Falcon’s Roost, Grantham, N.H.
Milan Village Antiques, Milan, Ohio.
Bill Smith Antiques, Cary, N.C.
Antiques Week in New Hampshire
Antiques Show
MANCHESTER, N.H. – “We will find a place for it,” a lady was telling her husband as she made her way down one of the aisles at Antiques Show. She did not mention her purchase by name, but apparently it was so good that a spot in her collection could be found for it. In any case, she was just one of many who came to the show and found something, making this event a very successful outing for the majority of the exhibitors.
Kay Puchstein, the manager of this two-day show, said, “We had a large gate, up from last year, and sales have been numerous.” This is the second year for the show and it is billed as “the largest indoor show in Manchester of Antiques Week.” It is staged at the JFK Coliseum, also known as The Ice Rink, with 80 exhibitors on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 8 and 9.
The show proved to be a most interesting event and gave exposure to many dealers who are not regulars on the New England circuit. Thirty states are represented among the dealers, many of them coming from the South and West.
“We do not plan to increase the size of the show and will be keeping it the same next year,” Kay said. “The only major change we have made was changing the show from a three day event down to two. The Monday opening did not work for us.”
Kelly Gallery of Centerville, Ohio, filled the walls of the booth with many works of art including a large oil on canvas of a reclining lion by Thomas Corwin Lindsay, a member of the Cincinnati Art Club. Pastel portraits by Micab Williams, 1823, were also available. A selection of children’s shoes, both high-tops and lows, was shown on a hanging wall shelf in old green, with plate rack, in the booth of Sheepish Grin Antiques, Elkton, Md., while a large collection of silver napkin rings was in one of the cases manned by George’s Antiques, Atlanta, Ga. Cast iron doorstops in the original paint ranged in subject from sheep and other barnyard animals to a cowboy on horseback.
The most interesting trade sign in the show was a large wooden boot, very pointed toe, which came from Ohio and had the name Fred Gfell on both sides. It hung in the booth of Eileen Conley of Memory Lane, Buda, Tex., who said that it was nice to be out of the Texas heat, but it was sure a long drive to do it. The eighty-plus temperature that day in Manchester felt cool to her and she was having a good show from the very start. A nice collection of painted wooden bowls was shown, along with a pie safe with six punched stars in each panel.
“Reed’s Pure House Paint – The Best Made” was advertised on a colorful sign in the booth of Sheppheards Antiques of Bedford, Pa. Other advertising rdf_Descriptions were two spool chests in very good condition and sharp lettering for J&P Coates, and two dispensers, one for Howel’s Orange Julep and the other for Fowler’s Cherry Smash. Bill Smith Antiques of North Carolina offered a step-back cupboard with patches of the original blue paint still intact, along with a hired man’s bed, Virginia origin, Nineteenth Century, in the original yellow with ball finials. A large collection of pewter, American and English, was shown by James Island Antiques, South Carolina, including pots, measures, plates, and lamps.
Ron Christman of Delafield, Wis., noted, “The lady has everything including a lace collar and a red book in her hands,” when speaking of the large portrait which hung in the center of his booth. He attributed this oil on canvas to William Kennedy, partly because of the sitter’s smooth hands. Two corner cupboards were shown, one of rose head nail construction, probably Kentucky, the other with three shaped shelves in the top section, green painted surface. Cloanne Snyder showed a sign for Sidney Circus, Indiana, “a spot in the road,” along with a large eagle weathervane that came from a public building in Diaz Creek, N.J. It was mounted on a new ball and had the wrong set of directionals.
Country Treasures from Maryland presented a booth as colorful as an artist’s palette, with a yellow grained step-back cupboard against one wall, a red one door hanging cupboard, a blue bucket bench from New England, circa 1830, and a tall five-drawer chest, also from New England, circa 1800-20, in the original dry yellow paint. A North Carolina table in old blue, three-board top, circa 1840, with Hepplewhite legs, measured 38 by 48 inches, and a writing lap desk, circa 1890, from Pennsylvania, added yet another color with its salmon surface.
Don and Marta Orwig of Corunna, Ind., showed a selection of gamewheels in bright colors, a set of six cast iron finials, and a chopping block in old red with turned legs. A collection of six whirligigs made by Albert Berversdorf, a violin maker from Chicago, circa 1930, were finished in many different colors of paint and the most intricate of the pieces featured a woodpecker which moved as the prop turned in the wind. “We bought these directly from the maker’s grandson and it is the first time they have been shown in public,” Don Orwig said.
“I have never seen a larger butcher’s block,” Millie Huckabay said of the piece, which took up a good portion of her booth. The block, mid-Nineteenth Century, original blue painted base, measured 45½ inches in diameter and could well serve as a luncheon table. This Alpharetta, Ga., dealer had other pieces of furniture including a dry sink with yellow painted surface and figured with two doors and one long drawer.
A selection of birch bark canoes in various sizes was offered by Weinert Antiques of Michigan. Several pictures of fish, including a day’s catch of four trout complete with a rod and the lake in the background, decorated the walls, as did a painted door for Colhalf Barrell, 1925, showing a sailor sitting on a barrel. Don Schweikert of Watertown, Ohio, was the only print dealer in the show and he has a selection of animal, floral, and country scene prints, as well as a few examples by Audubon. A pair of early Ohio wall sconces was displayed about which he said, “They are very rare and I just got them, took them right off the wall in a house.” Also of Ohio origin was a cast iron bench, grape pattern, in a white rusty finish.
Nitz Antiques from Pennsylvania offered a Federal chest of four drawers, circa 1800, bittersweet surface, from Ligonier, Pa., while Falcon’s Roost showed a Connecticut Sheraton four-drawer chest, circa 1810, in excellent condition. This booth also had a pair of shield back side chairs in mahogany, New York State, dating from the early Nineteenth Century.
Gold Goat Antiques, Rhinebeck, N.Y., reported an excellent show, noting that in the first few hours of the show seven pieces of furniture were sold. Two document boxes, a one-drawer stand, a New England dressing table, a decorated Boston side chair, and two one-drawer blanket chests, all with painted surfaces, had “sold” signs attached. One of the blanket chests was from central Massachusetts, 1825-35, of large size, and the other was from New England, early Nineteenth century, cut-out feet with a yellow putty design.
A sawbuck table with dry scrubbed surface measured 10 feet long and was in the booth of Sheridan Loyd Antiques of Missouri. It dated from the Eighteenth Century and was 2½ feet wide. An interesting tin Chippendale looking glass dated from the Eighteenth Century with crimped fan cornice and scalloped edging.
People started lining up for the show about three hours before the noon opening and many commented to both the dealers and the management that was indeed a rewarding and interesting start to the week’s events.
