Friday, October 5, was a busy day at Bryan Memorial Town Hall in Washington Depot. Not only was there the run of the day business going on in the town’s public offices, but antiques dealers, volunteers and workers were scurrying all over taking care of last minute preparations for the opening of the 21st annual Washington Connecticut Antiques Show on Saturday morning.
The tent in front of Bryan Hall, set up to accommodate six exhibitors, was carpeted, well-lighted, and decorated with a large arrangement of white flowers in a tall urn. And the placement of the tent, directly opposite the entrance to Bryan Hall, made for an easy flow for visitors from one exhibition space to the other. And, as usual, every available inch of the town hall was put to good use. Five dealers, all with easily portable goods, were on the second floor, while furniture and loaded cases filled the first floor and the stage area.
This show is one of the very few in the country that has a benefit gala after the show opens. Instead of the usual preview party that kicks off a show and gives the privilege of “first picks” to those who shell out for the high price tickets, Washington’s gala takes place after the show closes on Saturday at 5 pm. The party begins at 6:30 pm and runs till 9. However, it seems to work, for Stephen Ketterer, the show’s manager, said, “We have about 450 advance reservations and more will show up at the door on Saturday.” Both the show and the gala benefit The Gunn Memorial Library & Museum and help in achieving the goal of raising 80 percent of the annual budget.
This completely volunteer group behind the show does everything, including dealer selection, which is limited to 23 exhibitors. A well-rounded selection of dealers provides a nice choice of furniture, mostly English and both formal and informal, ceramics from many potteries representing various periods, maps and lithographs, paintings, thousands of “smalls’ ranging from all shapes of snuff boxes to a choice of candlesticks, books and some documents, rugs and jewelry, located for the most part on the second floor.
Toronto, Canada, exhibitor Richard Rumi offered an English William IV rosewood combo writing and games table, burl inlaid top, bun feet, dating circa 1830‴0 and among the accessories in the booth was a pair of late Nineteenth Century Grand Tour temple models. Paintings filled the walls in the booth of Blue Heron Interiors, Cohasset, Mass., including a work by Harry Hammond Ahl (1869‱953), Apple Blossom Hillside, an oil on canvas, signed lower right, and measuring 20 by 26 inches.
Seven cases lined the back and side walls of the booth of The Spare Room, Baltimore, Md., and every one was filled to capacity with all manner of choice things geared to satisfy many avenues of collecting. Biscuit tins were in different forms, including a chest of drawers, a double-deck bus, a cottage and a horse decorated example. Silver flatware filled the best part of one case, Coalport occupied another, stirrup cups filled a shelf and snuff boxes were in every shape imaginable.
G. Sergeant Antiques of Woodbury, Conn., did an exceptional booth, taking all the available space on the stage at the end of the exhibition hall. Most of it was filled with furniture, including a serpentine sewing table with brass gallery, reeded legs ending in spade feet, and measuring 37 inches high, 72 inches wide and 25 inches deep. A Hepplewhite mechanical desk used for drawing or architectural work was fitted for storage in the lower section, mahogany with inlays, and measured 38 inches high, 48 inches wide and 18 inches deep.
Dana Kraus of Regalia Estate and Fine Jewelry, Boston, was thrilled with the results of the show, calling it “exceptional” and visited by “savvy” people in Washington. “In spite of the heat on the second floor, we did very well and sold a number of pieces of iconic American jewelry,” she said. Among the pieces sold were by designers such as David Webb, Paul Slato and Seaman Schepps.
Winsor Antiques, also from Woodbury, had examples of early English furniture set against a Flemish genre tapestry dating from the late Seventeenth to early Eighteenth Century mounted on the back wall. It measured 117 by 111 inches and showed figures in a forest landscape with views of a distant chalet, bordered by flowers and birds. Also on the back wall was a pair of French carved oak panels dating from the Sixteenth Century.
L&E Reid Antiques of New Preston, Conn., had a small booth, but it was filled to capacity with furniture and accessories, including an English pedestal table in walnut with the original marble top, circa 1870, and a Flemish carved chair in walnut, circa 1820. A cast iron lion in old painted surface, with some rust, rested under a table.
There is never a shortage of tall case clocks when Time and Strike of McLean, Va., is at a show. Among the examples offered was one signed by Samuel Thorndike, Ipswich, eight days with brass movement, moon dial, and measuring 7 feet tall. As with all the clocks the Sneads sell, it was in fine working order. On a smaller scale, an English skeleton eight-day clock with passing strike on the hour works, circa 1870, was under globe on a five-drawer mahogany chest, circa 1820, of English origin.
A George III library table in mahogany with inset leather top, four working and four false drawers, three down-swept legs, circa 1830 and of English origin, was shown by Cunha-St John of Essex, Mass. Flanking the front of the booth was a pair of marble urns, 24 inches high, Continental and dating circa 1960. An unusual piece was a cast iron hitching post with horse head that was listed as a wall-mounted piece because of the shape of the head, the fall of the ring, and the length of about two feet.
“We have not been in the show for a couple of years and were glad to be back,” Brad Reh of Southampton, N.Y., said. His cases of jewelry drew much attention from the visitors, and “they were people with a good knowledge of jewelry and very focused on their particular interests.” He noted that it was a great area and the party on Saturday evening brought out an exceptional gathering of people. “It was a very good show for us,” he said, mentioning among his sales a diamond bracelet by the French designer Mauboussin.
By the time Mo Wajselfish and his two helpers had set up Leatherwood Antiques of Sandwich, Mass., there was not a spare inch of space on any of the walls of the booth, and even the large floor space left little room to navigate the booth. But it was an interesting trip from front to back and from side to side, viewing the large collection of child’s Staffordshire plates and cups, the Black Forest carved animals and the shelves of Vienna bronzes ranging in form from a small green frog to a duck measuring 5 inches tall.
One single and four double sailor’s valentines, both English and Barbados, were displayed, an English golf play set with three clubs was mounted on the wall, and an architectural wall shelf shaped like the front of a house, two wings and a balcony, two craved and painted figures in the doorways, was of Continental origin and dated from the late Nineteenth Century. A large eagle coat rack, wood with horn hooks, German, circa 1910, was inscribed “Gemeinde Partenkirchen.”
“We have a very different look for this show,” Martin Jacobs of the Splendid Peasant, Bristol, R.I., said of his booth filled with American folk art. And he was so right, for he also had weathervanes mounted on every wall, a nice selection of carved and painted decoys, and wooden horses measuring 2 feet tall. Of prime interest was a large rooster weathervane of heavy gauge pitted cold copper that Martin said “must have been made for a church or office building because of its size.” It measured 34 inches long, 23 inches wide and 5 inches deep and was from either New England or Canada.
Other vanes offered included a cow, a horse, a deer, a horse with rider, a Gabriel and another rooster of smaller size. A bull weight came with the original mounting, circa 1900, 24½ inches long and 18 inches high, made by Fairbury Windmill Co., Fairbury, Neb.
A green painted wicker set including a sofa, two armchairs, two demilune tables and two lamps, floral fabric on the cushions, filled the front of the booth of Michael Donovan of Nashua, N.H. A wicker tea cart was also available, as was a cast iron plant stand, about 5 feet long and capable of holding five large plants. Showing a good surface was a bronze fountain in the form of a leaping marlin.
More things for the porch or patio filled the booth of Dawn Hill of New Preston, Conn. A cast iron and wire settee had two matching armchairs, a set of four cast stone planters were oval in form, and a copper and bronze armillary was mounted on a carved sandstone base, English, circa 1850‷0. A plant stand in the corner was laden with different shaped watering cans, a selection of pottery flower pots and a number of metal lawn sprinklers.
This show is billed as “The Best Little Show In The Country” and, to our knowledge, it has not been challenged.
