Plenty of interested buyers were eager to talk with Marc Witus about his silver offerings. Gladstone, N.J.

Review & Onsite Photos by Kiersten Busch

YORK, PENN. — Those interested in all things Americana, primitive or folk antiques were due to escape the sub-20-degree weather in York, Penn., on January 30-31 by attending the 186th Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show and Sale. Housing approximately 60 exhibitors in the York Fairgrounds and Convention Center’s Memorial Hall East, the long-running show featured creative displays offering a range of items including Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century American, English, primitive and period furniture and accessories, early china and glassware, silver, Oriental rugs, fine antique jewelry, militaria and various Native American artifacts and artworks and much, much more.

Showrunner Melvin Arion was enthusiastic about this year’s winter rendition of the show. “Considering the weather and the condition of the roads, I would say that things went very well. People were buying! I haven’t gotten back reports from all of the dealers yet, but my main dealers said they did very well. What was unfortunate was that I received 12 cancellations beforehand — either due to health, the weather or death — from some of my older dealers. That was no way to start the show, but I tried to spread things around, and, in the end, I thought that everything looked very beautiful.”

Heading past the ticket booths and into the foyer of the show, several dealers had booths stationed next to and around the concession area. Here, first-time showgoer Christopher English was all set up and ready to go for his second and final day in York. “We came to a warmer climate! It’s 14-below in Lake Placid [N.Y.],” he joked. “The show’s been great, albeit a little slow. It’s the first time I’ve done it, but I’ve heard about it before. It’s got a great reputation and a nice variety of high-quality items.” English, along with his partner Stephen Dori Shin, make up Adirondack Store & Gallery, a business which has existed in the Lake Placid area since 1955, but was acquired by the duo in 2016. “I think what makes us stand out is that we’re a little different,” English explained. “We have that Northern mountain flair.” He then excused himself to speak with a couple interested in a carved chess set he was offering, while we explored the other corner of the booth, chock full of antler cutlery, carved wooden book boxes, leather stuffed animals, rustic sporting art and some blue-and-white china.

It was Adirondack Store & Gallery’s first time showing at York. Lake Placid, N.Y.

Right across the way was H & L Antiques, overseen by owner Helen Bryan, who was seated in a chair which overlooked the expansive booth. “It’s been good,” she shared cheerfully. “We’ve had a lot of interest in early lighting and sold a 1700s bench table.” The Princeton, N.J.-based dealer has attended York for approximately ten years and explained that the clientele is what keeps her coming back: “everyone is knowledgeable and asks a lot of questions.” Bryan directed us towards a circa 1820 Regency-era mahogany inlaid clay pipe stand — complete with the clay pipe itself — as one of the standout items in the booth. Its descriptor card detailed that the stand was “designed to hold church warden’s pipes as well as shorter clay pipes” and included a smaller drawer on its front, opened to display flint, a striker and tinder.

Around the corner from H & L Antiques, Judith Lesser has been attending York since around 2018-19 as Antiques from Home and was happy to be back for this iteration of the show. “It’s been okay, although I’ve had a lot of returning customers. I’ve always had this spot [in the hall], so I get a lot of traffic.” Lesser’s specialty is ceramics, and on top of her shop based in Bethesda, Md., she also has a space at The Galleries at Knollwood Antiques, Lee, Mass., to display her ceramics. “I shop in England and some in the US but mostly buy French ceramics. I also have gardenalia, but not much this season,” Lesser added. Despite the talk of ceramics, she was excited to show us a prison art purse made entirely from cigarette wrappers. “It’s called prison art because it’s usually made by prisoners, who have limited resources,” Lesser said. “They save up cigarette wrappers to make these. I also sold one yesterday.” Another highlight was a group of colorful hand-stitched individual squares of silk embroidery, which were carefully displayed in an antique leather suitcase Lesser sourced from Washington state.

Judith Lesser was happy to show off the individual squares of hand-stitched silk embroidery nestled inside of this vintage suitcase from Washington state, as well as the prison art purse made of cigarette wrappers to its right. Antiques from Home, Bethesda, Md.

After the show, Lesser emailed to report back in with her thoughts. “The York Show was good. A tartanware collector and new client came to the show on Saturday and very enthusiastically found and purchased from me. She bought so well I might need to hop over to Britain to find more! I also sold some ceramic items from Knollwood over the weekend.”

Another familiar face was Rick Fleshman, owner of Fleshman’s Antiques, who also occupied the same booth he had last year. Positioned right through the front doors into the foyer, the New Market, Md., dealer received a steady stream of people browsing his selection of 1810-1910 antique American oak, walnut and cherry furniture. Aligning with our observations, Fleshman confirmed that he had “decent traffic” throughout the first day, and early in the second day. “People have been interested in the good-quality smalls and painted boxes. Some painted baskets did well, and I also sold a three-drawer folk art stand.” Fleshman was eager to promote a tiger maple corner cabinet that had been in his booth last year, which was still available. He also touted that he had the only American walnut 12-pane Dutch cupboard in the whole show. Displaying blue and white dishes, the cupboard had fluted corner columns, a candle drawer and Ogee bracket feet.

Fleshman briefly shared his comments after the show. “Smalls were good and sold better than furniture. Attendance was good both days, and it seemed dealers were making sales. I’ll be back in the fall.”

Rick Fleshman was certain that this American walnut 12-pane Dutch cupboard was the only one being offered at the show. Fleshman’s Antiques, New Market, Md.

As you enter the main hall, one of the first booths you’re met with is that of Joseph J. Lodge of Robesonia, Penn. Situated directly across from Historic Trappe’s informational table, Lodge sat writing out invoices as we approached. “I’m pleased with the amount of business I’ve had. I’m happy to be here, I’ve been coming for decades,” he explained, and added that all of his best items had already sold. Two quilts, a blue star and a Whig Rose, served as the backdrops for two of the booth’s walls. The 125-year-old blue star example, named “The Rising Sun,” measured 6 feet 6 inches square and included a sewn-on label which mentioned its makers, two sisters. The Whig Rose patterned quilt hailed from the late Nineteenth Century and was in excellent condition, according to Lodge’s assessment.

Journeying further through the main hall, dozens of dealers lined the aisles each with their own flair. Tucked into a corner by one of the emergency exits was Thomas Restoration, based in Laurel, Md. Stoneware and redware restorer Justin Galczynski, who also works as Watchspring Restoration (Ephrata, Penn.), was manning the booth on behalf of his mentor and owner of the business Jeff Ingram, and happily reported that “a lot of people are interested in restoration, and in our pieces!” Of the restoration process Galczynski explained, “We receive things in all states of damage. To restore them, we make molds of the objects in order to configure replacement pieces, paint them, and get them back to looking good. We want to keep things together and safe.” He showed an example of a stoneware jug, which he had molded new handles onto, as well as a redware bowl which he had created new pieces for and repainted after finding it abandoned in a trash dump.

Justin Galczynski, representing Thomas Restoration, showed us the restoration work done on this redware bowl found in a garbage dump, which involved creating new pieces and securing them to the original. Laurel, Md.

After the show, Galczynski shared via email, “The show was great! We sold an early Washington, DC, piece that was a good sale, as well as receiving a large amount of work in for restoration. With the prices of American ceramics rising, restoration has become a good option for people to get really good pieces without breaking the bank.”

Steve Sherhag from Canfield, Ohio, reported things going “pretty good!” when we caught up with him around an hour into the show. Between speaking with customers, he made sure to point out the most eye-catching item in his booth: a Tramp Art-style bird tree made sometime between the 1910s-20s. “It’s done in a Tramp Art manner, and only about a half-dozen exist out there. We don’t know exactly who made them, but it showed up in Vermont, although I’m fairly certain it’s a Pennsylvania maker.” Sherhag also offered antique wooden toys, as well as some wooden furniture and more.

“It’s going really well, there was lovely attendance yesterday and a lot of great merchandise on the floor,” gushed Nancy Douglass, owner of Willow Spring Perennial Antiques in Rexford, N.Y. If you know Douglass, you know that she specializes in weathervanes of all shapes and sizes, and she was well-stocked with new and exciting finds. Taking center stage was a hunting dog vane made in the late Nineteenth Century in New Hampshire. On the wall to its left, two arrow weathervanes, one a bannerette, and two Black Hawk horses made by Harrison Company were proudly displayed. “The Black Hawks are iconic vanes, these ones being in their smaller size, with one depicting a Morgan horse,” added Douglass.

Nancy Douglass poses in-frame with this New Hampshire hunting dog weathervane from the late Nineteenth Century, her favorite vane she brought to the show. Willow Spring Perennial Antiques, Rexford, N.Y.

Donald Heller of Heller Washam Antiques was rearing to talk about how the show had been going so far as we approached his booth. “The set-up is very good, and there’s been decent dealer activity. I’ve got a number of significant things pending with callbacks, so hopefully those will go successfully.” While there were many eye-catching paintings, pieces of furniture and other merchandise in Heller’s booth, a figural cast iron architectural building mount in the form of a Native American, made circa 1850-1912 was his biggest pride. “He’s most likely a Winnebago Indian chief and was probably an adornment for a tobacconist or an apothecary building. He would’ve been positioned over a doorway. I only know of one other.” Heller’s display card for the chief also explained that he was most likely cast by “one of the important New York foundries who cast mercantile building facades.”

To the left of the Native American chief was a watercolor on paper portrait of the American naval ship Mercury of Boston in the Port of Naples, which was attributed to Italian-born and American settled Michele Felice Cornè (1752-1845) in the early-to-mid Nineteenth Century.

After the show, Heller shared via phone that the show went “very well” for him. “The selling continued [after we spoke] and I was delivering sold merchandise until 10:30 on Saturday night with my loving wife. My next show will be Nashville, and I’ll have some different material, but I’m hopeful that there’ll be as much activity there as there was in York. The market seems to have improved in the last quarter of last year, and the first month of this year has seemed to be tracking far better.”

This figural cast iron architectural building mount in the form of a Native American, thought to be of a Winnebago chief, was one of Donald Heller’s favorite offerings. Heller Washam Antiques, Portland, Maine.

Regulars at the York Antiques Show, and to Antiques and The Arts Weekly, are Scott Bassoff – Sandy Jacobs, who brought their usual mix of Americana, Shaker, textiles and jewelry, among other merchandise. “It’s been a good day, a good show! We’ll have to brave the cold packing up tonight, though,” Jacobs said, laughing. When asked what had been drawing attendees to their booth, she replied, “Different people look at different stuff. We’ve had interest in early textiles and folky paintings and sold some hitching posts.” Bassoff jumped into the conversation to share that two sets of Shaker boxes were some of his favorite items on offer. “They were made in New Lebanon [N.Y.] and two are yellow, one is red and the rest are natural tones.”

The 187th Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale will return September 18-19. For information, www.theoriginalyorkantiquesshow.com or 302-875-5326.