Dealers reported that the crowd was steady all day. Shoppers, including one from Missouri, were lined up waiting for the show to open.
Review & Onsite Photos by Rick Russack
MARLBOROUGH, MASS — Rachel and Josh Gurley’s Thanksgiving Weekend show is a holiday tradition that many New Englanders look forward to. It’s decades old, having been started by their mother Nan Gurley almost 40 years ago. Rachel and Josh revived the show after her death and it has been growing each year. There were about 85 dealers this year, which took place December 1. One short sentence could summarize the variety of antiques and collectibles available: prices of items offered ranged from $3 for Christmas ornaments to $18,500 for a rare Concord, Mass., Hepplewhite sideboard.
Given the time of year, it should not have been a surprise that holiday material was in many booths. One large, well-stocked booth offered a variety, but holiday items were his predominant aesthetic. It belonged to Charlie Guinipero, Pantry Box Antiques, of Stafford Springs, Conn., who had Steiff animals along with stoneware and woodenware. However, the booth was decorated with holiday colors and had so many Christmas decorations that it seemed there was nothing else. Within 15 minutes of the show opening, Guinipero’s booth was overflowing with shoppers. At the front of the booth was a table with a feather tree with ornaments but that table was dominated by a set of Swedish straw animals tied with red ribbon. They weren’t expensive: a goat was priced $70; small Christmas trees were also inexpensive, with many priced less than $10. There were stockings of all sizes, a variety of small sheep and cows, and numerous stocking stuffers. There were even some colorful papier mâché turkeys. Guinipero’s Steiff animals included a penguin, seals, donkeys, lions and lambs.
There were folk art portraits in several booths. Jewett-Berdan Antiques offered this circa 1850 Anglo-American portrait of a child. Tom Jewett said that he thought the badminton racquet and shuttlecock indicated that it might be English. Unsigned, it was priced at $5,500. New Castle, Maine.
From Newcastle, Maine, Tom Jewett and Butch Berdan, Jewett-Berdan Antiques, brought some Christmas items that were meant for advanced collectors, with prices ranging from $50 to $1,600. They had just returned a few days before from doing a show in Canfield, Ohio, devoted almost exclusively to holiday decorations. Roland Morgan and Ann Marie King shared a booth, and their holiday items were priced from $3 to $50. They rounded out their selection with several pieces of silver along with a selection of blue and white porcelain.
Formal American furniture was offered in several booths. The most expensive piece we saw, priced at $18,500, was a small Hepplewhite sideboard, circa 1810, in the booth of Paul Douglas, Firehouse Antiques, Galena, Md., who also had several other pieces of early furniture. The sideboard was made by William Munroe (1778-1861) in Concord, Mass. Douglas explained that Munroe is best known as a clockmaker and that his furniture is quite scarce. This example was a small size, measuring slightly wider than 53 inches and retained its original surface. It had remained in the family of the original purchaser, most recently having been in a home that had been unoccupied for 25 years in Newark, Del.
Jim Gahan, Falmouth, Mass., had a Boston block-front bureau, just 33 inches wide, that had descended in the family of William Gray, a very wealthy Bostonian who, at one time, operated a fleet of 60 ships. He was asking less than $10,000 and sold it shortly after the show opened.
Jim Gahan sold this Boston block-front chest of drawers to a New Hampshire collector shortly after the show opened. It had remained in one family for most of its existence. Falmouth, Mass.
Among examples with other dealers, Morgan MacWhinnie (Southampton, N.Y.) and Jason Hietala (Lancaster, Mass.) both had large booths filled with early furniture. Heller-Washam Antiques, Portland, Maine, had several pieces. One was a Boston reverse serpentine oxbow fall-front desk. Made from walnut, about 1780, it had a fan carved interior and was priced $3,600. They tagged a circa 1750 New England tavern table with an oval top at $2,800 and displayed it with a pair of William and Mary bannister back chairs, circa 1750-1770, probably from the upper Delaware valley, for which they were asking $2,250. Don Heller and Kim Washam also had a pair of Twentieth Century scrimshawed whale’s teeth, one featuring a full length portrait of Lafayette. The pair, displayed on custom-made mahogany stands, were 9 inches long and signed by Charles W. Demontigny (1885-1957). The price was $6,800.
The show featured large offerings of early American glass and English ceramics, especially in the blue Staffordshire category. Greg Lovell, Hyde Park, Mass., had a large selection. A blue and white covered vegetable dish by an unknown maker was an eye-catcher. He described it as showing a Far Eastern scene with castle ruins and cows contentedly grazing in the foreground. It was priced $145. A dinner plate with a scene of the library in Philadelphia, part of J. and W. Ridgway’s circa 1820s “Bounties of America” series, was priced $102; a circa 1830s dinner plate, with a purple transfer by William Adams, depicted a Scottish hunting scene and was listed at $80. Lovell was also one of the dealers with early glass, offering a pair of “petal and loop” Sandwich Vaseline candlesticks for $189.
A very rare miniature Sandwich cobalt blue glass pitcher was among the offerings of J.S. Cocoman. The applied clear glass handle added to its rarity and it was tagged $1,350. Glenmont, N.Y.
A very rare miniature Sandwich pitcher was marked $1,350 and was with J.S. Cocoman, Glenmont, N.Y. It was a deep cobalt blue with an applied clear glass handle. Cocoman and Brian Cullity, a knowledgeable Sandwich glass dealer, discussed the pitcher before the show and agreed that it was an exceptional example, especially due to the clear handle. A large selection of glass was also in the booth of Robert and Donna Moore, Newton, N.H.
Cocoman also had a group of blue Staffordshire dinner plates from the “Arms of America” series. An Arms of Rhode Island plate was $375, while an Arms of New York plate with a large spread-winged eagle, was $350. He also had plates from the B&O Railroad series priced between $190 and $275. A large Lake George pattern platter was marked $1,100. Additionally, his stock included Delft and English creamware.
Another unusual item in Cocoman’s booth was a mechanical double sidewheel steamboat lettered “William Green, Memphis.” It’s possible that Green was the maker as the internet does not list a steamboat by that name. You might think that mechanical toy steamboats are not uncommon, which is true, but this one was made of thin wood with painted windows. It had several lifeboats attached and two decks as well as a wheelhouse and boarding ramps.
“Eclectic” would be the word for the merchandise offered by Mario Pollo. His selection included these three leather pig-form footstools, which were made by Omersa, a company that started producing handmade leather footstools in the late 1920s. He was asking $1,350 for each. Holliston, Mass.
Mario Pollo, Holliston, Mass., had an assortment of early Middle Eastern and European pottery, including a Twelfth Century turquoise glazed bowl from Iran, for which he was asking $1,250. There were other early items dating from the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries, including Persian and Spanish pottery. His merchandise was varied and included Twentieth Century Southwestern Native American pottery and textiles.
Among the “one of a kind” items was a stack of wooden plates. The wood used had been carefully selected for pronounced graining and they were made by Armand LaMontagne. A group of around 20 was priced $950 by Picking Fields, Springfield, Mass. Trade signs were in several booths; perhaps the most unusual of which was in the booth of Bob and Donna Moore. The painted text on it read: “Dull Tools Are Worthless, Why Not Have Them…” Hanging from the sign were examples of what should be sharpened: an axe, a circular saw blade, a knife and a pair of shears, among others; it was priced $2,250.
Dennis Raleigh had an iron weathervane in the form of a profile of the Indian chief, Pontiac, which was probably used at a Pontiac car dealership in the Twentieth Century.
After the show, Rachel and Josh Gurley summed up their feelings with one word, “delighted.” “We had 85 dealers, the most since the pandemic, and the crowd was strong all day and larger than it has been recently. Several of our exhibitors told us they had done well. It’s really become a tradition. Mom started that show 37 years ago and I know our exhibitors and buyers look forward to it. We’ll be back next year and right now we’re looking forward to our New Year’s Day show in Dover.”
For additional information, 207-396-4255 or www.gurleyantiqueshows.com.
