“It was an amazing show,” said 24-year-old dealer Jeffrey Ricketts, whose major piece was a silk and chenille on linen sampler by Martha Ensey, 1813. From the Washington, DC, “Navy Yard” group, the widely published needlework is ex-collection of Betty Ring. East Nottingham Antiques, North East, Md.
By Laura Beach
KING OF PRUSSIA, PENN. — The Semiquincentennial has everyone thinking about the birth of the United States 250 years ago and what it means for Americans today. It’s a time of reflection and celebration, particularly in places like Valley Forge, Penn., where in the winter of 1777-78 the young Continental Army faced dire hunger and cold. Against the odds, the patriots rallied, their ensuing victory the result of exceptional leadership and collective resilience.
The Pennsylvania Antiques Show, which debuted less than a mile from the Valley Forge National Historic Site on April 23-26, is likewise a triumph of leadership and collaboration. After the Philadelphia Museum of Art suspended the Philadelphia Show, the indefatigable Lisa Minardi sought to revive and refresh what had long been an antiques industry mainstay. Thus was born the Pennsylvania Antiques Show, a benefit for Historic Trappe, which, under Minardi’s leadership, recently celebrated the grand opening of its Speaker’s House, one of several properties it administers, and debuted the new exhibition “Window to Revolution: Pennsylvania Germans and the War for Independence,” having just closed a landmark reexamination of Pennsylvania redware.
For the Pennsylvania Antiques Show, executive director Minardi in short order found a venue, the Valley Forge Casino Resort, and assembled a winning team. She hired show manager Diana Bittel and recruited former Philadelphia Show director Huntley Platt. Fundraising dynamo and Newport Antiques Show founder Anne Hamilton took charge of the Thursday evening preview party. Major Philadelphia area collectors and businesses, including Pook & Pook, helped underwrite the expo. Sixty-three top specialists in antiques and fine art joined the ensemble, drawing clientele from around the country.
Executive director Lisa Minardi with a “Save the Date” flyer for the next Pennsylvania Antiques Show at Valley Forge, April 15-18, 2027. The fair benefits Historic Trappe, also under Minardi’s direction.
The Booth family led the way as the fair’s founding sponsor. An hour before the preview party got underway, colleagues gathered in memory of the late Dr Robert Booth. With his wife, Kathy, Bob was a leading collector of Pennsylvania decorative arts and folk art and a great friend to the trade. The Booths organized five loan shows for the Philadelphia Antiques Show between 1991 and 2009. The couple’s daughter, arts advisor Courtney Booth Christensen, orchestrated the gathering, one by one introducing her mother, brothers, dealers and auctioneers, who offered their tributes to a much-admired man. “Bob is here in spirit through all of you,” said Kathy, encouraging all to enjoy the show.
Greeting visitors at the fair’s entrance was Pennsylvania dealer Jeff Bridgman’s timely installation of historic American flags and the delightful loan show, “The Conestoga Wagon: A Pennsylvania Icon.” Organized by Michael Baltozer — a Lancaster County-born collector of antique tools, implements and farm equipment, who is incidentally Minardi’s fiancé — the loan display featured a circa 1800-30 wagon in extraordinary condition along with an abundance of decorative hardware and other accoutrements. “The Conestoga wagon was like today’s tractor trailer, used to haul farm produce from the countryside into Philadelphia,” Baltozer explained.
Management erected the new show in the basement-level events center of the Valley Forge Casino. Booths were large and aisles wide. Other than a bump-out at the rear left that housed a dozen or so exhibitors, the arrangement recalled the plan of the original Philadelphia Antiques Show at its popular 33rd Street Armory venue, with a central aisle bisecting horizontal rows of booths enclosed within a rectangle.
“Catherine Wilt” by Jacob Maentel, York, Penn., circa 1830-32. Formerly in the Esmerian collection among others, the watercolor, ink and pencil on paper is mounted on the scarf depicted in the portrait. David A. Schorsch-Eileen M. Smiles American Antiques, Woodbury, Conn.
“I wanted to put forth my best effort,” said David Schorsch. The David A. Schorsch & Eileen M. Smiles display rivaled any the firm has mounted at New York City’s Winter Show, with a dozen or so major pieces of exceptional provenance on offer. Shown against a backdrop invoking the US Constitution and other founding documents was a ship’s figurehead, previously owned by collectors Erving and Joyce Wolf and depicting a life-sized John Dickinson, called the “Penman of the Revolution.” The ship John Dickinson was built in Philadelphia between 1811-12. “Dickinson had quite a distinguished career,” said Schorsch, ticking off details of the stateman and author’s colorful life.
Formerly a curator at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, Philip Mead arrayed historic militaria and choice paintings. Featured was the newly rediscovered portrait “USS Lexington versus HMS Alert, 1777,” attributed to Robert Dodd, circa 1779. Mead explained, “Painted during the American Revolution, the Lexington flies one of the first American Continental Navy ensigns, this example featuring 13 stripes of red, white and blue while retaining the Union design in its canton.” Mead was delighted when Carol Spacht, a well-known historic interpreter with Philadelphia’s Betsy Ross House, returned to the show with a copy of the original invoice for the Lexington’s flag. Mead said, “She learned from the painting that this flag had red, white and blue stripes. I learned that the seamstress who made it was Cornelia Bridges. That’s a virtue of a show — everyone learns.”
Philip Mead, a specialist in American Revolutionary War-era historical artifacts, paired the recently rediscovered painting “USS Lexington versus HMS Alert, 1777” attributed to Robert Dodd, circa 1779, with an engraved powder horn loaded with patriotic imagery and initialed “T.T.,” possibly for Thomas Tillinghast of Voluntown, Conn. Mead Americana, Ambler, Penn.
“The organizers did an outstanding job,” said Connecticut dealer Arthur Liverant, who parted with a Queen Anne maple secretary desk attributed to Isaiah Tiffany of Lebanon, Conn., along with several portraits and other furniture. Anchoring his stand was the Pomeroy family Chippendale cherry bonnet-top highboy, a celebrated example of New London County, Conn., cabinetmaking, circa 1765 to 1795, and Ralph Earl’s portrait of Revolutionary War General Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, Conn.
“We sold items from all different categories, mostly creamware Liverpool pieces of American interest and some Historical Blue along with many historical and patriotic pieces. We are looking forward to going back next year,” said Pennsylvania dealer David Kurau.
“I was the only bookseller exhibiting but felt at home with my early American primary source manuscripts,” said Elizabeth Kelly-Griswold of Bluemango Books and Manuscripts. A member of Historic Trappe, the New Hope, Penn., dealer included among her sales an exceptional silhouette by Martha Ann Honeywell, an 1820s Pennsylvania German weaver’s manuscript pattern book and Hanah Wolf’s 1829 fraktur-style bookplate.
Bluemango Books and Manuscripts, New Hope, Penn.
The fair brought to the fore a cadre of early and mid-career specialists. This tech-savvy younger crowd — including Jeffery Ricketts of East Nottingham Antiques, who chronicled his start in the trade in The Magazine Antiques’ current Pennsylvania-themed issue, edited by Lisa Minardi, and organizes the From The Farmhouse Antiques Show; Ben Miller, host of the Curious Objects podcast and founder of the Fine Objects Society; Oliver Garland, who in January took part in the Young Antiques Dealers Association (YADA) fair in New York; and Chris and Bernadette Evans — are reaching buyers in imaginative new ways. Wisconsin dealer and ADA president Zac Ziebarth, who also hosts online auctions, posted timely podcast-style interviews with other Pennsylvania Antiques Show exhibitors.
The media rollout for the new show was flawless, combining print, television, radio and online promotion, including the aforesaid themed issue of Antiques and the handsome show catalog. From set up to pack out, the fair was documented online by social-media mavens Keegan McGowan and Emily Brandenburg, with many exhibitors posting, as well. The days of fully live-casted shows are approaching.
Beaded child’s vest with American flags motif, Plains, likely Sioux, circa 1880-90. Ziebarth Antiques, Mount Horeb, Wis.
A quibble with this otherwise stellar first outing involves the venue, always the hardest part of the show equation. Visitors coming from afar to this “destination” event would benefit from more guidance on varied transportation, lodging and dining options. Minardi, who reviewed area facilities before choosing, remains committed to the Valley Forge Casino Resort: “This was the only venue that checks all the boxes. It has easy highway access, a huge free parking lot and an onsite hotel. The facility is non-union and we’re not in Philadelphia County, so there’s no extra tax, which eliminates two headaches for dealers.”
Led by Minardi, the cast and crew of the inaugural Pennsylvania Antiques Show deserve enormous praise for fashioning a forward-looking event steeped in the great traditions of our field. Dates are already in place for 2027, when the Pennsylvania Antiques Show at Valley Forge will get underway from April 15-18.
“We’re super pleased with how it went. We had lots of help from many people. Historic Trappe is a rapidly growing, ambitious organization. This was a great way to gain more regional and nationwide attention, especially in America’s 250th anniversary year and so near to Valley Forge and Philadelphia,” Minardi said.
For more on the Pennsylvania Antiques Show, www.paantiquesshow.com. For more on Historic Trappe, www.historictrappe.org.
