The show schedule for Antiques Week in New Hampshire starts off with the Manchester Pickers Market on Monday, the day after Northeast Auctions completes its sales and the day before Nan Gurley opens her one-day Americana Celebration in Deerfield. It appears to be good timing, for on August 8, “We had the biggest gate ever for early buying at Pickers,” show manager Frank Gaglio of Barn Star Productions said.
The gate opened at 9 am, but the line started forming better than three hours before. By the time the show opened, the line went across the front of the building, down the side, and started across the back. Most of the line was presold, but it still took more than 20 minutes to get everyone waiting into the Furniture World Building.
“We were pleased with every aspect of the show, and a good number of the dealers reported good sales,” Frank said. He added, “We are now working toward next year, seeking out a new location and planning scheduling. At this point, we are in talks over an indoor site, rather than going back to the tent.” Life was further complicated for Barn Star with the notification that the Connecticut Expo Center, location of the Autumn Hartford Antiques Show, has also been sold and will become a food storage facility. The September 17‱8 show will be the last public event in the building.
Pickers has come a long way from its debut about 16 years ago, working its way to an important position in Antiques Week in New Hampshire and attracting a wide range of exhibitors who set up attractive booths. This year 99 dealers exhibited, offering painted and formal furniture, glass, paintings, fabrics, folk art and lots more. And, about three hours after opening, many of the dealers reported doing ok sales.
Witt’s End Antiques of Wallkill, N.Y., offered an Eighteenth Century tavern table with three-board top, red button feet, measuring 45 inches long, 30 inches wide and 28 inches high. A benchmade child’s fanback Windsor had a black painted surface.
B. Hannah Daniel Antiques, Athens, Ala., had one of the most interesting things in the show, a horse saddle rack that came from a tack shop and was manufactured by The Iowa Family Tool Co., Fort Madison, Iowa. It dated circa 1880 and was all original, with shelves and pegs to display all kinds of horse-related material. A selection of treen included firkins, bowls and carriers.
A chair table with two-board square top was in the booth of Schrerre Mumpower / Diane Stafford, Troy, Ohio, along with an early lift-top bench from New Hampshire and a New England one-door cupboard.
The Rathbun Gallery, Wakefield, R.I., had a nice painted store counter, pine top, applied molding, American, dating circa 1915‱925, and an Art Deco three-piece set including a settee and two chairs, all original and from New York City. Buffalo, N.Y., dealer Dana Tillou showed a set of seven New York State puppets, circa 1930, all with wooden heads and original clothing. “The lady who sold them to me said she played with them as a child,” Dana said.
A New England stretcher-base tavern table with one-board top, circa 1700, was offered by Windle’s Fine Antiques of Wilmington, Del. At the back of the booth hung a winter scene, circa 1953, an oil on canvas by H. Crockett of Ridgefield, Conn.
A graceful swan trade sign from a florist shop, with a wonderful white painted surface and iron band surround, was featured in the booth of John Sideli of Wiscasset, Maine. Other folk art included a hitching post dating from the mid-Nineteenth Century with a hand and ring on top, and an interesting collection of ivory coast carvings.
Steve Smoot Antiques, Lancaster, Penn., had a decorated bride’s box, dome top, all original with birds and flowers in a colorful urn. It dated circa 1825‱850 and was from the Normandy region of France. A one-door cupboard, old blue over the original red, was circa 1840 and from the Mid-Atlantic states.
A set of six step down Windsor side chairs, made in Brattleboro, Vt., was shown by Alley Antiques, Pelham, N.H., and for the toy collector, there was a Marx Streamliner train, complete with the original box and tracks.
Four tall case clocks, all in running order, were in the booth of Harry W. Hepburn III, Harrison, Maine. An eight-day wooden movement clock by Silas Hoadley, Plymouth, Conn., dated circa 1815 and was in a grain painted case, while another tall case clock, 7 feet 3 ½ inches, had an eight-day movement and dated circa 1760. Another Silas Hoadley clock, circa 1825, was in a case made by Charles French, Rutland, Vt., and an eight-day brass strike and time movement clock in a cherry case, circa 1820, was from either Massachusetts or New Hampshire, Charles Hill, Haverhill.
Hooked rugs hung in the booth of Lana Smith Antiques & Design, Louisville, Ky., including a Cat’s Paw, circa 1930, and a floral design on linen, Maine origin, circa 1880.
A hooked rug depicting a whaling ship, Nineteenth Century, was shown by Bettianne Sweeney Americana, Williamsburg, Va., and a Touching Star pattern quilt, cotton seed batting, Pennsylvania origin, dated circa 1890‱900.
A Northern elm window, probably Shanxi Province, circa 1900, was on the wall in the booth of John H. Rogers †CAFS, LLC, Elkins, N.H. A scholar sign, circa 1850‱860, “Harmony and Integrity,” black lacquer with gold gilt, was from Xian Province.
“We like this spot, lots of room to show things,” Bruce Emond of Village Braider, Plymouth, Mass., said of his large booth with a curved back wall. Taking up a good portion of that wall was a large piece from a hardware store, slotted on the top and with drawer space for displaying and storing many things. Four early wooden finials sported a coat of old white paint, and a grouping of four mallard carvings “flew” across the wall. For the garden, there was a stone figure of a man and a large topiary in the form of an eagle.
Mark and Marjorie Allen, New Hampton, N.H., offered a circa 1790 step back cupboard, Center County, Penn., with two six-light doors on top. The cupboard had extensive matchstick molding, flared French feet, and measured 81 inches tall. A Pennsylvania candle standard of iron and brass, circa 1760, was 62 inches high with sculptured arm.
Boat collectors could find a nice pond boat and a tin tug boat in the booth of Millcreek Antiques, Geneseo, N.Y., and a Hepplewhite tavern table, late Eighteenth Century, had a two-board top.
A large enameled sign, very colorful, showed a robin on a basket of clean clothes, advertising Robin Starch, and for the sports fan, there were nine early baseball mitts mounted in a frame. A large cast iron turkey was a shooting gallery target.
Caputo Grindle Antiques, Pittston, Maine, had a large Pennsylvania decorated cupboard in blue with yellow drawer fronts and door panels, and a large cutout fireboard was in the shape of a colorful urns filled with flowers.
A collection of 14 mortar and pestles was shown in an apothecary chest by J&G Antiques, Amityville, N.Y., near a selection of cobalt decorated stoneware pieces, including a Fort Edward, N.Y., bird decorated water cooler by the New York Stone Ware Co. Two game wheels brightened one part of the booth.
Frank Gaglio has said of his Pickers Market, “Start your week with a great antique.” And unless things change, you will be able to do that again in 2012, but at a new location.
