The Village Antiques, Syracuse, N.Y.
Review and Photos by Tom O’Hara
GLASTONBURY, CONN. – Bob Barrows for the 40th year filled Glastonbury High School’s gym with more than 130 exhibitors on New Year’s Day 2020. This was in spite of cancellations that handicapped him due to severe winter weather on Monday and Tuesday, forcing several dealers to withdraw. Opening at 9 am on January 1, there was such a large waiting crowd it took more than 20 minutes for them to filter through the entrance. Sales were consummated quickly as the shoppers were there to find whatever it was they did not receive for Christmas or Hanukah.
The Village Antiques from Syracuse began selling immediately from its collection of Victorian-era toys and dolls as well as early Christmas decorations. Beth Snyder, Bethany, Conn., was also selling from her Christmas collection.
Log Cabin Country is Nancy Bryer from nearby South Glastonbury. She was having great fun at the show, selling furniture and small things. Her two-door chimney cupboard was first to go, followed by a bee skep, several wooden bowls, a painted basket and finally a trade sign advertising a tavern from times gone by.
Kimberly Kittredge, Johnston, R.I., specializes in Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century toys, dolls, teddy bears and holiday paraphernalia. Early that morning she sold a clockwork genie in original clothing from about 1908. More sales included a 5-foot-tall feather tree, a Noah’s Ark toy and a collection of hundred-year-old cast iron painted doorstops.
Vermonter Rick Fuller was there with a country-style collection that proved popular. His biggest item was a wall-mounted cupboard showing its original red paint, but there was more. In his small space he sold smalls, woodenware for the kitchen and barn in original surfaces, tools from the colonial times and more.
Bill Korzick, New Haven, Conn.
Silver, both hollowware and flatware, was available from a number of the exhibitors. Silk City Antiques, Manchester, Conn., was showing a collection of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Old Sheffield plate, the fused plate from England that was so popular in the American Revolutionary and Federal periods. Griswold Street Antiques, Glastonbury, was offering sterling silver hollowware as well as an extensive collection of estate jewelry.
Steven and Joan Levine, trading as Pieces of Time from nearby Hamden, Conn., were showing a collection of clocks. Steven restores mostly American clocks from 150 to 250 years ago, and these are the main focus of their inventory, all sold in working order.
Many of the exhibitors were local, having traveled less than 50 miles to set up and sell at the show. To most of them, this show is like a homecoming. Joe Collins is from Middletown, Conn., and exhibits early American decorative accessories and art. Kathleen and David Kuebler are from Farmington, Conn., and offered their collection of estate jewelry. Tom Landers of Palisades Trading, Windsor, Conn., was selling rugs and his restoration service.
Pat and Virginia Renschen, Middletown, Conn., are consummate collectors and their inventory shows it; some early American pieces, some Chinese porcelain, a little furniture and some art with some sales of each category. Pleasant Valley was represented by Hirsch Antiques, which sold a jelly cupboard, in original finish, a bench made from a circa 1875 sled, also in original surface, plus some smalls, such as a redware bowl and early inkwells. New Haven dealer Bill Korzick was selling from his collection of Georgian furniture. And the Wendhisers, from Ellington, Conn., offered accessories and décor from the last 200 years.
Bob Barrows, connected by his family in antiques through shows and auctions, has been in this business for all of his adult life. Look for this show again in just about a year, with lots of exhibits and a great quantity of antiques. Barrows Show Promotions can be reached at 860-342-2540.
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