Joseph K. Kindig III has been named the 2008 winner of the Antiques Dealers Association of America’s annual Award of Merit. The award will be presented to the York, Penn., antiques dealer at a dinner in his honor at the Philadelphia Antiques Show on Saturday, April 12.
Founded in 1915, Joe Kindig, Jr & Son is known for Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century American furniture and decorative arts, as well as for arms and armor. The company, directed by Kindig, and his daughter, Jenifer, helped build many public and private collections, notably that of Winterthur, Colonial Williamsburg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Bayou Bend.
A noted expert, teacher and lecturer, Kindig is the author of Artistic Ingredients of The Longrifle , published by George Shumway in 1989, and The Philadelphia Chair, 1685‱785 , published by the Historical Society of York County in 1978. For The Magazine Antiques , Kindig has written on topics as various as perspective glass and upholstered Windsor chairs. In 2001, Kindig addressed the Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum on “A Dealer Reminisces Over 85 Years in the American Decorative Arts.”
Kindig has served on a variety of boards, most notably that of the Historical Society of York County. In 1980, he received the Pennsylvania’s Governor’s award for distinguished contribution to the Commonwealth.
“It is a thrill to give Joe this award and nice to be honoring one of our own,” said ADA Vice President Arthur Liverant. “Joe has taught us so much on so many levels. He is a leading authority on Kentucky rifles, Eighteenth Century Philadelphia furniture and brass, among other specialties. He anchors a wonderful family tradition. The name Kindig has long been synonymous with the best in Americana.”
“Joe is an expert and a scholar. He has been a major force in the marketplace for decades,” said ADA board member and past president Skip Chalfant, who has known Kindig for nearly 40 years. “When we are together, we always have great fun getting wrapped up in some academic question about which Queen Anne chair came first.”
Past ADA Award of Merit winners include Albert Sack, Elinor Gordon, Wendell Garrett, Betty Ring, R. Scudder Smith and Dean Failey.
For additional information, www.ADAdealers.com or 203-364-9913.
