“Despite the grim economic picture we have today, it is wonderful to be able to say that we had a very good show, our gate was up, and many of the exhibitors reported good sales,” Melvin “Butch” Arion, show manager, said. Ninety-six dealers filled Memorial Hall East on the York Fairgrounds for the 157th Semi-Annual Original York Antiques Show & Sale, September 2‴.
A long line of visitors filled the lobby of the building on Friday, thus accounting for the increased gate on that day, and the trend continued on Saturday. “Sunday’s attendance was about the same as last year,” Butch said.
The show had a real snappy look, with well lighted and designed booths showing off an extensive selection of painted furniture, hooked rugs, pottery, folk art and more. The holiday seasons were not overlooked, as some of the dealers brought out their Halloween and Christmas decorations and found a market for much of it.
One of the first visitors into the show on Friday was overheard commenting to the person next to him, “I always come to this show and always find things to buy.” A small sampling of what was there to be found follows.
A folk art racing plaque, stylized form of horse and jockey, from Saratoga, N.Y., all original condition and dating 1880, hung in the booth of American Sampler, Barnesville, Md., near a showcase populated with a selection of doorstops. All with original painted surfaces, the stops included an owl, turkey, Old Salt, squirrel and a couple of baskets of flowers. More cast iron was in the form of figural cat andirons.
David Good, Camden, Ohio, and Samuel Forsythe, Columbus, Ohio, offered a New London County candlestand with delicate snake feet, circa 1760, and a handled oblong burl bowl with excellent patina. A blanket box, yellow ground, was decorated with a floral border surrounding an urn of flowers.
Kelly Kinzle from nearby New Oxford, Penn., has been busy adding to his fleet of old cars, a stock that now numbers five. “I just bought two more old ones, not quite in running condition, but close,” Kelly said. He spoke highly of his “new” Lincoln Town Car, a 1929 model with a dividing window behind the driver and “living room space in the back for the family,” he said. The 1925 Packard Roadster is also going to need some attention before it hits the highway. “I just sold one of my old cars, don’t have the check yet, but that leaves me with five to go,” Kelly said as he arranged a miniature circus wagon by Roy Arnold on a shelf. The wagon was made 1 inch to 1 foot scale, brightly painted, and representative of the Arnold work that is on permanent display at the Shelburne Museum. A couple of early model horse-drawn fire wagons for ladders and hoses were shown, as was a nice pair of cast iron seated dogs.
John Chaski Antiques of Camden, Del., had a large pilothouse eagle, circa 1920s, and a pair of carved and black painted hearse drapes, American, circa 1900. An oil on canvas, circa 1890, was of the San Francisco Cliff House,
Wesley T. Sessa Antiques, Pottstown, Penn., showed a Philadelphia chest of drawers, fourth quarter of the Eighteenth Century, in mahogany and measuring 38½ inches wide, 35 inches high and 19½ inches deep, and a southeastern Pennsylvania blanket chest with molded top in walnut, wrought iron strap hinges, dovetailed case, molded base and bracket feet. It dates circa 1790.
An Enterprise #2 coffee grinder in perfect original condition was displayed on a Sheraton jelly cupboard from Adams County in the booth of Oakleigh Antiques, Aberdeen, Md. The two drawers over two-door cupboard was of tulipwood and stained cherry.
A red painted New England chair table with two-board top, circa 1820, was at the front of the booth of Don and Pat Clegg, East Berlin, Penn. Other furniture included a New England drop leaf harvest table, New England origin, pine and birch, with a 60-by-41-inch top. It was found in Lincolnville, Maine.
“That is one of the largest and best winnowing trays we have ever had,” Richard “Smitty” Axtell of Deposit, N.Y., said of the Nineteenth Century, New York State piece displayed on the wall of his booth. In addition, he showed a tin trade sign in the form of a fish, “Leonard Fillets,” and a circa 1760 two-candle lighting stand with snake feet from Delaware County, N.Y. “It is a very rare and unusual form,” Smitty said.
Thomas Longacre of Marlborough, N.H., hung a hooked rug depicting a large brown dog within a colorful zigzag border, dated 1927, and a scrollwork banner weathervane with original verdigris surface, circa 1893, attributed to Fiske. A paint decorated, one-drawer New Hampshire blanket chest with boot jack feet descended in the Hall family of Keene, N.H. “It measures only 31 inches wide and it is rare to find them of that small size,” Tom said.
Tom Brown of McMurray, Penn., filled his end booth with lots of furniture, including a Massachusetts serpentine bureau with shaped and molded top, ball and claw feet of birch and dating circa 1780, along with a Vermont secretary desk with fitted interior, original brasses, four-drawer base, bracket base and dating circa 1790. The piece was in the Russell family, Shrewsbury, and a map of the house and a lock of hair were found in the drawers.
Harry Hartman and Oliver Overlander, Marietta, Penn., offered a leaping stag weathervane with the original surface, shown on top of a red painted chair table, and a black and white cow in a pasture depicted on a large hooked rug. An early birdhouse, green and white with a tin roof, had two tiers of homes and was eight-sided.
Two dummy boards, one of English origin, Georgian, circa 1750, depicting a lady in fancy dress, the other a young lady in period dress, also English, circa 1780, were in the booth of James M. Kilvington, Dover, Del. An elegant and elaborate cage for birds was in the shape of an armory or castle with carved stag’s heads over the doors, two turrets and rows of cannons mounted on the roof. It was English, Victorian, dating circa 1840‱850.
Don Heller of Heller-Washam, Portland, Maine, was fresh from the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show and brought a Queen Anne maple, oval top tavern table of New England origin, circa 1760, with out-swept pad feet, and a nice scrolled birch double spoon rack, Maine, circa 1735‱780. “This rack came right out of a private collection and it is the first time it has been on the market,” Don said. He was set up in a small, two-sided booth, but noted, “Butch saw the problem I had with all my furniture and gave me more room in the entrance part of the show where a number of other dealers are set up.”
Greg K. Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Penn., had several cases filled to capacity with smalls, including a very large selection of redware miniatures, including pitchers and jugs, and the top of a decorated Pennsylvania blanket chest served as a display area for three miniature chairs, including a sample child’s toy Windsor in yellow paint with red and green floral decoration on the back splat. A paint decorated, balloon back child’s chair was also a sample, and a child’s doll-size chair, paint decorated, rounded out the trio.
Joseph J. Lodge, Lederach, Penn., with a booth at the front of the show, had a horse and sulky weathervane displayed on a pin top sawbuck dining table, four-board top, original surface, dating from the mid-Nineteenth Century. It was among the items sold. A large trade sign in the form of open scissors was lettered on black, “Cutlery and Grinding” in old yellow or gilt paint, weathered surface and dating circa 1880. A short time into the show it had a red “sold” tag attached, as did a good number of other things, including a small 12-pane Dutch cupboard in the original red, a cherry pie safe, a walnut four-pane hanging cupboard, three benches of various lengths and in original paint, an inlaid cherry one-drawer stand, a pair of Windsor chairs in original paint, a colorful Caucasian rug, a decorated redware pitcher, a bail-handled pantry box in the original blue paint and a wrought iron wall rack, also in the original paint. In addition, “I have had some follow-up calls about several objects after the show, so it really worked out well for me,” Joe said.
Cheryl Scott of Hillsboro, N.H., had a shoe-foot New England hutch table dating from the Nineteenth Century, and an interesting ship painting of a two-masted vessel flying a British flag, with a steamboat in the background. Titled across the bottom of this oil on canvas was “The George Of Arundel, Robert Smith Commander, 1865.”
Raccoon Creek Antiques at Oley Forge, Oley, Penn., offered an architectural jelly cupboard in the original blue painted surface, Pennsylvania, Nineteenth Century, found in Maine, and a collection of rye baskets †one an open-handled one, another with red and green wrapping splint, and a third with an open zigzag treatment. A whimsical folk art shelf with drawer, New Jersey origin, was the resting place for nine carved and painted songbirds.
Jewett-Berdan of Newcastle, Maine, had a diminutive vinegar decorated two-drawer blanket chest in vibrant paint, 36 inches wide, and signed George Greenwood of Nelson, N.H. On the back of one of the drawers from a server in the original blue paint was written “Dec 8, 1872, stormy day,” a piece that came from New Bremen, Ohio. From a Masonic lodge came a carved and painted quiver with arrows, yellow with red trim and red arrows.
Pat and Rich Garthoeffner, Lititz, Penn., showed a child’s tricycle with wood-spooked wheels, original polychrome paint, circa 1850, and a hooked rug on burlap with wool and linen, circa 1880‱890, depicting a rural New Hampshire winter scene. This view was complete with a team of oxen pulling a sled filled with logs, a barn and house, dog and cow, and four people at the door of the house, a couple apparently departing to the awaiting horse-drawn sleigh.
DBR Antiques-Doug Ramsay, Hadley, Mass., had a large quill weathervane in the original surface, representative of those often seen on either schools or libraries, and an eagle on ball advertisement for CASE. A still life showed a sliced watermelon with some peaches and plums. “We had a tough time getting out of Massachusetts, lots of muddy roads and a real dirty van to prove it,” Doug said. (See photo in this review).
Stephen-Douglas, Rockingham, Vt., hung a portrait of a lady with lace bonnet and collar, attributed to Nathaniel Wales of Connecticut, circa 1805, and a trade sign in the form of a tombstone advertising Hay, Corn, Meal, Pork, Oats, Flour, Sugar and Oil. Furniture included a four-drawer chest painted to represent inlaid woods, original brasses, from Saco, Maine.
Michael Whittemore Antiques and Folk Art, Punta Gorda, Fla., filled the best part of his back wall with a large oil on canvas on Masonite of “Old Betsy” chugging through the Tacoma, Wash., train station. Figural cast iron andirons included horse heads, seated dogs and mallard ducks, and a curved Eighteenth Century English bookcase was six shelves high.
R.M. Worth Antiques of Chadds Ford, Penn., offered a mahogany Hepplewhite sideboard with tapered legs, Philadelphia, circa 1790, and a collage of wheelwright parts from Hoopes Bros & Darlington, West Chester, Penn. The business opened in 1857 and, at one time period, manufactured 80,000 wheels per year. The balance of the business was sold in 1974.
A large running horse with rider weathervane from a Virginia barn was shown by Newsom & Berdan, Thomasville, Penn., and hooked rugs depicted a black horse in a diamond-shaped border, a large black rooster and two black cats.
Thurston Nichols, American Antiques, Breinigsville, Penn., had a good show, selling from a large booth filled with many examples of Pennsylvania furniture and accessories. Among the items sold were a paint decorated tall case clock, two Pennsylvania stepback cupboards, a hooked rugs and several pieces of Pennsylvania redware.
“I had lots of water damage at home and called Butch to tell him I probably would not make it to York,” Chuck White of Warwick, N.Y. said, “and he told me not to cancel and that he would do anything I needed to meet my time-frame in arriving late.” He did arrive late on Thursday, Butch kept the hall open for him, and setup lasted well into the night.
“I was glad I made the trip as I had a good show at a time when it was really needed,” Chuck said. Among the pieces he sold were a tiger maple slant-front desk, a single-door green painted cupboard with a center medallion drop, a Pennsylvania pantry cupboard with two doors over two doors, a Windsor chair, two carvings, several smalls and an oil on canvas, 40-inch, 1926 scene in Allentown, Penn., by Walter Emerson Baum of the Allentown School.
The 158th semi-annual Original York Antiques Show & Sale will be February 3‵, 2012.
