“If you build it right, they will come,” Aarne Anton of American Primitive Gallery, New York City, said when he saw the long line of people waiting to get into the Mid*Week Antiques Show on Wednesday morning, August 8. “It just goes to prove that the 20-minute drive from Manchester means nothing,” he added.
“I took a risk and it paid off,” Frank Gaglio said, “and our move to Concord, just up the road from Manchester, went great.” He said the show was a success due to “the dealers who stuck with me and the loyal showgoers who have attended Mid*Week for years, and the new people who came to our show for the first time.”
The show set up nicely in its new venue, the Everett Arena, just off Exit 14 of I-93, with 61 dealers fitting comfortably into the space. The show was colorful, with bright quilts and decorated furniture and accessories, along with some finished brown furniture and “just plain country'” objects. And best of all, visitors seemed pleased with the presentation, judging from the packages and “carried” items that left the show.
Robert Snyder and Judy Wilson of Wiscasset, Maine, put together an interesting booth that included a double sailor’s valentine, 9 inches across and dating from the Nineteenth Century, with the message “Forget Me Not” on one side and a heart on the other. A trade sign, in the form of a top hat, advertised “Hats †Maker to Wearer,” measured 28 by 28 inches, and came out of a Maine private collection. A hooked rug, dated 1898, measured 58½ by 34½ inches and depicted a central compote of flowers. It was found in Vermont.
A Nineteenth Century Dutch cupboard with graphic painted surface was shown in the booth of David H. Horst, Lebanon, Penn. Also of the same time period were seven pantry boxes in various colors, including blue, green, salmon, red and yellow. A half-round dry sink, Nineteenth Century, had a hinged top and a single door in the lower part, and from Lancaster County came a hooked rug showing a black dog with red eye and mouth on a bright green ground.
A sheet metal Indian weathervane, missing the right hand and a few head feathers, dated from the Nineteenth Century, Pennsylvania origin and of small size, was shown by Aarne Anton, along with a selection of several game boards. A large iron arrow had distinctive fancy tail feathers, and a grouping of shooting gallery targets included deer, rabbits, cat and dog, and several wheels with birds attached.
DBR Antiques-Doug Ramsay of Hadley, Mass., had a Nantucket whaler weathervane, carved and painted wood, Cape Cod origin, circa 1930, and a steel and galvanized swan vane of small size. A third weathervane, in sheet metal, showed a running horse and separate rider, both positioned on an arrow.
John H. Rogers Antiques, Elkins, N.H., had a pair of temple foo dogs for holding candles, Fijian Province, each over 100 years old, and architectural carvings, a pair of rabbits, Zhejiang Province, circa 1850. In contrast, John offered a large collection of American butter pats, along with other treen objects.
Squirrels had the run of Dennis Raleigh’s booth, appearing in several forms, including a large weathervane, full bodied copper, sitting on an arrow, and two large doorstops, one eating a nut. The Wiscasset, Maine, dealer is also well into figural andirons, offering pairs that included fish, owls with glass eyes, lighthouses, black figures and Indians. “The show was good for me as I sold, among other things, game boards, signs, doorstops and a small eagle weathervane,” Dennis said.
Country Treasures of Preston, Md., had six blue firkins of various sizes, and a round chair table with scrubbed top and red painted base. A server in green paint, tapering legs, two drawers, featured a scrubbed top. A graphic trade sign of a fish, advertising “Black Bass Plug †Perfect Chewing & Smoking,” hung in the booth of J&G Antiques, Amityville, N.Y. Toward the front of the booth was a pair of seated lions in bronze, circa 1920.
Don and Peg Clegg of East Berlin, Penn., had a mid-Nineteenth Century green painted Pennsylvania blanket chest with bracket feet, measuring 47 inches wide, 25½ inches high and 22½ inches deep. Known for decoys, the couple offered a large curlew from the Eastern Shore, Va., in the original paint with tack eye, relief carved wings and split tail, and a yellowlegs by Lloyd Sterling, Crisfield, Md., circa 1940 and in the original condition.
Certain to get your attention as you entered the building were three colorful and large toucans, figures from a Southern carnival, circa 1920‱930, tree mounted in the booth of Jim Hirsheimer of Erwinna, Penn. A standing full-size dog, circa 1925, was in first paint, white with black spots, including one over each eye, and a boy from West Virginia, circa 1920, a clothing store model. Two whirligigs dated from the Nineteenth Century, both in original paint and one from Vermont, the other from Pennsylvania.
Thurston Nichols, Breinigsville, Penn., offered a green painted cradle, paint decorated and intricately carved with initials, birds and flowers, circa 1840‱850. “I wanted something fun for the show and this bar, which I bought about 25 years ago while in college, was close to the door of my storage space, so into the truck it went,” Thurston said, referring to a small bar decorated with a zebra on the front beside a man whose hand extended upward and was painted on the top of the bar, complete with glass. On a more serious note was a Gabriel weathervane, carved wood with well-worn white painted surface.
“I have had a great show,” Jim Grievo of Stockton, N.J., said, “selling lots of smalls and some furniture.” Among the furniture sold was an Eighteenth Century New Hampshire chest on frame, all original, which attracted attention from the time it came onto the floor until it left with a new owner. Other furniture included a pair of brace back Windsor armchairs of Rhode Island origin (sold), and a watercolor and ink drawing showed the plan of the estate of Stephen R. and Charles F. Benton, Richmond Township, Berkshire County, circa 1840. The picture measured 20½ by 28½ inches.
“This may have been my best Mid*Week show ever,” Jim said, adding that other sales included sponge bowls, blue painted basket, ship portrait, redware pitcher, tole coffee pot, tramp art box, wooden whale weathervane, Steiff bear, tall case clock, early pair of ice skates and four miniatures on ivory.
Emele’s Antiques, Dublin, Penn., showed a painted harvest table, black and red graining over maple, circa 1810‱825, New England origin, 6 feet long and 41 inches wide with the two leaves up, and a Dutch cupboard with two nine-pane doors, double spoon racks and plate rails, candle drawers, all in walnut. It retained the original finish and dates circa 1825.
An owl decoy with movable wings, 13 inches tall, was in the booth of Charles Wilson Antiques & Folk Art, West Chester, Penn., displayed near a Father Time cast iron watch sign. A horse and rider with top hat weathervane was from New England and dated circa 1870.
A chair table in mustard paint, with two-board top, was shown by Charles and Barbara Adams, South Yarmouth, Mass., along with a mammy’s bench with stenciled decoration. An attention getter in their booth was a flint enamel scalloped rib-foot bath, Bennington, Vt., circa 1848‱858.
Clifford Wallach of Manalapan, N.J., filled his booth with tramp art, both wall hangings and furniture, including a gilded tramp art dresser with mirror on top, four sailor’s valentines, and an Odd Fellows logo with hearts in each corner. “The market was very strong for tramp art and I had a very good show; Mid*Week was good for me,” Clifford said.
Another New Jersey dealer, Ackerson Homestead Antiques of Park Ridge, showed a portrait of a girl with a basket of flowers, Nineteenth Century, in the original frame, and a mid-Nineteenth Century portrait of three children in a landscape, an oil on canvas from Berks County, Penn. Names on the painting identify the sitters as Daniel Foulke, Sally Taylor and David Foulke.
Napa, Calif., was represented by Halliday House Antiques, offering an Eighteenth Century hanging wall cupboard found in New Hampshire, scalloped shelves, midnight blue exterior and salmon interior. A painted sheet metal Indian chief was identified as “Guyanoga” of the Seneca Nation, measuring 35½ by 26 inches.
Another Indian, a carved wood and polychrome painted bust, was from a camp in Oakland, Maine, circa 1910‱920, in the booth of Garthoeffner Gallery, Lititz, Penn. Also shown was a country store multidrawer hardware cabinet for nuts, bolts, screws, etc, in the original finish with porcelain knobs.
David Thompson Antiques & Art of South Dennis, Mass., had a circa 1870 doll’s carriage that was found in a Maine attic, still in its original condition with a wooden body decorated in mustard with black striping. A schooner model with tin sails dated circa 1910 and came from Cape Cod, and a selection of doorstops included a tea kettle, Punch and George Washington on horseback, all in the original paint. “We have handled a lot of doorstops over the years, but this is the first time we have had a kettle and George Washington,” David said.
Holden Antiques, Naples, Fla., and Sherman, Conn., offered several Indian baskets, including Navaho and Apache examples, and a large 42½-inch wing span eagle weathervane on ball, mounted over a writing quill, American and dating from the late Nineteenth Century. A large woolie with a big American ship and a smaller English warship was sold, as was a framed picture with three fabric cats.
A large full-bodied pig weathervane, 32 inches long, stood against the back wall in the booth of Quiet Corner Antiques, Sterling, Conn., and the showcase was filled with a selection of about 20 wooden ladle scoops with various carved handles and a nice collection of redware slip decorated plates. Peter Baker Antiques of Elgin, Quebec, Canada, showed another weathervane, a sheet metal beaver, and an Eighteenth Century box stretcher table in the original paint with two-board top.
Mad River Antiques of North Granby, Conn., had assembled a collection of five graduated redware flasks, New England, ranging in size from 5½ inches to 81/8 inches, and three Dedham plates in the Moth and Swan pattern. “We brought a nice selection of stoneware, our specialty,” Steve German said, including a recent find, a crock by the Pottery at Little, West 12th Street, New York City, dating from the Nineteenth Century and having a cobalt decoration depicting a cow grazing in a field..
One might easily say that Stephen Score has gone to the birds, for it seemed as if he had birds on his mind when he designed his Mid*Week booth. The Boston dealer displayed one of the most colorful objects in the show, a crocheted table cloth in vibrant colors depicting all manner of birds and fowl, including song birds, owls, roosters and eagles. And if a bird happened to get into the ice rink it would probably seek out the Score booth for landing, with a choice of a very handsome martin house, “a structure such as you might see in Rome,” Stephen said, or a nice house designed as a log cabin. A safer place might be on one of the perches in an elaborate three-tier wire cage with a blue painted roof.
Traveling from Hamilton, Ohio, Sharon and Claude Baker brought an interesting collection that included a selection of painted chalk figures including a deer, poodle, lamb and parrot, and a circa 1830 schoolmaster’s desk on frame was of New Hampshire origin and retained a Windsor green painted surface over blue. The desk originally came from Joslin Tavern in West Townsend, Mass. In the original glass case, circa 1900, was a handmade model of a double-decker bus constructed on the frame of an old toy car.
A pair of Nineteenth Century cast iron whippets in the original yellow with rose blush surface, probably Fiske, reclined at the front of the booth of Steve Smoot Antiques, Lancaster, Penn., and a stretcher-base dough box table of rare large size dated circa 1840‱860. The table, with the original surface, was from the Hanover area.
Dozens of three-leaf clovers decorated a penny rug on the back wall of Jane Wargo’s booth, surrounded by a good number of “sold” tags on various items. The Wallingford, Conn., dealer said, “We have had a very good show; people have been spending and things just might be turning around.” A dollhouse, with a porch across the front and a second story balcony, was sold, as were a large market basket and a “Fresh Eggs” sign, among many other things.
A watercolor of the ship Constitution in New York Harbor, dated 1884, hung in the booth of Latham House Antiques, Waterville, Ohio, near a selection of three early bull’s-eye glass fluid lanterns, circa 1830. A “sold” ticket hung from a tin double-candle wall sconce.
Patricia Stauble Antiques, Wiscasset, Maine, had a nice Eighteenth Century hutch table with round three-board top, 44‴5 inches in diameter, and a large rooster weathervane dating from the late 1800s. A collection of small buttock baskets was displayed on a chest of drawers.
To save floor space in the booth, Lisa McAllister of Clear Spring, Md., hung a set of four green painted ladder back side chairs on the wall, right near a panel from an armory showing a circa 1774‱779 soldier with bearskin cap decorated with an eagle. SAJE Americana, Short Hills, N.J., showed a cherry candlestand from Middletown, Conn., circa 1770‱790, and a North Shore, Mass., octagonal candlestand, circa 1820. Against the back wall was a large hooked rug, Waldoboro style, floral design, circa 1860‱880, measuring 7 feet by 6 feet 1 inch.
Looking ahead to next year, Frank Gaglio said, “We are completely satisfied with just about every element of the show, including the facility, the parking, the air conditioning that we brought in and the setup, but there are a few things we are rethinking for next year.” He indicated that the hours of the show may change a bit, and there is some consideration being given to having a single ticket for both shows.
“We are going to maintain a great dealer list and hope to see all of our regular customers again in 2013,” he said. Show dates are August 7‸ next time around.
