currently in production.
