“Friday was good, but Saturday was not as good as usual,” Donna Burk, manager of The Greater York Antiques Show, said, indicating that Hurricane Sandy probably hurt attendance on the second day of the show. Yet while attendance was off for this October 26′7 show, “some of the dealers did quite well,” she noted.
A final tally of 52 dealers participated in the show, down from the original listing as “we had five dealers cancel out in the week of the show,” Donna said. Those who came, however, put on a good look and offered many interesting things, including mostly country and painted furniture, pottery, quilts, works of art and both Halloween and Christmas trimmings. One of the first visitors through the show stopped long enough to mention, “We always come to York and we always find something. See you later,” and went off down the aisle.
“This year we put a book out at the front of the show for visitors to write comments about The Greater York Antiques Show, and some very nice things were said about us,” Donna said. She pointed out two, in particular, one mentioning, “I haven’t missed a York Show in 37 years,” while another wrote, “I always come to York and find bargains, bargains and bargains.”
A colorful store counter, yellow with a red square on the front and green painted base board, was in the center of the booth of Jewett-Berdan Antiques of Newcastle, Maine. “It would make a great island in a kitchen,” Butch Berdan said, pointing out the open space on the back of the counter that could easily hold a good number of appliances for food preparation. A very bright hooked rug, with a bird and two tulips on a red ground, surrounded by a multicolored border, was on the back wall of the booth, flanked by a pair of pastel portraits in the original frames, circa 1810, of a Philadelphia couple.
“That long candle mold is very rare and could pass as a piece of sculpture,” “Smitty” Axtell of Deposit, N.Y., said of his wooden frame with 52 candle molds, measuring about 4 feet long. It was displayed at the front of the booth along with two other candle molds, each for pouring 12 candles, one from New Bedford and the other signed “Brower, N.Y.” A folk art still life oil on canvas showed a table, stacked with many pieces of fruit, in front of a large window with a landscape in the background. “A real bountiful board,” “Smitty” noted. Also of interest was a selection of six pierced tin lanterns and a pair of brace back Windsor armchairs dating from the Eighteenth Century and of Rhode island origin.
Hanes & Ruskin Antiques, Old Lyme, Conn., showed an Eighteenth Century New England tavern table with scrubbed pine top measuring 23½ by 40 inches, circa 1780, and a sampler executed by Roxana W. Smith, born 1815, from Manchester, N.H.
A booth shared by Groundhog Hollow Antiques and Stephen C. Burkhardt Antiques, both of Felton, Penn., was filled with country antiques, including a late Eighteenth Century to early Nineteenth Century pewter cupboard in old red paint, its shelves filled with treen and examples of pewter, and a one-door corner cupboard in old green, probably a hanging piece. A large selection of early iron for the hearth was also available.
Alice and Art Booth Antiques, Wayne, N.J., had a nice pair of wooden patriotic shields with stars and stripes in red, white and blue, and a portion of the booth was filled with a selection of six firkins in old paint, including red, yellow, blue and green, all lidded and with swing handles.
Christmas and Halloween were two of the themes offered from the booth of Cheryl Mackley of Red Lion, Penn. In addition to these holiday objects, she offered a 1890 puzzle by McLoughlen, Woman and Pig, framed and with the original box.
A red sold tag hung from a two-drawer, two-door jelly cupboard with backsplash and old red surface in the booth of Bertolet House Antiques, Oley, Penn. A Pennsylvania dry sink dated circa 1840, and a circa 1870 12-tin pie safe in blue-green paint featured an urn design on the panels.
A green wheelbarrow with red wheel was overflowing with rust-colored mums in the booth of Tommy Thompson of Pembroke, N.H. Included in his general mix of objects was a large cheese basket, a Noah’s Ark with animals and figures and a schoolroom setting, Crandall School, complete with students holding book, a dunce in the corner, a teacher at the front of the class and the original box.
The Norwoods’ Spirit of America, Timonium, Md., not only filled every inch of wall space in the booth, but also one outside wall facing the open space in the center of the show. A hooked rug spelled “Welcome,” a nice greeting as people entered the booth, and an interesting 1850 calligraphy and penmanship drawing of a lion was signed with an endorsement of the maker’s teacher. A number of toys were on a table, including an early stuffed donkey on wheels, and a model of the side-wheeler Oriole was offered.
A pair of bamboo Windsor side chairs in the original paint, marked on the bottom “Mrs Frances Kellog, 118 East 70th Street, N.Y.C.” was in the booth of Nancy Fulton, Point Pleasant, Penn., along with three Plains pipe axes. A rare Eskimo cargo toboggan, very narrow, dating from the Nineteenth Century, hung against the back wall.
Stephen-Douglas of Rockingham, Vt., showed a Maine dome top box, circa 1820‱840, with red and gold decoration on a black ground, the initials “JMD” on the lid and a nice shoe repairing sign with both a boot and shoe graphic design. Two ship dioramas were mounted back-to-back on an outside wall.
Raccoon Creek of Oley, Penn., occupied a large booth and had no trouble filling the space to capacity with several pieces of furniture, including a country Chippendale table with Marlboro legs and breadboard end top, and a oversized jelly cupboard in old red from Lehigh County (Delaware Valley). A large wooden cheese basket sported a great surface. The only thing missing from the booth was Gordon Allen’s mustache. “I have had a mustache for 40 years, shaved it off once 25 years ago, and then grew it right back, and now it is gone for the last time, ” Gordon said with a smile. And it probably will remain gone this time, for countless comments from his friends ranged from, “It has also shaved years off your life,” and “You look so much younger.”
American Sampler of Barnesville, Md., captured the doorstop market at the show, offering a nice selection that included a standing rabbit, large owl, pheasant, squirrel and four dogs, all in the original paint and in fine condition. A number of cast iron banks were in the display case, and two of the lawn sprinklers were in the form of ducks.
Thomas Longacre of Marlborough, N.H., offered a hooked rug depicting a three-masted schooner at sea, a bannerette weathervane with good verdigris surface, a rooster vane with gold surface and several game boards, including one in red, a checkerboard with carved surface.
Steven Smoot of Lancaster, Penn., had a stretcher base dough box table, Hanover area, circa 1840‱860, red over the original red with a 48-by-31-inch top, and a half-hull plaque of a steam/sail yacht, circa 1880, probably Great Lakes.
Joseph Lodge of Lederach, Penn., had a large Queen Anne walnut table at the front of his booth, a piece dating circa 1775 with pad feet and the original surface. A large barber pole, with ball on each end, red and white painted, circa 1890, was mounted on the side wall.
The Greater York Antiques Show will be at the fairgrounds again in 2013, first on May 17‱8 and then later in October. “We will see what the future brings, but things are already looking up as we just got two more contracts in the mail today [October 31],” Donna said.
