The Creamery Building hosts the Schoharie Colonial Heritage Association as well as the kitchen during the show and a half-dozen dealers. The green-and-white striped tent was the right place to have lunch or just a slice of pie.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — You know it’s Fall in Schoharie when the leaves change, residents on Routes 30 (River Street) and 145 (Main Street) create lavish Halloween character displays on their lawns…and the semi-annual Antiques in Schoharie rolls into the Schoharie Valley Railroad Museum (SVRM) complex. One of two fundraising antiques shows held by the Schoharie Colonial Heritage Association (SCHA) in support of the 1743 Palatine House Museum and the SVRM, the 48th Annual event took place Saturday and Sunday, September 28-29. More than 60 dealers showed their treasures under tents, within three permanent structures or simply on folding tables throughout the spacious complex. The show saw both gloriously sunny and overcast weather and attracted shoppers throughout the weekend.
Antiques and The Arts Weekly spoke with show manager Ruth Anne Wilkinson, who said the beautiful fall weather was “a gift, but between the beautiful weather on Saturday and other seasonal activities taking place in the area, the gate was lower than it usually is. Despite that, those who came bought like crazy and many dealers told me they’d had their best show ever. We even sold out of the food we’d prepared, which has never happened in the Fall before. We’re so grateful for the support the organization has received since it started.”
Most visitors began their show experience in the first floor of the Creamery Building. William D. “Postcard Bill” Johnson has been doing the show for 20 years and brought just a fraction of his inventory but still had at the show several thousand postcards, which encompassed largely New York State town views or holiday cards. Most of the cards he had were priced between $5-25 but his more expensive ones were actual photo cards, which he said can be priced well above that.
“I look for older cards in good condition, and I prefer small towns throughout New York State. Holiday cards are also popular. The really scarce cards are photo cards, but all of these are little pieces of history.”
“Postcard Bill” with two of the photo postcards he had at the show: one shows Radio City Music Hall, the other shows Richmondville, N.Y. Albany, N.Y.
Feeling like postcard connoisseurs following Johnson’s words of wisdom, we crossed the aisle to the booth of Patridge Hollow Antiques, which had a variety of things, including Lynn Chrin’s favorite chocolate and ice cream molds. She had been busy transacting the sale of four molds — a bear, Santa, bride and groom — to a client, so Dennis Chrin, who likes dog molds himself, summarized some of the finer points. Most were made in Europe, with ones made of tin for chocolate and those for ice-cream made of pewter. Santa molds — not the European versions of St Nick or Kris Kringle — made in the US are comparatively hard to find while Easter molds are the most common. Molds with a hinged bottom plate made hollow chocolate figures while solid examples require a mold filled from the bottom.
Mary Badcock, who was also set up in the Creamery, found another use for molds she’d purchased from the Chrins years ago: candles. Her small booth was full of St Nick, Kris Kringle, lambs, roosters and rabbit candles, surrounded by evergreen branches and clear twinkle lights. She was busy tallying a several-candle sale as we perused her selection.
Gary Robinson and Carlos Seidner, from Oneonta, N.Y., were sharing a booth. Occupying pride of place in the center of their booth was a small selection of Holt-Howard ceramics and what is left over from a collection of about 150 pieces Robinson had acquired from a private estate of a woman who had collected it for 40 years. Robinson said Holt-Howard ceramics are “probably the most in-demand Midcentury Modern ceramic” on the market today.
Gary Robinson, seated at the far left, was selling these pieces of Holt-Howard ceramics. Oneonta, N.Y.
Bill Reid has, for the past 15 years, framed discarded press tin architectural elements and made candlesticks out of stair rail balusters. He started doing this when he was in construction and had access to discarded materials but he says he now gets them wherever he can, including Craig’slist and Facebook Marketplace. Coming to Schoharie was only his second show since Covid.
Glen and Millie Wiegand are Happy Dogs Ceramics, in Cobleskill, N.Y., and they were doing the show for the first time, set up in the dealer tent in the center of the museum complex. He attended the University of Wisconsin where he received a Bachelor of Science in art. From cat and dog images to bowls and other vessels, all are hand-thrown on a potter’s wheel, fired twice in a kiln and then a colorful glaze is applied.
More than 32 dealers were in the Mill Building, the largest building on the museum’s complex. Ann and Michael Vanderverdt shared the northernmost end of the building with Fred and Patty Heisler, who were joined on Saturday morning by their friend Mary Jane Breedlove. The Vanderverdts had a nice selection of early furniture, smalls and jewelry while antique clothing was a stand-out category for the Heislers, though they also had furniture; a stool was among their early sales.
Passing into the main room of the Mill Building, Jim and Mara Kerr and Cavern View Antiques were on one side, opposite Mark and Karen Wheaton and Maria’s Pond Antiques. Ironstone is what the Kerrs specialize in, to which they’ve been selling in Schoharie for more than 35 years, though it was by no means the only thing they had on offer. While we were in their booth, a woman who had been a previous client of theirs, and who purchased a spinning wheel from them years prior, was sorting through antique seed packets.
Looking to buy or sell some white Ironstone? Jim and Mara Kerr, Cavern View Antiques are among the best Ironstone dealers in the business and they had a large sample at the show. Howes Cave, N.Y.
Mark Wheaton, who has been doing Schoharie for 47 years, was getting a lot of attention for a farm table he’d found in the Cooperstown, N.Y., area. For anyone who missed out on Wheaton’s table and was willing to go with a slightly more formal aesthetic, his neighbor at the show — Allan Boice — had a walnut dining table with eight leaves that he’d purchased at the Madison-Bouckville show. Boice, who owns Quality Refinishing out of Governor, N.Y., had several examples of his restored pieces, many of which were made from tiger maple and cherrywood.
For her day job, Cheryl Leonard VanDenburg is the curator at the Alling Quilt Museum in Palyra, N.Y. As a dealer, VanDenburg specializes in textiles, and she brought a show-stopper of a quilt if ever there was one: a Civil War era appliquéd Whig Rose quilt that she had found in a Rochester, N.Y., estate and was, she thought, a “Sunday best” example because it had survived in such remarkably good original condition. VanDenburg also had a selection of doll’s shoes that had been deaccessioned from the Strong Museum.
Richard Cuddeback found a new home for a library cabinet and oak wall box while Bob Mock and Lou Leatso unloaded some leather wingback chairs, a cabinet and a Chippendale chest of drawers.
In the foreground of this photo are two flat boxes that held multiple pairs of doll’s shoes, each pair sold separately, that had been deaccessioned from the Strong Museum. An exemplary circa 1860-70 Whig Rose quilt hangs on the back wall. Cheryl Leonard VanDenburgh and Marianne Gallagher, Pieces of the Past Antiques, Canandaigua, N.Y.
If you came to the show looking for Modern Art there were few choices, but Bob Smith was there marking his third time at Schoharie. He brought from Montrose, Penn., several pieces to choose from. One of the things he was happiest to have was a photo that had been used in an advertisement for Converse sneakers. It featured four standing figures, two of which were David Grohl and Joan Jett. According to Smith, it had once hung in the corporate office of Converse. He said he’d found it at Brimfield.
The organizers know antiquing can make even the most efficient shoppers work up an appetite and they plan accordingly. In addition to a selection of hot and cold lunch options, beverages and desserts were on hand, the latter being a time-honored tradition at the show. We spoke with Carol McMichael, who has been helping stock the show’s kitchen for more than 30 years. She said about 15 volunteers took shifts both days, and people especially liked the home-baked goods, because “less people bake these days so they appreciate the effort.”
If doing quality control of some of the many and various pie options was part of the job of covering this antiques show, it’s one we happily took on.
The dates and location of the Spring Antiques in Schoharie show — which typically takes place at the Schoharie Central School — are pending as the school will be closed for construction.
For information and updates, www.schoharieheritage.org.
