This Wildfowler Decoy Company goose, attributed to Ted Mulliken (1896-1964), 19 inches long, was in original found condition and sold with its stand. Michael Pheffer, Two Sides of a River Antiques, New London, N.H.
Review by Carly Timpson
ONLINE — With an online antiques show, participants can find success without having to account for temperamental spring weather or dealing with travel and set-up. Back for its sixth year since beginning in 2020, the Fox Valley Spring Antiques Show welcomed 32 dealers to its online platform, hosted by Getman’s Virtual Book & Paper Fair, from March 8-9. Debbie McArdle, president of the Chicago Suburban Antiques Dealers Association and one of the producers of the Fox Valley Antiques Show, shared that the show was a categorical success. She remarked, “In this new era of ‘general unease,’ we were delighted to see we had 4,000 more booth visits and 2,000 more individual item visits than in October 2024. Overall total sales were $4,000 more than October 2024 and the average sale was $65 greater than in October 2024. We had a number of first-time dealers who sold extremely well. Our faithful dealer list is growing, little by little, as dealers see the value of these online shows and perfect their digital skills.”
McArdle attributes the increase in interest not only to the growing technological aptitude of dealers but to the strength of those dealers and the convenience of online shows. “All of our participants are either already known to our Vetting Committee as knowledgeable and honest dealers or they are vetted. A dealer can’t simply sign up without first passing muster,” said McArdle. “Because our dealers are vetted, our customers are assured they are dealing with honestly-represented antiques.” She added that there’s a draw to customers because there is “no parking, no travel costs, no bad weather concerns, no admission. Customers can shop from the comfort of home at any time of day for the duration of the show.” And for dealers, “No hauling merchandise across the country and associated travel or hotel expenses. No loading a truck, then unloading a truck, no unpacking and setting up, no standing around for a couple of days, no re-packing and re-loading truck, driving home and unloading again. Many of our dealers find they are getting too old for these traditional show weekends.” As it is, the show goes on and grows on.
Karine Belzile of Chic Shack Antiques sold this circa 1830-45 Quebec miniature Hepplewhite chest of drawers with carved ebonized quarter columns and a shaped base with flared feet. It measured 20½ inches high by 20 inches wide by 9½ inches deep. Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec, Canada.
Another notable feature of an online show is the expansive reach that in-person shows just can’t match. Barb Lemme, another one of the show’s managers, noted, “Advantages for sellers include the ability to connect with collectors who might never have found them otherwise. The reach of an online show extends not just throughout the United States but to other countries as well.” Though the show is run by the Chicago Suburban Antiques Dealers Association, it extends far beyond the region. Dealers represented 15 states and three Canadian provinces and reported sales from buyers across both countries as well. “Essentially, online shows are just an alternative way to bring buyers and sellers together. First, those who may not have access to in-person shows for whatever reason (e.g., proximity, time availability, physical limitations, etc.) are able to attend a show and view items from trusted professional sellers,” Lemme added. “Second, online shows allow collectors to browse through booths at their convenience, whenever time allows and from wherever they may be, and to return to the show as often as they’d like over the two days.” The convenience of an online meeting place is evident in the show’s statistics. While there is no ticket fee to enter the show, the platform registered 40,400 booth visits and 14,202 individual item visits. If each of those visitors “stopped by” each booth, that amounts to more than 1,260 visits per booth.
McArdle, along with her husband Jim, sells under the name Iron Horse Antiques & Art. After selling items that will be shipped to Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Ohio, she said, “I am in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and doubt I would ever have otherwise ‘met’ these customers.” The duo reported an “excellent” weekend, noting that people were still calling for a few hours even after the show ended. “We feel we only list our most intriguing small antiques, so they were all good sales. We would never offer anything we are not proud of. We sold everything from Nineteenth Century toys to Nineteenth Century kitchenware and stoneware to pre-Prohibition enameled saloon bottles.”
This 8-inch-long pull toy, sold by Iron Horse Antiques & Art, was marked “Poodle Dog Bell Ringer No. 45” and depicted a clown along with the dog. Its paint and all parts were original from circa 1890. Jim and Debbie McArdle, Manitowish Waters, Wis.
Karine Belzile of Chic Shack Antiques is one of the show’s few Canadian dealers. Based in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec, she said it was her fourth time doing the show and was pleased to report a positive experience, despite the unusually shaky neighborly relations currently existing between the US and Canada. “The clients were so nice and supportive of us Canadians! There were no issues at all… I like the show because it is simple and allows us to reach a different range of collectors from different states. It’s well organized and very easy to access.” To clients in Texas, Massachusetts and Illinois, she sold woolies, a two-section magazine rack or carrying caddy and a miniature Hepplewhite chest of drawers, among other items.
Thomas Leek of Tom’s Curiosity Shop, Goshen, N.Y., will be shipping his sales to New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Ontario, Canada. He proclaimed, “The show overall was good, and it was amazing in terms of traffic. They just know how to drive traffic, it’s simply extraordinary. As a seller, I’m really thrilled with the numbers — they just kept going and going!” While he reported a number of quality sales including a selection of cartes de visite with cartoons from the 1864 Lincoln-McClellan election and a circa 1910 career scrapbook of early 1900s stage actor George Rudolph Mathison, it was the least-expensive item in his booth that became his best story of the weekend: an ephemeral souvenir printed at the World’s Fair in Chicago on a printing press that was made in 1742. The paper, which read, “Printed on a press 151 years old. By the Campbell Printing Press & Mfg. Co. World’s Fair, Chicago, June 8, 1893,” was purchased on Saturday by a friendly long-term client. However, on Sunday, the story started to change. “On Sunday, I got an email from the editor of The New Hampshire Gazette, Steve Fowle, whose ancestor, five generations back, brought that press to New Hampshire in 1776 and, on it, began to print ‘America’s Oldest Newspaper.’” The original buyer agreed it would be better off with the family that owned the printing press, and Leek was able to transfer the sale, now sending that small piece of paper to the Portsmouth Atheneum in Portsmouth, N.H., where it will be preserved and honored as a reminder of the press that once resided there too.
Though it was the least expensive item in Thomas Leek’s booth, this souvenir paper from the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, printed using a 151-year-old press, was one of the best stories of the weekend. Tom’s Curiosity Shop, Goshen, N.Y.
Lemme, who is based in Glen Ellyn, Ill., sells under the store name Liberty Tree. She commented, “All of my sales were good in that the items were great and the buyers were happy — they found something they loved! I sold from a variety of categories including paintings, garden items, folk art, textiles, stoneware, painted smalls and decoys.”
David and Jane Thompson, from South Dennis, Mass., are the final show managers alongside McArdle and Lemme. “We have always loved the Fox Valley Antiques Show, enough to drive out to Illinois from Massachusetts (and before that, from Vermont, when we lived there) to exhibit many times, and have done every online Fox Valley Antiques Show, since it began. We really enjoy interacting with collectors from all over the country, we would never ‘meet’ otherwise, as well as re-connecting with old friends. We always find new customers as well and hear from people who have bought from us at previous shows. One of the items we sold in this show, a wooden pitch pipe dating from the late Eighteenth Century or early Nineteenth Century, we could have sold five times!”
Most dealers try to stock their booths with a variety of merchandise while some specialize in a specific collecting niche. Marie Miller of Marie Miller Antique Quilts is one of those more specialized dealers. “We were pleased with the show and sold a couple of good quilts. I also sold off my website due to the link from the show. Quilts are going to New York, Connecticut and Tennessee.” She continued, “I did this show back when it was live and now online. I prefer the online version for its exposure to more people. The show is easy to do and well organized.”
This circa 1930 Linked Stars quilt featured two shades of blue on white with double pyramid borders and pyramid corners. Measuring 82 by 72 inches, it was sold on the first day by Marie Miller, Marie Miller Antique Quilts, Sarasota, Fla.
Sandra Hoekstra, from Thomaston, Maine, shared, “I sell books, maps and the occasional small antiques and have done well selling in this virtual show. I really enjoy the repeat customers I have met through sales, and I look forward to not only adding to their collections but chatting with them when they call me. It’s like having a virtual pen-pal with antiquarian books as our shared interest.” Hoekstra has done every Fox Valley online show except for one and praised the organization: “I enjoy them tremendously, especially working with Barb and Debbie. The Getman platform is a dream to load-in on, and the number of photographs allowed helps to display the items well.”
In a similar field to Hoekstra was Lisa Bouchard of MelroseBooks&Art. “I am primarily a book, paper and fine arts dealer. I’ve been participating in virtual shows since their onset during the pandemic — five years now… I am one of the few ‘crossovers’ from the Getman virtual book and paper shows. Despite the fact that the Getman virtual listing platform is almost identical in both formats, most Getman book and paper dealers do not perceive themselves to be antique dealers. And vice versa.” She noted that most of the other dealers had more “traditional offerings” such as folk art, early Americana and signage, which seem to dominate sales in this, and other antiques shows. Still, she found success, selling antique photographs, oil paintings and jewelry. “One of the sales was to a loyal institutional buyer: a director of a large Midwestern university library that buys from me both online and at in-person book shows. The other buyers were new retail customers.”
Jane Langol sold this set of nine circa 1910-20 tin candy houses from the West Brothers Candy Company of Grapeville, Penn. Jane Langol Antiques, Medina, Ohio.
Medina, Ohio, dealer Jane Langol had some thoughts on this matter. “I have participated in the show — both spring and fall — since 2020. That is a total of 10 actual events. I have been successful at all but one of those online offerings. As with any show, there are probably some dealers who did not do well. I find the secret to being successful at the Fox Valley Online Show event is to offer colorful, appealing, whimsical and unique items at a modest price. That is what works for me. The buyers appear to want novelty, color and quality for their dollar.” Her sales, which were headed to Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio, included tin candy houses, a colorful circa 1940-50 Pennsylvania Dutch optic rug and a circa 1950 handmade Raggedy Ann Doll.
Some dealers, as McArdle mentioned, have slowed down or stopped doing in-person shows altogether. One of those is Victor Weinblatt, who sells antique folk signs out of his farmhouse in South Hadley, Mass. Weinblatt told us, “I stopped doing in-person shows last year and was excited to do an online show. They have a splendid organization. Barb Lemme was spectacular. It took me a bit of time to master the platform, but it was good. They really made it a pleasant experience from the beginning.” Besides just being back at a show, Weinblatt was especially excited to report the sale of his “principal piece,” noting that Lemme was respectfully ogling it from the beginning of the show and planned to buy it afterward if it did not sell. Unfortunately for her, the 24-by-48-inch “All American” sign sold early on the first day. “It was a carnival food concession sign. It’s a hotdog in a bun, but it is made to look like the stars and stripes so the hotdog morphs into the American flag. It sold to a lovely woman who runs a bookstore in Washington, DC. I’m happy to see it going to Washington. It was a really cool piece.”
Fox Valley’s next show is the in-person event at the Fairgrounds in Wheaton, Ill., on June 7; the fall online show will be held October 18-19. For information, www.foxvalleyantiques.com.
