Granite State Antique Shows are run by married couple Deb Lerner and Rick Martin. This show, which got New Hampshire Antiques Week started, was an addition to their other shows, which takes place on alternate Sundays, year-round, at the Granite Town Plaza in Milford, N.H.
Review & Onsite Photos by Rick Russack
MILFORD, N.H. — Antiques Week in New Hampshire started at 7 am, on Sunday, August 4, at a new show in Milford. We’re calling it a new show, but you could call the Granite State Antique Show a continuation of its forerunner, The Milford Antique Show, an October to April show that Jack Donigian ran for decades and which opened Antiques Week at the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club. Husband and wife dealers, Rick Martin and Deb Lerner, promoters of Granite State Antique Shows, took over the show when Donigian retired and relocated it. Their show now runs every other Sunday, year-round. But this was the first time their show would open Antiques Week and it was out-of-sequence for their regular schedule. They were nervous about the new venture but apparently, they need not have worried. All the exhibitor spaces were sold out and there were some overflow dealers set up outside. One of the main features of this show has always been the freshness of the merchandise being offered. Many of the dealers are active pickers and bring things they’ve found within a week or two of the show opening. It’s one reason early buyers poured in at 7 am, paying $30 per person when exhibitors were setting up. One dealer, who exhibits at the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Show and was shopping this show, said she recognized buyers from Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California. Exhibitors came from the six New England states as well as New York. The show opens to “regular” buyers at 8:30 am when the admission fee is $5. Perhaps, as a result of the low admission price, and taking advantage of the weekend event, numerous couples in their 20s and 30s were there shopping. It’s a friendly show, with complimentary homemade muffins, brownies, breakfast breads and coffee.
In a nice touch, one booth is run by the Nashua Humane Society. They sell donated items, with all proceeds benefiting animals and they are not charged for the booth space.
Dealer Donna Kmetz was in the first booth you would have entered, and she offered a wide selection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American paintings. Douglas, Mass.
The first booth in the show was occupied by Douglas, Mass., dealer, Donna Kmetz. She specializes in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century paintings by American or emigrant artists. There were three works by Francis Draper (1861-1930), who was in the first graduating class at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1876. Many of his works depict scenes in and around Boston, including Boston Harbor; he also painted in the Cape Ann region. One of his scenes offered was titled “Boston Planets.” There was also a beach scene, showing steps from a sandy beach by Wendy Prellwitz, who is still active and working, mostly in Massachusetts, Maine and Long Island, N.Y. A scene of Mount Equinox in Vermont, painted by Jay Hall Connaway (1893-1970) was also available. A member of the National Academy, there have been several exhibitions of his work.
Staying with fine art for a moment, Peter O’Brien, Estate Sales of Vermont, Colchester, Vt., had two Twentieth Century bronze sculptures; one was a depiction of Pope Joan by Scottish sculptor, Philip Jackson (b 1980). Jackson has had commissions from Britain’s Royal family. This work, about 12 inches tall, represented a woman, who, legend has it, was the Pope for two years in medieval times. Most scholars today discount the legend, but this example was a reduced size version of Jackson’s 76-inch-tall casting. O’Brien also had a cold-painted bronze of an apple by Luis Montoya and Leslie Ortiz, who have been collaborating under the name Popliteo since 1994.
Greg Hamilton not only had these Staffordshire figures, which are part of a large collection he bought recently, but he also had gameboards, native American materials and more. Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vt.
Greg Hamilton, Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vt., appears to never have the same inventory twice. For this show, he had a group of Staffordshire figures, some Native American items, gameboards and more. Scheduled to do another show later in the week, Hamilton was asked if his offerings would be different at the next show. He answered, “I’ve got a whole loaded trailer out back for the other show.”
There were Steiff animals offered by several dealers. Lori Teahen, Teahen’s Treasures, Greenfield, Mass., had several, including a giraffe, a tiger and some well-loved bears. Joyce Haddad, hailing from The Nathan Hale Antique Center, Coventry, Conn., a 20-dealer group shop, offered several animals. She also had an oddly shaped animal that might have been a horse, which she thought was probably Amish.
The range of merchandise individual dealers brought was demonstrated by Dave Shuman, Boston, Mass. On one table, he had a large pile of watches, each of which undoubtedly needed work. He was asking $5 to $10 each and probably less if someone was buying several. On another table in his booth, he had a selection of estate jewelry that included diamond rings. They were priced according to size and quality. Ed Lambert, St Albans, Vt., offered an unusual circa 1900-20 floor standing wine rack. This item testifies to the freshness of the merchandise to be found at this show. Commenting on the wine rack, Lambert said, “I just got it yesterday, so I don’t know much about it. I thought at first it may have been a shoe rack, but it’s not. The dividers are protected with cloth wrappings and the shelves tip forward. So, it wasn’t made for shoes.” He also had a large mounted caribou head, baskets, a counter-top Diamond Dye cabinet, some inexpensive Maxfield Parrish prints and still more.
Dave Shuman filled one table with a large pile of inexpensive watches that shoppers could sort through and select what they wanted. Another table included fine estate jewelry. Boston, Mass.
After the show, Lerner and Martin said, “We really didn’t know what to expect. We weren’t sure how this show would be. It’s our first year running these shows and each one is a learning experience. We were very pleased with the response. All our booths were sold, and we even had to have some exhibitors set up outside. It was a beautiful morning so that was not a problem. We were both pleasantly surprised at the number of early buyers, and we had a total of about 400 for the day. We saw merchandise going out steadily. Exhibitors told us they were very pleased with their sales.” One of those dealers, Greg Hamilton, said the next day, “It really worked. Sales were strong for me all day and I know that the dealers around me also did well.”
For information, 603-506-9848 or www.gsashows.com.
