Diehard collectors awaiting the 5 pm start of the preview party on opening night.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring
WILMINGTON, DEL. — Antiques shows, collectibles conventions and art fairs have personalities, shaped by those who manage them and those that attend them. Some are modern, hip and cosmopolitan, attracting a jet-set crowd of glitterati and bold-faced names where vendors jockey for the attention of those with the deepest pockets. Others are more casual events with offerings displayed on tabletops in school gymnasiums, civic halls or even outdoors, under tents or exposed to the elements, come what may. These examples are but some in a business as diverse as the people and material presented. But, in the world of Americana — the material culture of the early United States — The Annual Delaware Antiques Show would be considered the grand dame. She holds her own against The Winter Show (January in New York City) and The Philadelphia Show (April in Philadelphia), both of which have expanded their offerings with larger components of Twentieth Century art and international design. It follows a few months after the New Hampshire antiques shows, the midsummer powerhouse series of five shows that boasts the largest turnout across an entire week but attracts a similar caliber of material and audience.
Now 61 years young, the Delaware Antiques show has stayed true to its roots, presenting a high caliber of offerings and premier levels of scholarship. By tradition, a fancy party for the show’s supporters kicks off the event, which is bolstered by scholarly lectures. The show continues to benefit educational initiatives at Wilmington-adjacent Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, the former country home of legendary Americana collector Henry Francis DuPont. The museum has long been a curatorial incubator through the master’s program it offers with the University of Delaware and if one has wondered where the next generation of dealers and curators would come from, one need look no further than the show, where Winterthur’s fellows populate the aisles.
A Robert Larason mixed metal cattail sculpture. Barbara Israel Garden Antiques, Katonah, N.Y.
A keynote lecture on the history of American garden ornament was presented on Saturday morning, November 16, by Barbara Frelinghuysen Israel, a premier scholar and dealer of garden statuary and a long-time exhibitor at the show. Three lectures by student scholars in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture followed that afternoon. Steven Baltsas gave a talk titled “Of the Earth: Neoclassicism and Natural History in a Philadelphia Center Table” while “‘To Imitate China’: A Close Reading of a Pair of Eighteenth Century Hand Screens” was the title of Lanah Swindle’s lecture. Graham Titus closed out the afternoon with “Performance and Pleasure at the Early Modern Table.” On Sunday, November 17, two scholars associated with Americana Insights — the premier journal for American folk art — talked about Charles C. Hofmann’s paintings along the Schuylkill River and the decoupage fraktur of Friedrich Krebs and signed copies of the periodical’s recently-published second volume.
Diane Bittel is the show’s manager and she told Antiques and The Arts Weekly, “I thought the show was as good as it gets. In my opinion, it’s definitely the number-one show in the country.” Despite having her best booth ever, sales were steady but not “gangbusters.”
Though most of the 60 exhibitors have participated in the show before, there were a handful who either had never exhibited there previously, or who were returning after a hiatus.
One of those appearing in Wilmington for the first time was an international vendor: Robert Aronson, Aronson Antiquairs of Amsterdam, a fifth-generation dealer who deals in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Delftware. He has been a long-time participant at The Winter Show in New York City and is looking forward to returning there in two months’ time.
“Whispers of Time,” the showstopping multi-century collaboration that featured contemporary porcelain tulips in a Seventeenth Century Delft polychrome beaker vase. Aronson Antiquairs of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The undisputed standout of his booth was “Whispers of Time,” a cross-century collaboration incorporating a circa 1700 beaker vase made by Lambertus van Eenhoorn filled with delicate sprays of porcelain tulips made by Anna Volkova, a Russian born artisan (b 1974).
Though “Whispers of Time” was still available at press time, Aronson said it had generated a lot of interest during the show’s run. “We were pleased with the quality of the show and the works on offer, and it was a privilege to participate in such a well-organized and hospitable event. The response to our collection was enthusiastic — we met with many attendees who were excited to see us here, including several who mentioned attending the show for the first time because of our invitation.” He noted sales of both polychrome objects, including a pair of petit feu (low fired) butter tubs, as well as several blue and white pieces, including a wall plaque in a wooden frame. “It was especially rewarding to place these items with long-standing clients we’ve known for decades, while also meeting and selling to several new clients who were introduced to our collection during the show.”
Two thousand twenty-four has been a year of show debuts for David Walker, who was also initiated into The Philadelphia Show in April. “I was thrilled to be in Delaware. Everyone was very complimentary, and I received a lot of positive feedback and made a lot of new connections. Obviously, I’m not an Americana dealer and it’s such an important show to those that are, but what I brought looked great, as it did in Philadelphia. I sold a lovely English teapot to a private collector, a private collector from New Hampshire bought a very rare Japonisme center table and, after the show, a marquetry cabinet attributed to Gillows, for a five-figure sum.”
First-time exhibitor David Walker found new homes for some of his furniture, including the Gillows cabinet on his back wall and the circa 1890 French Japonisme center table by Bailly, Theroux & Worth. Walker Decorative Arts, New York City & Philadelphia.
Falmouth, Mass., dealer Oliver Garland was also making his show debut. “We had a wonderful time. We sold every day of the show. Selling and interest was strong on a lot of our stock. Bearing in mind the majority of what we sell is European, it was very well received and encouraging that collectors are willing to divert from the traditional Americana if the item is of quality and unique in nature. We sold our Scottish laburnum wood chest of drawers to a Wilmington collector on the last day. The show was well attended in my opinion. We had a constant stream of people in the booth from preview night until the last day. Our final sale happened on Sunday afternoon!”
Charles Plante operates out of New York and London and has been exhibiting at major art fairs in the UK since 1988, but it was his first time presenting at Delaware. A drawings specialist, he brought 125 examples to the show, in a range of prices but all comparatively affordable, with nothing more expensive than $15,000, which he was asking for a circa 1830 Danish School watercolor of an interior.
For those with good memories, Jeff Bridgman participated at the show from 2005-2010, and he was glad to be back after more than a decade away. He occupied a long booth in the entrance lobby, which gave him lots of wall space to hang what he brought.
Framed flags, particularly large ones, take up a considerable amount of space, so the long side wall in the entrance lobby was well suited to Jeff Bridgman’s purposes. The large, framed flag to the right of the Oddfellows heart-in-hand staff is a circa 1861-63 handmade and hand-sewn flag that has an applied banner that reads “Peace & Liberty” and which was given to Davis Camron of F Company, the 38th Ohio Infantry, by the family of Orrin Taylor of F Company, 67th Ohio Volunteers. Jeff R. Bridgman Antiques, York County, Penn. Jeff Bridgman photo.
“I could not envision my space before I got there this year, as even though I had come to shop the last couple of years, and bought very well by the way, I just could not for the life of me remember where this space I had been given even was. But, I was excited to return, kept an open mind, and just rolled with it, and was absolutely thrilled in the end. I designed the wall layout on site, when I arrived, as it was a new space that had not before been utilized, and so no one had experience with it. My hats off to Diana Bittel, Winterthur, Stacey Exposition and to my own guys for making it all happen smoothly. I sold two great flags to a museum. I sold a patriotic Ulysses S. Grant textile to a good client, I have other things under consideration and I bought 10 great things on the floor. I was very pleased. It is always an honor to be at a show of such tremendous quality. In the category of American antiques, and those made abroad for the American market, Delaware is now simply the undisputed heavyweight. It was a joy to be there and I look forward to returning in 2025.”
One of the most “buzz-worthy” booths was that of David A. Schorsch & Eileen M. Smiles. Noteworthy was the fact that the Woodbury, Conn., dealers brought just three things to the show: a Philadelphia carved mahogany chest on chest, made for Stephen Girard circa 1770-1780; a circa 1760 Philadelphia easy chair that had provenance to Joe Kindig, Helen A. Janssen Wetzel, Israel Sack and Robert L. McNeil, Jr; and, from Massachusetts, a miniature reverse serpentine-front valuables chest that had been owned by C.W. Lyon, Edgar William and Beatrice Chrysler Garbisch, and Thomas and Yvette Cole.
Davd A. Schorsch-Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, Conn. David A. Schorsch photo.
The chest-on-chest sold on opening night to a private collector and Schorsch shared his thoughts after the show closed.
“After the unprecedented success we experienced last year at this show by nearly selling out the entire Shaker collection that we had purchased privately, we decided to go in an entirely different aesthetic direction. I have always loved and selectively dealt in American formal furniture, but in the past, it was challenging to buy it comfortably to hold for inventory. A happy result of the readjustment in prices for so-called ‘brown furniture,’ has allowed us to take a deeper dive into that market, which we demonstrated in our booth at Delaware.
“For this high style display, we took inspiration from the famous ‘Girl Scouts Loan’ exhibition of 1929, which featured masterpieces of American furniture artfully arranged against dark velvet walls by H.F. du Pont himself. We made our booth a jewel box and hung the walls in custom-made dark blue velvet drapery and made its central focus an historic and monumental Philadelphia chest-on-chest of highly figured mahogany that was originally owned by the banker and philanthropist Stephen Girard, then John Barclay, a mayor of Philadelphia in the 1790s, and in the Twentieth Century by two major furniture collections: May and Howard Joynt, then Erving and Joyce Wolf. In addition to its prominent booth display, the Girard chest-on-chest was the sole subject of its own scholarly catalog, available printed and online as a flip book.”
Though Schorsch didn’t disclose the asking — or selling — price, it was widely believed to be one of the most expensive sales at the show.
Frank Levy, left, speaking with Martha Willoughby, consultant at Christie’s and the editor of the American Furniture journal. The pair of portraits on the wall behind them were painted by Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822) and flanked a Lancaster, Penn., Chippendale high chest, all of which found new homes at the show. Levy Galleries, New York City.
Another exhibitor who tallied high-valued sales was Frank Levy, who sold another significant case piece early in the show: an existing client bought the Houston family carved Chippendale walnut high chest attributed to Lancaster, Penn., that related to examples at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. Levy also marked as sold a pair of portraits: Major John McCulloh and Anna Brighthurst McCulloh with child, circa 1793. The portraits were purchased by collectors he met at the Delaware show in 2023. A painted work table sold to a new client while other pieces — a corner cupboard, a back stool, a chest of drawers and miniature chest, and two DeWitt Clinton plates — found new homes.
“There was selling every day except Sunday but, even then, I had many repeat customers who may buy some things now that the show is over,” he told us in a follow-up phone call.
Kelly Kinzle has the booth opposite Levy and he reported four six-figure sales. Some of his transactions included two painted chests, a Baltimore bottle case, a miniature wall clock, a great fraktur and other things, to both long-standing clients and new ones. “The show was exciting from the beginning to the end. Opening night was well attended and I sold several important things. The traffic continued all weekend and Sunday was a fantastic day with major pieces finding new homes. Americana is back!!!”
The Federal inlaid mahogany bottle case, attributed to Bankson and Lawson of Baltimore, Md., and the miniature wall clock with églomisé panel signed “David Brown /Providence” both sold at the show. The still-life painting by Severin Roesen on the wall was available for purchase at press time. Kelly Kinzle, New Oxford, Penn.
Kinzle’s neighbors on the show floor are Patrick Bell and Ed Hild of Olde Hope Antiques. Bell checked in right after the show closed, saying, “The opening day crowd was the strongest I can remember and people came to shop. We sold a number of small items but none of our showier pieces, though interest was strong across the board. So good to talk to so many people of various ages and demographics who enjoy and collect American antiques. And there were truly a good many young people enthusiastically looking. Delaware has become THE Americana show for sure.”
Arthur Liverant’s booth welcomed showgoers as they entered the show’s main floor. This was fitting as Liverant was the Antiques Dealers Association of America’s (ADA) annual Award of Merit recipient, which he received in a fun-filled dinner on Friday night (see “ADA Honors Arthur Liverant In Night Of Love And Laughter,” Antiques and The Arts Weekly, November 29, 2024). The man of the hour reported a good show, noting that while they didn’t have any single large sales, “we had a lot of small sales that amounted to quite a bit.” When asked for specifics, he shared these included a memorial picture and a coverlet were among those that sold.
“I believe the numbers were up for the preview, from last year. We had good interest through the show. I anticipate some good follow up,” said James Price, who reported selling a Chippendale high chest, a Chippendale bowfront chest of drawers, a pair of Delaware Valley slat-back chairs, a Philadelphia Chippendale secretary desk, a New Jersey linen press, a Nineteenth Century Oriental rug and four Nineteenth Century bag-faces, to a combination of both old and new clients.
James L. Price Antiques, Carlisle, Penn.
“It was the best Delaware show I’ve ever had,” claimed Taylor Thistlethwaite. “The people there were serious and wanted to buy. I had interest in most everything. On opening night, I sold a New York marble-top table to a young collector from the Mid Atlantic region and a silver presentation pitcher from Philadelphia. On Saturday, I had great interest in a lot of pieces and sold a lot of smalls; an institution bought a racehorse print and I sold a blockfront desk. On Sunday, I sold a Pennsylvania blanket chest. For the longest time, many of us dealers have felt like Americana was dead; this show proves it’s not. The people who come want to find great stuff. Unlike the New Hampshire shows, where country furniture is key, Delaware is still the place for ‘brown furniture.’”
Woodbury, Conn., dealer Gary Sergeant specializes in both English and American and had interest in a lot of things. “My one comment: if you’re going to do a show in Delaware, you better bring a lot of things made in Pennsylvania or the Mid Atlantic. And things that are pretty always sell; they’re the first things to go.” He sold a pair of wheelback chairs and two mirrors as well as a few other things, all to existing clients.
Throughout the show’s floor, furniture sales were abundant, with a variety of forms trading hands. Chris Jones sold a stepback cupboard, Diana Bittel brokered a piece of Bermuda furniture, Karen Olson wrote up a Connecticut Chippendale chest of drawers and Jim Kilvington sealed the deal on a pair of Delaware Valley ladderback. A Queen Anne tea table was among Jeffrey Tillou’s transactions, Skip Chalfant moved two Windsor chairs and a mid Nineteenth Century table made in New York State that Ron and Joyce Bassin had sold to a new client who came to the show from Dallas and who also purchased a table from Bob Haneberg.
Diana H. Bittel thought that her booth had “never looked better.” Bryn Mawr, Penn.
The Bassins’ corner booth on the show’s main floor was busy throughout the show. Following opening night sales of three good Grenfell mats and a shelf, they wrote slips for decoys, a bronze bear, a ceramic raccoon, a boar, weathervanes, a Crowell miniature decoy, a trout fish decoy, a painting of Niagara Falls that was purchased by a woman who grew up in that area and a cheese cutter — made by the Computing Cheese Cutter Company that would become IBM — to a professor from The Wharton School who collects mechanical devices.
“We had a great show; I’d even say it was the best show we’ve ever done. Of the 25 sales we made, 18 were to new clients,” Ron Bassin reported after the show wrapped.
Opposite the Bassins, Grace and Elliott Snyder sold so many things on opening night they had to restock their booth before the show opened on Friday morning. Early European metalwork is one of their areas of expertise and two wrought iron fireplace shovels were snapped up, as were an early Delft plate dated “1692” and a tall brass candlestick.
In addition to furniture, many of the “smalls” Jim Kilvington brought were popular with buyers. By the end of the first full day, needlepoint pillows, Staffordshire tea cannisters, a European lantern, a pair of English engravings, an Ironstone footed compote and two samplers – one from York County, Penn., the other from Wilmington — were marked as “sold.”
Some of the things Elliott and Grace Snyder sold are marked with red dots. South Egremont, Mass.
Right inside the show’s entrance, Wilmington native John Schoonover and Schoonover Studios brought a characteristically strong selection of illustration by late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century local and regional artists, including Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), Howard Pyle (1853-1911) and Pyle’s students, which numbered nearly 100 and included Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945) and Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966). Notable works in the booth included Frank E. Schoonover’s “Lafayette Sails to America” (1921) and “Northwest Mounted,” which was pained in 1923 and featured on the covers of Popular Magazine (February 1924) and Back of Beyond by Ethel and James Dorrance (Chelsea House, N.Y., 1926); copies of both the magazine and the book were shown alongside the painting.
Next to Schoonover, Lori Cohen of Arader Galleries showcased three pencil, watercolor and bodycolor on vellum botanical drawings by Georg Dionysius Ehret (German, 1708-1770) that were all from the Croome estate and sold separately. Of comparable importance was Anthony Smith’s A New and Accurate Chart of the Bay of Chesapeake, with All the Shoals Channels, Island, Entrances, Soundings and Sailing Marks…, which was published in London in 1776.
Philadelphia fine art dealer Robert Schwarz had lots of beautiful things, including a tiny William Russell Birch enamel landscape, two ink and watercolor on paper drawings by Charles Édouart Armand-Dumaresq (French, 1826-1895), of Samuel Adams and George Clinton; and a statuesque portrait of Captain John Ansley by James Peale (1749-1831).
A rare miniature enamel landscape by William Russell Birch (1755-1834) — shown here in a frame on a dressing table — might have been easily overlooked but had pride of place front and center with Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia.
Sporting art collectors would be well-advised to visit Archie Parker and The Parker Gallery, who brings a large supply of dog, horse and hunting pictures from Hampshire, UK. A portrait of racehorse “Gimcrack” by John Nost Sartorius (English, 1759-1828) was one of his marquee pieces; others of similar caliber included a portrait of a horse and groom with a dog by Francis Sartorius (English, 1734-1804) and “‘Prime Minister’ with jockey John Shepherd up, and owner Sir Mark Sykes” by Henry Bernard Chalon (English, 1770-1849).
Show veteran Arlie Sulka brought a parade of table lamps, two cases of studio pottery and glass, and a circa 1946 statuesque wood and copper bas-relief bust of a woman, titled “Introspection,” by Robert Laurent (1890-1970).
Silver sparkled in several booths, including that of Spencer Marks, S.J. Shrubsole and James Robinson. Early in the show, Spencer Marks wrote up a set of Clemens Friedell Arts & Crafts dessert bowls and a Gorham mixed media small box. French silver predominated in the offerings of Silver Art by D&R, where an André Aucoc four-piece table centerpiece, made in Paris circa 1895, and a 36-piece Art Nouveau silver dessert service by Alphonse DeBain, were among those particularly noteworthy.
Marcy Burns, left, showing two showgoers a Navajo eyedazzler weaving. Marcy Burns American Indian Arts, LLC. New York City.
The only dealer at the show to specialize exclusively in Native American artifacts is Marcy Burns. A table against one of her side walls featured an Eastern Sioux beaded vest, a two-piece Woodlands dress with ribbon work, two blackwork vessels made in Santa Clara and San Idelfonso pueblos, a Woodlands beaded bandolier bag and a small Washoe basket.
Asian works of art dealers — not including export wares — are increasingly few at the show. With the absence this year of longtime participant Ita J. Howe, Ralph M. Chait Galleries — specializing in Chinese pottery, paintings and other artifacts — and Oriental textile specialist Janice Paull are about the only ones left to carry the banner. In Chait’s booth, two of four paintings of porcelain production grabbed this reporter’s eye; Stephen Chait explained it was “because it’s what we do!” Equally stunning in Paull’s booth were a pair of Chinese silk embroideries rare for their survival and size.
Barbara Israel held court in the center of the main floor; on opening night her booth was adjacent to one of the serving stations, so traffic through the center of the show was busy. A small stone bench was marked “sold” with a standout piece — a mixed-metal cattail sculpture by Doylestown, Penn., artist Robert Larason that was made in 1980.
The 62nd edition of The Annual Delaware Antiques Show will take place November 7-9, 2025, again at the Chase Center at the Riverfront. For information, 800-448-3883 or www.winterthur.org/DAS.
