Jog your memory and you may come up with the name Ken Kohn. Remember, he was the flag man years ago, doing a few shows and always Wilton. Well, he was first in line at the Greater York Antiques Show on Friday, May 18, opening day at Memorial Hall East on the York Fairgrounds. We only mention Ken because those who enjoyed shopping his booth will have a chance to do it once again, as he is going back into the antiques business and will be at Frank Gaglio’s Pickers Market in Concord, N.H., this August.
Behind him was the usual crowd that the York show draws, all awaiting the 10 am opening to view the objects and furniture that the 60 dealers present both in room settings and a few with just showcases and tables. Friday’s 10 am opening was a change from last year, as the show had always opened at 11 am.
Lots of Pennsylvania material is available, mixed in neatly with New England furniture, pottery and folk art, and the holidays are never overlooked, with some Halloween items and a good deal of Christmas. For as Cheryl Mackley and Bev Longacre will tell you, “Christmas is never out of season.”
Donna Burk, who manages the show with her son Jeff, said, “Attendance was a bit off from last year, due mostly to the beautiful weather over the weekend, but some of the dealers still had good shows. However, like all other shows, it was spotty.” She noted that this was a bad year for some of the dealers, as 14 canceled during the three weeks prior to the show due to family problems and sickness. “One dealer called me and said simply that he did not have enough good things to sell,” Donna said.
This spring, management elected to move all of the dealers onto the main floor, eliminating the booths just outside the entrance doors, and overflow objects from a number of the dealers were arranged out there to fill space near the food area. During the fall show, Donna Burk plans to have walls set up in the lobby and turn it into a dealers choice area for anyone who wants to take part.
A red, white and blue patriotic dress, which appears to have been worn many times, was in the corner of the booth of Tommy Thompson of Pembroke, N.H. A chicken sign, probably used to promote the sale of eggs; a selection of wood bowls had various shades of painted bottoms, including red, blue and white; and an apothecary with a yellow painted surface were among the many things offered from this booth.
Greg Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Penn., offered a statue of George Washington, with sword in hand, cast pewter and zinc combination, dating from the third quarter of the Nineteenth Century, and a large hat rack with antlers surrounding a mirror in the center.
Kelly Kinzle, New Oxford, Penn., had a double booth at the door to the show, and filled it with furniture, paintings and several tall case clocks. Among the items were New England Queen Anne tavern table in maple dated circa 1760‱780 and a Lancaster County six-board chest dated 1794 and decorated with three arched panels on both the front and top, the center one featuring a vase of tulips. An interesting model of a six-stall stable was complete with horses, attendants and quarters on each end to meet the needs of those who worked there, including sleeping areas.
Newsom-Berdan of Thomasville, Penn., showed an Eighteenth Century Hudson Valley blanket chest with drawer, original brass and paint, ex-Keefer collection, and a handsome bird tree carved by Frank Finney. A slant front desk in birch with bracket base and drop center, original brasses, was of Maine origin and dated to the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century.
A harvest table, 6 feet long in the original red and black grained surface, circa 1830, was at the front of the booth of Joseph J. Lodge, Lederach, Penn., and a smoke decorated, one-drawer stand with tapered legs dated circa 1825. In perfect condition were two groups of velvet carrots, four very small ones about 3 inches long, and two measuring about 5 inches long.
Two carved and painted decoys, mergansers by Reggie Birch, Chincoteague, Va., dated 1993, were displayed on a tiger maple, drop leaf table with bold turned legs, single drawer, circa 1840, Pennsylvania or New York State, in the booth of Keith and Diane Fryling, Green Lane, Penn.
Gene Pratt of Victor, N.Y., hung a large calligraphy of a lion, circa 1870‱880, over a dry sink filled with various woodenware, including bowls and kitchen storage boxes, as well as two stuffed bears sharing a doll’s chair.
Salt Box Antiques, Sugar Loaf, Penn., had a Nineteenth Century apothecary in walnut and pine, 48 drawers, from the Shanesville General Store in Oley Valley, Berks County, Penn., and dating from the Eighteenth Century was a New England spoon rack in pine with a dry brown surface over the original salmon paint.
Lisa McAllister, Clear Spring, Md., used the five shelves of her yellow pine cupboard, circa 1850‱870, to display a collection of small baskets, and a circa 1910 stand from a lodge had bold turned legs and a gold painted surface.
A large clamshell, once a trade sign for an inn in Maine, hung on the outside wall of the booth of The Norwoods’ Spirit of America, Timonium, Md. The shell was flanked by a pair of paint decorated, wooden coach doors with a large window in the upper section of the door. The pair dated from the Nineteenth Century and had a red and black surface. A curved wooden garden gate was in fine shape, ready to be used outside or hung inside, maintaining an original weathered white painted surface.
B. Hannah Daniel, Athens, Ala., had an old sorting table with red surface, the top filled with wooden mixing bowls and firkins. Three round wooden cutting boards hung on the walls, including one with a heart-shaped handle.
Four side chairs were shown in a row at the front of the booth of James M. Kilvington, Dover, Del., including a Delaware Valley Queen Anne example with the original surface and leather seat, walnut and yellow pine, dating circa 1750. A Philadelphia Queen Anne balloon seat chair had three carved shells, circa 1735‱745, and is one of only six known from the Morris family, Philadelphia. The last two were a pair of five-slat ladder backs, Queen Anne, circa 1750, with a Philadelphia origin.
A 12-foot-long country table with gray/green paint, worn top, held a number of things, including a large, round wooden box of food choppers in the booth of Stephen-Douglas, Rockingham, Vt. Another container of choppers was available, “The perfect starting point for a quick, large collection,” Stephen Corrigan said. An interesting tin and wood lantern, American, original paint, dated from the early Nineteenth Century.
A large and well-painted double-sided sign hung in the booth of Jewett-Berdan, Newcastle, Maine, advertising “Soda Fountain †Luncheonette” with a painted hand pointing the way. It dated circa 1925 and shared a wall with a late Nineteenth Century hooked rug depicting two sheep. A set of eight fish line holders in the form of fish with painted surface, circa 1920, were displayed, but the count came to only seven. “Eight didn’t fit the space I wanted to show them, so I put up only seven,” Tom Jewett said, assuring us that there really were eight.
Harry Hartman and Oliver Overlander, Marietta, Penn., had a couple of impressive full-bodied weathervanes, a large horse and sulky and a Hackney horse, displayed against the back wall, just under one of a trio of crib quilts that had been mounted and hung. A chair table with three-board top was surrounded by a set of four Pennsylvania Windsor side chairs, circa 1820, in black paint.
Raccoon Creek Antiques, Oley, Penn., showed a New England stepback cupboard with storage at the bottom, covered by two cabinet doors, and shelves on top that were filled with more than 25 pieces of spatterware. A Pennsylvania hanging or countertop cupboard dated circa 1850‱860 and was Spanish brown in color.
Sidney Gecker, New York City, a well-known dealer in redware pottery, is also known for weathervanes, and he offered a number at York, including a deer jumping over a tree stump, a large Jersey cow attributed to Cushing & Co., Waltham, Mass., a full-bodied copper bull vane with zinc head, and a rare peacock vane with excellent surface by Jewell.
A pine cupboard in old red, with two doors on top and two on the bottom, circa 1820, was shown by Axtell Antiques, Deposit, N.Y., and an interesting and rare book box from Albany County, N.Y., dated circa 1810. This box appeared to be a stack of four old books, various sizes, with a small book on top, which had a hidden lock to protect valuables. “The show went very well for us, lots of smalls sold,” Richard “Smitty” Axtell said.
Paul Revere on horseback was the subject of a sheet metal weathervane in the booth of Holden Antiques, Sherman, Conn., and Naples, Fla. It was a silhouette, circa 1875, with verdigris surface and measuring 28½ inches long and 18¼ inches high. It came out of an old Connecticut collection. Two carnival wheels, brightly decorated, were on one wall, a dozen witch balls of various colors were on a tray, and a good number of cast iron millweights filled a table at the front of the booth.
An 1800 dower chest for Elizabeth Schaffer, Lebanon County, Penn., well decorated and in original condition, was offered by Steven F. Still Antiques, Manheim, Penn., along with a portrait of John Felt Copeland by Jonah Woodruff (1809‱876). Both the sitter and the artist resided in Watertown, N.Y.
A 6-foot-long harvest table with single-board top, New England, pine, dating circa 1810‱825, took up room at the front of the booth of Emele’s Antiques, Dublin, Penn. Other furniture included a painted jelly cupboard from Berks County, Penn., with dovetailed gallery, bittersweet painted surface, in pine ands cherry. It dated circa 1860.
Thomas Longacre, Marlborough, N.H., showed an Indian blanket in earth tones, circa 1900, 51 by 45 inches, an early black painted, four-leg stool that was sold early in the show, and a tilt-top tiger maple candlestand with academy paint decoration, circa 1810, possibly Boston origin.
Thurston Nichols, Breininger, Penn., had several pieces of case furniture, including a circa 1765 tiger maple flattop highboy and a New Hampshire figured birch slant lid desk, circa 1800. His folk art included an index horse weathervane with cut mane and tail and fine patina.
Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, York County, Penn., showed only a few flags this time out, but seemed to have more folk art and other framed images. A trio of circa 1915 patriotic lithographs, each with an embellished eagle, probably came from a courthouse and were found in California. They were in dark varnished oak frames. A blue painted fish weathervane, sheet metal, was mounted on a block of wood, and a pair of carved birds were part of a sign that read “Canarys For Sale,” black lettering and detailing on yellow ground.
Brad Selinger of East Berlin, Penn., had a nice three-tier wooden plant stand in the original green paint, and his collection of stoneware included a crock blue decorated with a deer, a jug with bird design, and six pitchers of assorted sizes, all with blue decoration.
For those who like to plan ahead, dates for the fall Greater York Antiques Show are Friday and Saturday, October 26 and 27. And following the time schedule of this spring, the show will open at 10 am on Friday, and at 11 am on Sunday.
