For the 39th consecutive year, Glastonbury’s Hubbard Green was filled with more than 70 exhibiting dealers offering their collections to hundreds of shoppers at the June 16 show. Antiques offerings were a thorough mix with an emphasis on early American home furnishings and also a large quantity of fine art. According to the volunteer show manager Deborah Lemieux, “The attendance was about 50 percent better than last year, with strong buying in smalls and textiles.”
Lemieux was also managing a special exhibit filled with donations of antiques and old things. Only the volunteer workers were allowed to enter the area before the show’s regular opening at 9 am, so exhibiting dealers had to wait along with buyers for first dibs. Sales from this exhibit were in excess of $4,000, according to Lemieux. “That’s great because it all goes to the Historical Society of Glastonbury, and this antique, show is our biggest fundraiser each year.” At the show’s opening, there were more than 100 shoppers waiting for the string to be cut allowing them entry into the show where the buying was a feeding frenzy.
Among the exhibiting dealers was Gil Tyler, the president of the Historical Society of Glastonbury, who is also a restorer of fine early pieces. His exhibit was showing many fine hardwood pieces, including about a half dozen small tables and stands. While he only sold one such piece, he said the show was a source for his restoration business. “I have been doing the show for years, and I’ll be back next year, as this always is a good source of customers for my business. I didn’t expect to sell many of these fine early American pieces here, but I believe there will be more people calling at the shop here in town.”
Ashford, Conn., auctioneer and antiques dealer Tom Degnan was exhibiting here the morning after one of his auctions. The collection he offered was an interesting mix of early furniture and some Midcentury Modern pieces along with several antique Persian and Caucasian rugs.
Michael’s Antiques is a specialist in early guns and lighting with an emphasis on early iron lighting. His sales included two Eighteenth Century flintlock long guns and some of the early lighting.
Textiles from the first half of the Twentieth Century were offered by Michelle Piccolo, Brimfield, Mass. Her collection is early linens printed table clothes and napkins first popular in the 1950s but experiencing a resurgence in today’s décor.
Selling early in the show, a pair of bow back Windsor side chairs offered by Stuart Magdefrau, Ellington, Conn., who was there with a large inventory of early American country antiques. His collection of small household items included several examples of earthenware, early pewter and a tapered stack of pantry boxes in original paint.
Domestic Cow Antiques is a collection dominated by milk bottles and is from nearby South Glastonbury, Conn. William Korzick, New Haven, Conn. was selling early furniture and some Persian rugs. Richard and Jane Crumpstone, Old Saybrook, Conn., offered their collection of smalls, including an early ship diorama.
Sales were good for Nook & Cranny Antiques of Chicopee, Mass., which sold an early cherry candlestand as the show opened and an early Victorian dollhouse. As the day continued, sales included some ironstone and other small antique accessories.
This Glastonbury show is one of the grand old shows in Connecticut with many dealers who have been there for many years, and some who did the show, skipped a few years and have recently returned. It was at one time managed by Betty Forbes, one of the popular show managers in the Nutmeg state for many years, but later managed by the society itself, as it is today.
Among the traditions of the sale is its society booth. A triple-sized exhibition area; it was an assortment of historical Staffordshire plates, antique and Midcentury Persian rugs, furniture from the last 200 years and a great deal more. The rugs and dishes sold in the first minutes to the anxious crowd.
The society’s other big fundraising event is its antiques auction. This year it will be September 29 with an anticipated collection of several hundred lots, for which the consignor/donor receives a reasonably good share of the auction proceeds.
For more information, contact the society at 860-633-6890 or HSGlastonbury@sbcglobal.net . The antiques show has been the third weekend of June for many years, and look for it again next year here on the Hubbard Green.
