In a serious bid to make Naples a March Mecca for antique buyers, the Naples Woman’s Club sponsored a new antiques show featuring well-known quality dealers in its own facility at 570 Park Street, on March 9-11.

The Naples Woman’s Club clubhouse is located just off fashionable 5th Avenue South in the beautiful downtown historic district of Naples. Built in 1951, the clubhouse is a spacious and exceptionally attractive and comfortable one-level building with adjacent parking for customers.

Planned to follow the opening of the well-known Trinity-by-the-Cove Naples Antiques Show & Sale by one day, the club plans its show to become a yearly charitable event, bringing quality and diversified national antiques dealers to Naples. The two Naples antiques shows are located just a few miles apart, and many visitors reported they made the trip to enjoy both.

Opening on Thursday evening, March 9, for early buyers, the preview party was well attended by both the local community and visitors. The club members graciously made every effort to create a beautiful preview party with a friendly and comfortable ambience. It was sponsored by several local business groups.

Both national dealers and exhibitors from throughout Florida created a high quality show. The event was carefully planned by Kathleen Pica, show manager, and by Thomas Moser, chairman of dealers, to include major specialties with a focus on Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century antiques and fine art.

A pair of Victorian gold bracelets with black enamel ivy pattern, in the original box, by Crosby & Morse, Boston, circa 1864-68, was in the booth of Suzanne Marshall of Naples.

Louis J. Dianni of Sunrise, Fla., displayed a selection ofantique and marine art, including an oil on canvas of the Americanship Isaac Reed by Chinese artist Pun Woo, active 1870-80s,circa 1878, priced $14,500. Oil paintings by Florida highwaymen,including A.E. “Bean” Bakus, attracted much attention, and oneBackus oil painting sold to a local collector who visited the showwith his family.

Arthur J. Connolly of Naples set up an elegant room-style display featuring Eighteenth Century English furniture. Accessories included Eighteenth Century brass and a collection of early Staffordshire ironstone.

Sterling, coin silver and antique porcelain were displayed by Nancy A. Morrill of Bonita Springs, Fla., who described the show as, “A complete small show of quality. The potential is tremendous and it should be continued for years to come!”

American furniture and choice smalls were offered by Patricia Anne Reed, located in Florida for winter shows and in her Damariscotta, Maine, shop during the summer. Some of her items included Eighteenth Century Vermont marbleized pedestals, a circa 1795 English card table, a Nineteenth Century ship and other paintings and Civil War swords.

A corner of the booth of Patricia Anne Reed of Damariscotta, Maine.

Antique bamboo furniture, Satsuma and Staffordshire werefeatured by Lana Harper of Westmount, Quebec, and Palm BeachGardens, Fla., who also showed a collection of Victorian children’sbooks.

Kate Alex from Warren, N.H., had an indoor-outdoor exhibit of architectural antiques and garden furniture. Her inside display opened to an outside patio complete with butterfly garden and flowers in bloom, where she featured wrought iron furniture and garden accents.

Thos Moser Antiques of Naples brought Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century American antiques, including an American miniature chest with whalebone details.

European Art Nouveau pottery was shown in a large display by Pieter Oosthuizen, Naples, whose sales included a rare and significant, large Gouda vase.

Suzanne Marshall, Naples, featured her specialty, antique and estate jewelry, and did good business throughout the show. Marshall also offered autographed copies of her book, 200 Years of American Manufactured Jewelry & Accessories, and presented a brief verbal history to interested visitors about Attleboro jewelry from circa 1790 to present, about which her book describes and pictures in-depth. More than 200 jewelry makers operated in Attleboro, producing a fascinating variety of jewelry, early buttons, match safes, mesh purses and other accessories.

Peter Oosthuizen of Naples with a large temple jar and lid in the Art Nouveau style made by the Regina factory in Gouda in 1925.

Deborah Crompton displayed estate jewelry and shared a boothwith Sandy Winfield, who carries elegant white linens for the home.Both dealers are from Naples. Winfield is also an interiordecorator and her experience in this field showed through in herchoice of inventory and display. In addition to jewelry, Cromptondisplayed an Unger Brothers Art Nouveau sterling five-piece dresserset and other choice collectible silver, including a sterlingcigarette case with colorful, realistic enameled fish made byCharles Thomae for Tiffany & Co.

Janet K. Fanto traveled from Easton, Md., with antique furniture, art, rare books and showcased bibliotheque. Her display included a pair of art glass candelabra and paintings by Clarence Montfort Gihou, 1871-1929, and Corwin Knapp Linson, 1864-1959, from Pennsylvania and New Jersey respectively.

Hugh J. Beardslee, Antiques for the Home and Garden, brought a large and fascinating collection of antique decorative art and accessories, including early wall art and frames, silver, mercury glass and ceramics. This couple is from Moss Point, Miss., and Franklin, Tenn.

John Tompkins of Arcadian Antiques traveled from New Orleans to display period furniture and early ceramics.

The finest and largest antique majolica collection that one might imagine was shown by Jerry S. Hayes of Oklahoma City, Okla. Specializing in antique majolica, this dealer displayed hundreds of exceptional forms.

Gabor Varga, Timeless Treasures of Naples, offered American and European fine art. His booth included an original painting by British Pre-Raphaelite artist John Roddam Spencer Stanhope in original artist made frame. Varga said, “This painting bears the original artist gallery label from Florence, Italy. Stanhope is considered to be in the first tier of Pre-Raphaelites and one of the original artists in the movement. It is rare that a painting from this movement comes available on the market.”

Derek G.C. Hamilton of H and H Antiques, Naples, brought a sparkling collection of sterling and coin silver flatware and hollowware, include a coin coffeepot by Meadows Co., Philadelphia, circa 1835, that Hamilton described as “a nice pot with good crisp details,” $3,200.

Plans are underway for the 2007 Naples Woman’s Club Antiques Show & Sale, a charitable fundraiser.