“Good, better, best, never let it rest” could be the motto of the Philadelphia Antiques Show, which goes from strength to strength each year.

The 56-exhibitor fair at Philadelphia’s 33rd Street Armory got underway for five days with a preview party on Friday evening, April 8. Proceeds were earmarked for the Division of Gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The hospital has benefited from the show since the event’s founding in 1962.

Two hundred fifty volunteers worked under the direction of show chairman Anne L. Rubin and manager Josh Wainwright of Keeling Wainwright Associates.

“Opening night was extraordinary. We had record attendance and many, many sales,” said Mrs Rubin, who will be succeeded by Chris Smith in 2006. “Three new exhibitors brought wonderful energy to the floor and our new partnership with the Haverford Trust Company, our presenting sponsor, was very successful.

“We have a commitment for the facility next year. Our dates are April 7-11, 2006” confirmed Mrs Rubin, squelching talk that the 33rd Street Armory will soon close for renovations.

“This was the best Philadelphia Antiques Show in my 15 years,” said Mr Wainwright, citing both the quality of the merchandise and its presentation. He credited increased attendance to expanded marketing and promotion, noting the effort that dealers themselves made in getting the word out to customers.

“We had transit posters on Amtrak and SEPTA commuter rail lines, as well as a billboard on the Schuylkill Expressway. People also liked our mailing piece,” said publicist Melanie Sole.

“Exhibitors’ only complaints were not enough wastebaskets during setup and the occasional cold hot dog,” Wainwright said after the dealers’ meeting on Tuesday morning.Antiques and The Arts Weeklyhas confirmed, through another source, that management explicitly warned dealers against exhibiting presold merchandise at the show.

Organized by Robert F. Trent and Harry Mack Truax II and underwritten by Freeman’s, the loan show, “Vaulting Ambition: Gothic Revival in Philadelphia, 1830-1860,” was one of the most ambitious and scholarly ever mounted at the fair. Lenders to the display included Trent, Truax, Walter Joseph Stewart, Stiles T. Colwill, Judith Hollander, Richard Cote and Bruce Young, Robert Curtis Chinnici and Jeffrey Adams, and Wyck Association in Germantown.

A handful of exhibitors had Gothic goods for sale. George Williams of Estate Antiques, Charleston, S.C., featured a pair of ebonized Baltimore Gothic Revival side chairs, $3,900, alongside a western Pennsylvania Federal veneered cherry and mahogany desk and bookcase.

One of three new dealers in the show, Katonah, N.Y., garden antiques specialist Barbara Israel dug further back into history, producing a Venetian Gothic stone wellhead, carved with the famous Lion of St Mark. The sculpture was Fourteenth or Fifteenth Century, not Nineteenth. For her debut in Philadelphia, Ms Israel commissioned a painted backdrop inspired by Boxley, one of the city’s loveliest private gardens.

Boston dealer Stephen Score was ready for spring with an outstanding pair of cast iron garden settees whose distinguishing traits included serpentine backs, dog’s head terminals on its arms and paw feet.

Martyn Gregory, a leading specialist in China Trade paintings, was also new to Philadelphia. The London dealer presented a 78-inch-long oil on canvas panoramic view of the waterfront at Canton, plus an Eighteenth Century Chinese Export hardwood desk, $50,000, and six botanicals of Southeast Asian fruit, $35,000.

First-time exhibitors Joe Kindig III and his daughter, Jenifer, lived up to expectation with their drop-dead display. Joe Kindig, Jr’s own copy of his Thoughts on The Kentucky Rifle in Its Golden Agesat in mute tribute to the renowned Pennsylvania dealer near a selection of his beloved firearms, the most expensive of which, by Frederick Sell, was $95,000. Besides two robustly articulated New York five-legged card tables, $395,000 and $385,000, the Kindigs offered a Philadelphia Chippendale desk and bookcase, a Philadelphia piecrust tea table, and a pair of circa 1770 Philadelphia side chairs. A Philadelphia armchair attributed to Benjamin Randolph was $345,000; a Frederick Maus tall case clock, $275,000.

“The Kindigs are a great addition to the show. Their booth was beautiful,” said New York dealer Leigh Keno, who own stand was anchored by a Newport, R.I., Goddard-Townsend School Chippendale bonnet-top high chest of drawers, $585,000, that descended in the Ellery family. Leigh and Leslie Keno will speak on Sunday, June 19, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in conjunction with “John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker,” which opens at the New York museum on May 6. Mr Keno’s sales included a James Bard ship’s portrait of the paddle wheeler Sylvan Dell, $225,000, and a Federal Salem doll’s bed, $52,000, dressed in period fabrics by Cora Ginsburg LLC.

Nathan Liverant and Son drew visitors on the hour to witness the chiming of a remarkable Chippendale mahogany tall case clock whose automaton mechanism above its dial featured a farmer clapping a cow on the head with an ax. The clock sold to a well-known collector of American decorative arts.

“We owned the clock 14 years ago and just got it back,” Colchester, Conn., dealer Arthur Liverant said of the timepiece attributed to Deacon Willet Stillman of Westerly, R.I., circa 1795. Its beautiful case was distinguished by flame finials, whale’s tail fretwork and carved shells on the base and door. For the ninth year running, the Liverants mounted a special show on their outside walls. This year’s theme was candlestands, 12 of which ranged from an affordable $3,500 and $18,000 each.

It was a banner year for Litchfield, Conn., dealers Jeffrey and Peter Tillou, whose trophy pieces included a New York Chippendale block front kneehole desk, $350,000, and a Lancaster County figured walnut arched pediment, shell carved desk and bookcase, $125,000.

Jeffrey Tillou Antiques – Peter H. Tillou Fine Arts, Litchfield, Conn.

“We sold a very good desk-on-frame, possibly from LongIsland, a wonderful, large Federal eagle that will be featured inan upcoming edition of The Robb Report, a New YorkHepplewhite serpentine front sideboard, three pairs of andirons,paintings and carvings” said Jeffrey Tillou.

Regional furniture included a paint decorated Hudson Valley kas, circa 1760, $95,000 at Elliott and Grace Snyder. Cape Cod dealers Courcier & Wilkins featured a rare Canterbury, N.H, Shaker pine cupboard with chest, $125,000, photographed by William Winter and pictured in The Illustrated Guide to Shaker Furniture.

Southern furniture was on offer at Greg Kramer, whose painted architectural corner cupboard, possibly from the eastern Maryland shore, was $95,000; at Sumpter Priddy, who showed a Norfolk, Va., fall front desk, circa 1770, $78,000, and a Norfolk or James River, Va., dressing table, $88,000; and at J.M. Flanigan, where a Baltimore serpentine front sideboard of 1808 was $37,500 and a Bankson & Lawson of Baltimore secretaire abattant, one of four known, was $82,500.

American Classical furniture specialist Carswell Rush Berlin showed the epitome of the form, an American secretaire abattant of kingwood with rosewood crossbanding and gilt mounts, $500,000. Two others are known. One is in the Warner Collection; the other is in a New York private collection.

Philadelphia dealer John Alexander brought the fair up to date with a pair of bookcases designed by Frank Furness for the Social Arts Club, later the Rittenhouse Club, circa 1878, $16,000; and a pair of Rosetti chairs by Morris & Co., $2,900, circa 1863.

English furniture dealers Alfred Bullard, Inc., of Philadelphia, Gary E. Young Antiques of Centreville, Del., and Georgian Manor Antiques of Fairhaven, Mass., provided a well-received alternative to all the Americana on the floor.

“I sold nine pieces of furniture – chairs, a library table, a center table, a writing table, a music stand, an étagère – plus accessories and wall things. The show was surprisingly good,” said Enrique Goytizolo of Georgian Manor.

Pennsylvania furniture was abundant. West Chester, Penn., dealer Skip Chalfant brought two highboys, two blanket chests and two corner cupboards, among them a Philadelphia Chippendale bonnet-top high chest of drawers, $130,000, attributed to David Evans.

Dover, Del., dealer James Kilvington sold a late Georgian doorway surround from coastal New Hampshire, $5,500. On hold at preview was a Philadelphia early Rococo side chair of circa 1755, part of a small group of tassel backed “Penn” chairs. It had been deaccessioned by the Welcome Society of Pennsylvania and is illustrated in Horner’sBlue Book.

Philip Bradley of Downingtown, Penn., and C.L. Prickett Antiques of Yardley, Penn., featured Pennsylvania tall case clocks. Bradley’s timepieces ranged from a Philadelphia eight-day clock by Owen Biddle, circa 1760, to a Peter Stretch of Pennsylvania 30-hour tall clock, circa 1710-25, and a Joseph Wills eight-day walnut case clock.

Tall case clocks, two in paint decorated cases, were pillars in the stand of James and Nancy Glazer, who arrayed mechanisms by Riley Whiting and Silas Hoadley and a Chester County, Penn., tall clock, $42,000, signed Ellis and Isaac Chandlee, Nottingham.

Philadelphia silver enticed shoppers at Jonathan Trace Antiques. The Rifton, N.Y., dealer featured a Joseph Lownes teapot, circa 1815, along with rich assortment of American, English and Chinese silver. Argentum-The Leopard’s Head of San Francisco offered a 1795-1800 five-piece Federal Philadelphia tea service with bright-cut engraving, , by John McMullin.

As in the past, folk art sold by the truck load.

“We sold our whale weathervane, a carved wooden dog, a pair of portraits by Jacob Mantel and an incredible toleware box,” said Olde Hope Antiques’ Ed Hild, who was busy mailing out photos on the final day of the show. Attributed to Samuel Robb, a tobacconist’s figure in the Pennsylvania dealer’s booth was $115,000; four family portraits attributed to the “Puffy Sleeve” artist were $32,000.

“The folk art collectors are terrific. They know what they are looking for and make quick decisions,” said Allan Katz. The Woodbridge, Conn., Americana dealer sold weathervanes, including a J. Howard codfish, $65,000, trade signs, chairs, carved and painted gangplanks attributed to Bellamy, a ceramic bust of a mariner and a painting. To a private collector went Mr Katz’s best piece, a 27-inch cobalt-decorated stoneware presentation cooler, $125,000, made by John Park Alexander of Akron, Ohio, in 1876 for the Bicentennial in Philadelphia. Mr Katz first saw the cooler in Minneapolis-St Paul at an Antiques Road Show filming.

Marietta, Penn., dealer Harry B. Hartman’s striking frieze consisted of two pairs of cast iron standing Labradors, $58,000 a pair, and weathervanes. A Fiske fish and a Fiske banner vane were $32,000 each. A signed Harris running horse weathervane was $18,500.

The fair’s lone specialist in Native American art, Marcy Burns, offered a Navajo Second Phase Chief’s blanket of about 1865 for $150,000.

Baltimore album quilts hung at Courcier & Wilkins and Stella Rubin. The latter’s quilt, $36,000, from the Hargest family, was signed and dated 1845.

“It was our best Philadelphia show ever,” said Old Saybrook, Conn., needlework specialist Carol Huber, who sold a 1750 Boston Fishing Lady canvaswork picture, $90,000, by Abigail Russell; a 1720 Sandwich, Mass., canvaswork picture, $85,000, that descended in the Wing Family; many samplers and a few silk embroideries.

“It was an especially good year,” said Philadelphia dealer Amy Finkel, who sold two of her most important pieces: a 1789 sampler, $95,000, by Hannah Pearley of Haverhill, Mass., that is illustrated in Girlhood Embroideryby Betty Ring; and an 1804 sampler by Mary Entrikin, $36,000, that is from a Chester County, Penn., school not yet identified.

Historical painting and portraiture was another strong suit.

“We focused on Nineteenth Century American paintings,” said Liz Hendey of Debra Force Fine Art, New York. Charles Bird King’s “Juvenile Ambition” of 1852 pictured a child with his grandfather’s spectacles, hat and cane reading the Union newspaper upside down. “We thought it would be of interest to this crowd. The artist is making a political comment. This is a later working of a piece that King did in the 1820s that is now at Winterthur Museum.” Force also featured an Ernest Lawson painting of Morningside Heights and Titian Peale’s “Three Elks on The North Platte River,” from one of the Philadelphia artist’s early expeditions to the West.

“The Ramsey Polk Family at Carpenter’s Point, Maryland,” price on request, 491/8 by 393/8 inches, oil on canvas by James Peale, 1793, joined Thomas Sully’s portrait, $195,000, of George Frederick Cooke at Hirschl & Adler Galleries.

Schwarz Gallery of Philadelphia drew attention to Thomas Sully’s 1832 portrait of “Abby Ann King Turner Van Pelt,” second wife of Reverend Peter Van Pelt. A companion portrait of the Reverend by an anonymous artist hung nearby.

Joe Kindig Antiques, York, Pa.

Sheffield, Mass., dealer Samuel Herrup and Peter Eaton/JoanBrownstein of Newbury, Mass., mixed New England furniture and earlyportraiture. Herrup hung likenesses by Charles Willson Peale, JohnBrewster and Joseph Whiting Stock. “The Davis Children,” a doubleportrait by Edward Savage of Boston, 1795, was $170,000 atBrownstein/Eaton.

A pair of dated 1830 Sheldon Peck portraits of A. and J. Miner in untouched condition was $185,000 at David Wheatcroft Antiques. The Massachusetts dealer also offered the only known complete set of three oil paintings by John Hilling (1822-1894), a decorative painter from Maine who commemorated the burning of Bath’s Old South Church by the Know-Nothings, an anti-immigrant activist group. A single depiction of the “Burning of Old South Church, Bath, Maine,” circa 1854, is in the National Gallery of Art, a gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch in 1958.

“I pretty much sold out of everything American,” said Elle Shushan, the Philadelphia specialist in portrait miniatures. Her favorite piece was a wax likeness of a free man of color, rendered about 1810 by George M. Miller, a sculptor who lived in Philadelphia and was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy.

A day after closing, organizers were already at work on next year’s fair. Special events are being planned around the 2006 loan show, which will focus on the Fairmount Park Houses and Mount Pleasant in Philadelphia.