A benefit for educational programming at Winterthur, the 46th Annual Delaware Antiques Show opened in grand style with a preview party on November 5. Attended by a huge crowd, collectors and museum supporters came to the show early in the evening and stayed late into the night, marking this as a highly successful social event.
Show manager Marilyn Gould remarked following the three-day event that “attendance was up significantly, both for preview and throughout the weekend.” Gould estimated that a 20 percent increase in the gate was noted and said, “Everyone was thrilled with the way the show looked.”
“The show drew a lot of people that seemed very interested in antiques and not a lot of casual shoppers,” she said. Despite the larger crowd and intense interest, Gould indicated that some dealers had a hard time getting customers to “pull the trigger. Sales were very mixed,” she said. “As seems to be the case with all the shows these days; some dealers did very well and some people did not do well.”
The crowd began forming a lengthy line more than two hours prior to the opening of the show, many there to attend a lecture presented by Leigh and Leslie Keno that took place prior to the show opening. The crowd that attended the lecture then made their way back into the line for the show and several hundred people rushed into the hall as the event opened to the public Friday morning.
Gould was pleased with the response to associated events, including a well-attended Friday evening lecture by Carrie Barratt, the associate director from Collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A lecture and book signing by Winterthur’s estate historian Maggie Lidz, the author of The du Ponts: Houses and Gardens in Brandywine, 1900‱951, was also well attended on Saturday afternoon.
Moments after the crowd was let onto the floor at opening, booths filled with shoppers and the crowd was often so thick that it was difficult to see the merchandise. The show was swank, yet comfortable, with a good array of items offered by a select grouping of dealers. Wares ranged from the comfortable rattan furniture and gazebo-flavored wares presented by Nashua, N.H., dealers James Buttersworth and Michael Donovan, to the polished formal American and English high-style antiques presented by George Subkoff, Westport, Conn.
A good barometer marking the general state of the marketplace is always South Hadley, Mass., dealer Victor Weinblatt. “Yes, I did do well,” said the dealer in regard to Wilmington. “I sold the best large tramp art mirror I have ever seen or owned,” he said, then ticking off a virtual laundry list of items that had moved from his booth. A New London, Conn., watercolor was among the items sold, as was a pair of bulldog andirons, a Martha’s Vineyard dry sink, a chromium yellow corner stand, several trade signs, a carved fish plaque, two game boards, and the “best early pair of Nineteenth Century horse head gatepost finials that I have owned in a long time.” Weinblatt concluded that he “had the feeling things were definitely better.”
Carlisle, Penn., dealer James Price had a stand right at the entrance of the main display area, and his booth proved intriguing from the moment setup began. At the forefront of his display was what everyone surmised to be some sort of blanket box, although the dealer kept things under wrap, literally, with the piece wrapped in its packing blanket. As the show opened for preview, a crowd had gathered around Price’s display awaiting the unveiling. Price removed the packing blanket from the chest and there was immediate interest in what turned out to be a rare Dauphin County dower chest in exquisite paint. “It sold as soon as I took the cover off,” remarked Price, who further commented that it was fresh to the marketplace, being exhibited for the first time.
Price related that the chest had several “unusual treatments” and that the decorator “was a fraktur artist” who had further decorated the star in the center panel with a pen and ink. “It is rarely seen on a dower chest,” said Price. “This guy was innovative and this particular design had not been seen before.” The dealer also reported the sale of a Queen Anne high chest, a tall clock, paintings and rugs.
“We did as well as we could ever want to do in Delaware,” commented Scott Chalfant of H.L. Chalfant: American Antiques and Fine Art, West Chester, Penn. Selling to a mix of old and new customers, the dealer reported the sales that included “a very important spice box, a painting, a rifle, a hat box and several smalls. We covered the whole spread and it was a nice way to kick off the new season.”
The spice box sold to “someone we have known, but someone that we have not sold to before,” stated the dealer. Given the spotlight in the center of the booth, the rare Walnut Queen Anne spice box, circa 1740 and made in Chester County, featured a “dartboard” inlaid door bordered with vine and berry and herringbone inlay.
Another item attracting attention in the booth was a candlestand that the dealer called a “Philadelphia masterpiece,” a highly desirable example, circa 1775, in mahogany with a dish-top, suppressed ball finial and cabriole legs terminating in well carved ball and claw feet.
Schoonover Studios Ltd, Wilmington, Del., was the first booth that visitors to the show came in contact with and a sumptuous selection of American illustration art was presented there. “Ready to Go Up” and “Dropping the Bomb,” two aviation/war themed paintings, both by Frank Schoonover, appeared in Red Cross Magazine in 1918 and were priced at $95,000 each. Also offered was “Barbary Bo Pirates” by Harvey T. Dunn, an image that appeared as a cover for New Story Magazine, 1915, $28,500. The influence of Howard Pyle, whom many of the young artists in the region studied under, was clearly evident in many of the paintings. Interestingly, the Schoonover Studios gallery is housed in a building that Pyle and N.C. Wyeth once used as a studio.
Judith and James Milne, New York City, set an eclectic tone with a set of three large classical carved wooden figures, $18,500, displayed in one corner of the booth, while a rare Baltimore album summer quilt, circa 1850, $28,500, in unused condition hung on the opposite wall. The quilt was offered for the first time after being acquired from a private collector who had acquired it in the 1970s from the family that made it. Also offered was a rare Nineteenth Century plough weathervane made by Howard and Company, $18,500, and a carved wooden fish trade sign, $19,500.
A good selection of pewter was displayed in the booth of The Herrs, Lancaster, Penn., including a sugar bowl attributed to Philadelphia maker William Will. Another sugar bowl, a Federal example, was a rare covered example attributed to another Philadelphia maker, Parkes Boyd. Lehn ware also filled the shelves of the display case, with a good selection of small chalices and bowls neatly displayed around a miniature blanket box retaining a wonderful grained paint.
A stellar selection of marine paintings was displayed by Quester Gallery, Rowayton, Conn., including a wonderful scene by J.G. Brown titled “Pull for the Shore,” $125,000, depicting a crew of men rowing to shore in a small skiff. A rare marine racing scene by Antonio Jacobsen, “Dauntless vs Mohawk, N.Y.Y.C., 1875″ was another interesting work, $75,000.
Jeffrey Tillou, Litchfield, Conn., got the show off to a good start, recording sales during preview that included a Queen Anne desk on frame thought to have origins in Massachusetts, and a late Eighteenth Century Windsor armchair attributed to Bennington, Vt., maker Asame Ellsworth.
A showstopper for the Americana aficionado was seen in the stand of Elliott & Grace Snyder, South Egremont, Mass. A rare and wonderful paint decorated kas, circa 1740, in “vivid mid-Nineteenth Century grain painted surface” and of New York State origin, $75,000, captured the eye of collectors. Other highlights from the booth included a rare Windsor tavern table and a highly unusual ladder back armchair with an adjustable candlestand/drinking arm, New England, second half of the Eighteenth Century.
The show got off to a quick start for Leatherwood Antiques, according to proprietor Mo Wajselfish, with the sale of a rare German trade stimulator in the form of a pair of large singing “wedding birds.” The amusing window display, circa 1930, was scooped up by an astute buyer during preview, along with several Austrian bronzes and Black Forest carvings.
“It seems that there was a lot of pent up energy and people wanted to just get out and find something,” commented one dealer. In the end, the Delaware Antiques Show proved a great place to find something.
For further information, contact Marilyn Gould at 203-834-9607.
