Bill McLaren, Randolph, Vt., offered Edison cylinder phonographs, including this Standard model with a large, painted horn priced $375. He also had several early wall mounted and desk telephones.
Review & Onsite Photos by Rick Russack
MILFORD, N.H. — “Enormously successful.” Those were the words of Greg Hamilton, Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vt., about an hour after the show opened. Although they didn’t use those same words, other dealers said they were doing well. We’re talking about the November 19 show, the first of a new series of shows in Milford run by Granite State Antiques Shows, the husband-and-wife team of Deb Lerner and Rick Martin. The business has stepped in to fill the void left by the end of the 46-year run of Jack Donigian’s weekly fall and winter shows at a different location in Milford. The transition was smooth and friendly with Donigian being on hand to help and sending out notices to his list of vendors.
There are some differences. The new shows will take place every other Sunday, instead of weekly, but it will run year round. It’s in a different facility; a large, long vacant, retail space on the main street of Milford, with plenty of parking for buyers and easy access for exhibitors. The space is well-lit, and the booths are spacious and inexpensive. In an interesting approach, all tables are covered with patterned yellow cloth covers, creating a uniformly light, spacious effect. The space can comfortably accommodate about 45 dealers and additional adjacent vacant space provides the managers with the opportunity to expand, if it’s warranted.
Most of the exhibitors were those who exhibited for years at the former show. This recreates, positively, one of the major advantages of the former show: fresh goods for sale. That was a show which had been known for the wide variety of merchandise offered. Many of the dealers offer items just picked from local estates and, in some cases, are not experts in some of what they have found. Many are “empty nesters,” who decided it’s time to sell items that have been in their homes for years. That offers buyers fresh merchandise and the possibility of real “sleepers” turning up. Both buyers and sellers were enthusiastic about the show being back. One seller said, “I was really worried about how the loss of that show would affect my business. I did it regularly and it was a substantial part of my yearly sales.” There were fewer dealers than expected but the “regular” shoppers and then some were there for the 8:30 am opening and several took advantage of the early buyer’s rate.
David Harris, Huntington, Mass., had the oldest item in the show, this 100-million-year-old dinosaur footprint, identified with an attached plaque as having been found in the area of Holyoke, Mass. Harris said, “I used to go there as a kid.” He was asking $950.
It was easy to find the oldest item in the show. It was a 100-million-year-old dinosaur footprint from an identified location in the area of present-day Holyoke, Mass. It was offered at $950 by David Harris of Hamilton, Mass. At the other end of the chronology spectrum was likely the variety of Star Wars toys offered by Bill McLaren of Randolph, Vt. There were plenty of dolls and toys, books, holiday decorations, jewelry, Oriental carpets, woodenware, many trade signs and cut glass. Some dealers had early phonographs, military objects, posters, paintings, photography and ceramics, among other items.
Most dealers, as is usual at Milford shows, had a variety of items. Peter O’Brien, Colchester, Vt., had a Carl Moon photograph of a native American potter priced $175, an early advertising broadside for the Union Metallic Cartridge Co priced $200, some silver and a Winnie-the-Pooh songbook. Greg Hamilton, Stone Block Antiques, had two Currier and Ives prints of horse racing subjects priced at $200, a box with more than two dozen pieces of dollhouse furniture, toy cars and more. Bill McLaren, Randolph, Vt., offered Edison cylinder phonographs, including a large Standard model with a painted horn priced $375. He also had a group of early telephones. An iconic, large wall mounted, crank phone with some of its interior mechanisms was priced $200, another smaller one was $175 and early desk phones with their oak cases were each marked $150. And he had Star Wars toys, some in original packaging, as well as Christmas ornaments. Wayne Baron, Cambridge, Mass., was a regular at the weekly shows and is glad they will continue. He often has Oriental rugs, to which he added a selection of decoys, Steiff bears and other animals. He also often brings a group of vintage violins and bows. Three violins were sold to one customer at this show.
Bert Rosengarten, Medfield, Mass., had a group of 10 South or Central American painted retablos. They were in matching frames, most were signed, and most had extensive text in Spanish. He had just gotten them and did not know much about them. The price of them was $2,000.
Bert Rosengarten, Medfield, Mass., had an interesting group of 10 South American religious-themed paintings, or retablos, seemingly done by self-taught artists. He did not have any information about them, having just acquired them. Each was painted on card stock and custom framed. Each depicted religious scene with extensive captions in Spanish. Each was signed and dated, most from the 1940s and early 1950s. The signatures on several appeared to have been done by various members of the Rodriguez family but with differing first names, such as Jose, Augustina and others. Each appeared to indicate where they had been painted. He was asking $2,000 for the group of 10. They certainly seemed worthy of further research.
Another of the exceptional items offered at the show was a fine copy of A View of Manchester N.H. Composed from Sketches taken near Rock Raymond by J.B. Bachelder, 1855. (Rock Raymond is now known as Rock Rimmon.) This large, bird’s-eye view of Manchester shows the numerous mills that lined the Merrimac River. The website of Donald Heald, a prominent book and map dealer who was not at the show, refers to this lithograph as “The finest and largest of all the early views of Manchester, New Hampshire.” Dennis Gionet, Manchester, N.H., priced it $650. He said that he has been collecting items relating to Manchester for decades. He also had a poster advertising the Bedford Hills drive-in movie theater which was showing a film starring William Bendix. That was priced $50.
Rick Martin and wife Deb Lerner, promoters of the show. She has been in the antiques business for 15 years. The November 19 event was the first show they have been promoters of.
The day after the show, Rick Martin and Deb Lerner were tired but pleased. “Wow. That was quite a day for us. We didn’t know how it would go and we didn’t get much sleep beforehand. But it was a great start. We had hoped for a few more exhibitors, but we had about 30 early buyers — we’ve reduced the cost for that to $30 — and we had about 300 attendees in all. Two exhibitors told us that they had sales of more than $10,000 and another told us he had sold out nearly everything in his booth. It was our first show, and we learned a lot. We’ve some ideas we’ll be working on for upcoming shows. There were so many positive comments and we’re so glad that everyone responded the way they did.”
For information, 603-506-9848 or www.gsashows.com.
