The picturesque glimpse of the antiques show and Lopatcong creek, a tributary of the Delaware River, that runs through the fairground’s property.
Review & Onsite Photos by Tania Kirkman
PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. – Nestled in the picturesque rural hills of northern New Jersey, the annual Warren County Antiques Show & Vintage Marketplace took place on August 27-28. More than 100 dealers were spread throughout the grounds, exhibiting in an open-air pavilion and located inside historic barns and livestock buildings at the site. The show was filled with a great mixture of property to suit most any collecting interest. An idyllic setting, the show took place on the property of the local fairgrounds, offering a relaxed pace and unique shopping atmosphere.
Saturday morning’s opening kicked off the show with an enthusiastic crowd and lines that formed and extended deep into the parking lot. When the gate opened at 10 am, shoppers streamed onto the field and began their fervent hunt for treasures. A continuous stream of attendees continued to arrive well into noon, making this one of the strongest openings that the show has seen in several years.
From the outset, pathways through the fairgrounds quickly filled with keen shoppers, booths became a flurry of activity, and the buildings were a bustling hub of activity. Almost immediately, sales began and folks were spotted carrying away their new possessions. Rugs, crocks, vintage clothing, toys, advertising, small tables, boxes, décor and design items were some of the first to be seen on the move once morning sales were underway.
Perry’s Antiques of Belvidere, N.J., offered a selection of furniture, architectural and outdoor decorations, including a pair of 6-foot-tall iron scrollwork electrified three-light candelabra, a circular tiered wrought iron planter, a turn-of-the-century oak column pedestal and an Arts and Crafts pressed copper and brass fire screen. Receiving considerable attention from many passersby were a group of six oversized Gothic-style slag glass hanging lights from a Masonic lodge in Wilkes Barre, Penn., that dated to 1913. Perry Lonzello said that he had recently acquired the lights, having taken them out of the lodge building himself with an impromptu visit to the hardware store to purchase a ladder needed to retrieve the lights from their in-situ location in the building. Another set of six had already sold and were being added to a local haunted house attraction.
Flower Field Farm of Bucks County, Penn., had a pleasing mix of antiques to modern.
Somerset, N.J., dealer Forrest Voelker was on hand selling off a personal collection of vintage toys and collectibles, including lithographed tin, windup and mechanical toys, vintage advertising tins, trains and other items. Selections included a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, “The Talking Train,” “Panama Pile Driver,” “Dizzy Andy,” “Loop a Loop” and a Trixo “Wonder Cycle,” to name a few. The booth was also complimented with a combination of furniture, glassware and decorative arts.
Tom and Linda Keady from Of The Earth, Blairstown, N.J., were on a main aisle at the show and set up in a stand-alone building and accompanying outdoor space. Exhibiting a fine display of Americana, items included stoneware pottery and crocks, baskets, coverlets, transferware, country chairs, decoys, vintage doorstops, cast iron cookware, kitchen tools and other implements. Several local New Jersey produced items featured a pair of mid-Nineteenth Century Bergen County, N.J., side chairs, a 2-gallon stoneware crock with cobalt decoration, circa 1860s-70s, by John Pruden of Elizabethtown, N.J., and a Van Schoick & Dunn of Matawan, N.J., 3-gallon crock.
Jay and Pat Raynock of Flower Field Farm, Bucks County, Penn., had a large and diverse display covering a range between antiques and modernism. Highlights included a late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century painting of the Spanish-American War-era ship the USS Brooklyn, a snowy winter New York city street scene by Christopher Willett (American, b 1959) and a WPA-era New England scene of a fisherman at the docks by Pennsylvania artist Richard Rogers (1903-1967), that was housed in an original carved and gilded Newcomb Macklin frame. A suite of midcentury furniture by Kent Coffey rounded out their sprawling display, which included a pair of chairs, coffee table, bedside stands and dresser cabinet with a complimentary shag rug and midcentury lamps.
Bruce Egeland of Lake Country Antiques Consulting, Howell, N.J., offered a selection of World War I, World War II and Korean War vintage military antiques and collectibles.
Millanme Antiques of Unionville, N.Y., presented a bright and colorful array of Depression-era colored glass stemware, together with Nippon hand-painted porcelain dinnerware and other accent pieces. Within their first hour of the show opening, 17 sets of Depression glass stemware were sold in a variety of colors – pink, blue, cranberry and yellow. This was its third show since starting in 2019 and they were thrilled with the start of the event.
Mark and Mary Ann Yocum of Richlandtown, Penn., were set up in a central area of the pavilion with an array of Americana and collectibles. Highlighting the booth were weathervanes, lightning rods, a log-form cast iron hitching post, a reverse painted advertising sign “C.F. Clark Electrician,” and a Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey enameled porcelain elephant headdress in red with the logo reading “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
Bruce Egeland of Lake Country Antiques Consulting, Howell, N.J., was also under the pavilion with an extensive presentation of military antiques and collectibles. Offerings included American World War II and Korean War vintage uniforms, canteens, trench knives and bladed weapons, helmets, field kitchen implements and other equipment. Paper items featured Civil War memorabilia, vintage photographs and a framed newspaper article on the Black Tom Island, N.J. explosion of July 30, 1916. Additionally, a grouping of fire equipment, including a fire chief’s axe, bucket, boots and tools, hose nozzle and fire extinguisher were also for sale.
Rae Tamashausky, Oxford, N.J., has been doing the show for several years and had a lovely area situated in the shade near the creek at the entrance of the show. Items included stoneware pottery crocks and jugs, weathervanes, redware, copper and cast iron cooking pots and kitchenware, as well as other primitives. Highlighting the booth were two sheet metal horse weathervanes, one a large New England horse in as-found condition with original blue paint and a smaller running horse in old white paint.
The Redo by Colleen, Northern New Jersey.
The Redo by Colleen of northern New Jersey had a fun and fresh take on interior and exterior design and décor. The well-designed booth offered the feeling of home with a tasteful mix of nostalgia and design to fit a variety of collectors. Some items included a vintage kitchen table with red and white enamel top, farm tables and chairs, wicker baskets and picnic sets, croquet, badminton and archery sets, vintage cameras, rugs and more. A glass canister of freshly chilled lemon water was also available in the booth, adding a refreshing twist to the warm temperatures felt that weekend.
David P. Morua of Mount Arlington, N.J., had a large selection of World War I-era trench art artillery shell casings. With more than 50 available, the eye-catching display attracted many shoppers. David was spotted giving a history lesson to a group of attentive listeners, and often had several patrons in his booth. By midday Saturday, he had already sold multiple items, and commented that a high concentration of buyers were women who intended on using these pieces as gifts, while others were purchasing for their own collections.
Timerevisited of Goshen, N.Y., displayed a large selection of tabletop cases beneath a stand-alone pavilion. Sporting collectibles includes baseball and sports cards, team jerseys and vintage sports photographs. Other items were political buttons, pinbacks and collectibles, postcards and first-day issue envelopes, vintage car manuals, folding maps and advertising items, magazines and other ephemera.
Holiday collectibles were very popular, and buyers clamored to find festive additions to their collections. Tori Hill of Washington Valley Antiques in the Summit Antique Center, Summit Point, N.J., had a booth brimming with activity as shoppers perused hundreds of festive baubles. Christmas was in full swing with a smattering of Halloween, Easter and Patriotic decorations. Dazzling button trees, vintage ornaments, Santa Claus figures, celluloid figures, windup toys, stuffed animals, nativity figures, jester puppets and circus animals, paper mache, figural baskets, noisemakers and tin lithographed toys were just a few of the items available.
A view from under the open-air pavilion at the Warren County Antiques Show.
Terri Horwath of Early Bird Antiques, Nazareth, Penn., had a pleasant arrangement of country primitives, collectibles, and holiday items. A wall vignette featured a pair of vintage Halloween blow molds with black cats and pumpkins, along with paper cat, scarecrow and skeleton decorations. A green-painted child’s chair, cookie cutters, vintage stuffed animals and pull-toys, children’s silverware and doll-sized dresses also adorned the display.
Stephen and Marcela Gross of Mountain Ice Antiques of Warwick, N.Y., are seasoned dealers at the show and were very pleased with the traffic and turnout for the show. Buyers were contently looking through tabletop displays of vintage postcards, paper ephemera and local memorabilia.
Gary Nordstrom with Jetiques of Northern New Jersey was also impressed with the show’s attendance, remarking that it was the busiest he can remember for some time. While his booth housed a myriad of decorative arts, ranging from boxes and woodenware to pottery and glassware, a pair of large glass apothecary jars and several larger primitive items seemed to catch the interest of guests. The pinnacle was a large pottery pigeon figure that was perched near the front of the booth. Standing over a foot tall, it was undoubtedly the crowd favorite. Nordstrom remarked on the amount of people who walked and couldn’t help themselves from reaching out to pet the bird on the head. He hoped that it would make its way into a great folk art collection.
West Farms Antiques of Point Pleasant, N.J., had a fine selection of traditional furniture and Americana. Its setup featured Windsor and comb-back chairs, a child’s painted highchair, painted toleware, candlestands, clocks, a cylinder music box, majolica pottery, tabletop and miniature furniture items, red and mustard coverlets, eglomise mirrors and two hutch tables, one in child-size.
Tom and Linda Keady, Of The Earth, Blairstown, N.J.
Primitive Sisters Antiques, Slatington, Penn., offered paint-decorated furniture, country antiques, primitives and other Americana. Debbie Rogers and Laurie Ohlandt reported early sales and interest in furniture and were excited to see how the rest of the weekend would go.
Siedt Brothers Antiques, Kutztown, Penn., had a large outdoor space with a variety of wares. A vintage sundial on stand caught the attention of shoppers, as well as a set of paint-decorated country dining chairs. A circular drying rack was chock full of vintage table linens, and vintage clothing included a 1950s brocade evening dress with fur trimmed collar, and a North Beach handmade leather jacket and pants set designed by Kenn Fung.
Clarke House Antiques of Point Pleasant, N.J., was housed at an entry point inside one of the buildings and received a lot of foot traffic. In the backdrop hung several colorful quilts and coverlets, along with vintage hand-painted menu signs, patriotic needlework, silhouette portraits and a framed patriotic souvenir picture depicting a waving flag inset with a World War I soldier’s photo. The touching motto on the piece read “If I had a thousand lives, I’d live them all for you.” Its booth also featured a Gleason Board Co., Rochester, N.Y., folding embalming table dated April 12, 1881, together with a vintage painted glass advertising sign for “Shady-Hill Funeral Home Crematory.”
Perry’s Antiques of Belvidere, N.J., offered a set of six monumental Gothic-style slag glass hanging lights from a circa 1913 Masonic Lodge in Wilkes Barre, Penn.
Stags Antiques, Westfield N.J., had a nice mix of small decorative items as well as vintage Halloween and souvenir collectibles. A highlight was an early 1940s cast iron Walt Disney Snow White and Seven Dwarfs figural set, in original paint. Other objects included tramp art, shoe form snuff boxes, perfume bottles and salesman’s sample furniture.
Sue Card with Trinkets to Treasures of Warwick, N.Y., was pleased to return to the show this year with an array of vintage accessories, clothing, vanity and tabletop items. Highlights included a 1900s black wool opera cape with original silk lining, vintage hats, purses, handkerchiefs and table linens, an etched glass mirror, photographs and more.
The Warren County Antiques Show looks forward to its return in August of 2023. For additional information, www.warrencountyantiqueshow.com, info@warrencountyantiqueshow.com or 908-343-5873.
