“It’s a great day for an antiques show,” Howard Graff, co-manager of the VADA Antiques Show said as low clouds covered the mountain tops and rain fell intermittently on Saturday, September 23. Show weather continued on Sunday, as heavy rain at times beat noisily on the roof of the Hunter Park Pavilion. One shopper, realizing too late that the rains had started on Sunday, was seen racing across the parking lot saying, “I left my sunroof open.” After returning to the show, his pink shirt uncomfortably wet, he was heard telling his wife, “We will have to find some newspapers to sit on for the ride home.”
According to the bylaws of the Vermont Antiques Dealers Association, the sponsoring organization, a percentage of the exhibitors must be from the home state and all dealers must be members of the organization. Rounding out the 75 dealers in the show were those from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky, Delaware, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
For the most part, it was a country show with formal pieces running second to painted country furniture. Several single-interest booths were there, including a jewelry dealer, Oriental rugs, clocks and two galleries. American folk art was scattered through the show and quilts were plentiful.
Right near the main entrance, Jane and Phil Workman from New Boston, N.H., were set up, offering a large eider decoy in the original paint, displayed on a snake-foot candlestand with shaped top, New England, dating from the Nineteenth Century. The eye-catcher in the booth was, however, an Eighteenth Century two-drawer blanket chest with blue-painted surface, brass pulls, of New England origin, probably Massachusetts.
Moving into a less country look across the aisle, Judd and Peg Gregory of nearby Dorset, Vt., showed a Queen Anne highboy of Massachusetts origin, maple, circa 1760, retaining an Israel Sack label. A five-piece Dutch garniture, circa 1790, was displayed on top of the highboy. Among the smaller pieces was a New York State Federal worktable, circa 1825–30, in bird’s-eye maple.
A small Eighteenth Century Queen Anne drop leaf table with oval molded top was at the front of the booth of the Holdens, Naples, Fla., and Sherman, Conn. The table measured 41 ¾ by 44 inches, with the leaves up, and cabriole legs ended in raised pad feet. An Ethan Allen horse weathervane, with yellow surface and some repaired bullet holes, was shown on the table’s surface. From Northern New England was an early Nineteenth Century birch and pine hutch/chair table with two-board scrubbed pine top measuring 42 inches wide.
One of the stars in the booth of Michael and Lucinda Seward of Pittsford, Vt., was a Nineteenth Century painted tin box of small size with a watermelon on the front, all original condition. A very folky weathervane, sheet metal, was in the form of a motorcycle and rider, and a Vermont sewing table was made and signed by E. Lyman of Williston.
John Gould, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., showed a large collection of gilt frames, several early tables, and a painting depicting a mountain landscape with a pond in the foreground. It was by listed artist Gregory Hollyer (1871–1965) and was in the original frame.
Thirty-two pairs of animals, Britains, were gathered around a large ark pull toy, circa 1930s, in the booth of Wenham Cross, Topsfield, Mass. Nearby, show co-manager Howard Graff displayed a table filled with iron objects, including a turtle, metal pots and a pair of large lamps that sold the first day. An attractive advertising piece was from the Colonial Works, Boonton, N.J., reverse painted and promoting various colors of floor paint.
Jon and John Maggs of Conway, Mass., showed a joined maple chair table with a two-board pine top, New England, late Eighteenth Century, with a set of four ladder back side chairs, old finish, and splint seats. Two large painted wooden bowls were displayed on the table top.
A selection of doorstops, cast iron, was in the booth of Scanlon Family Antiques, South Burlington, Vt., including a deer, parrot, lion, several dogs and a Southern Belle.
Local dealers Clarke and Barbara Comollo had a large and colorful poster that filled most of the end wall of the booth depicting Prince Kar-Mi, a 1914 product from the National Printing and Engraving Co. “A Barn Near Dorset, Vt.,” oil on Masonite by Eric Sloane, measured 23 by 35 inches sight and a Chippendale slant front desk in figured mahogany, shaped bracket feet, was of New England origin.
From just down the road in Arlington, Vt., The Farm Antiques offered a two-drawer blanket chest in later yellow paint, and a set of six step down Windsor side chairs, decorated, circa 1820, from Wiscasset, Maine.
Drake Field Antiques, Longmeadow, Mass., had a fold top game table with a single drawer, reeded legs, in cherrywood, circa 1810, New England, and a bow front server or side table in mahogany with molded top, tapering legs, one drawer, circa 1800.
Wethersfield, Conn., exhibitors New England Home Antiques had a circa 1770 New England butterfly table with maple base and a Queen Anne looking glass with “bird” scroll crest, American, with good patina.
Several racks of quilts filled one end of the booth of Marie Miller of Dorset, Vt., and hanging on the wall was a crazy quilt, circa 1880, measuring 70 by 78 inches. Among her furniture was a corner cupboard on poplar, circa 1820. Across the aisle Joe Martin said he had a very good show and by the end of the first day had sold several stands and a step back cupboard in blue-gray paint that was going to be shipped to California.
A German farm table, three-board top, late Nineteenth Century, was across the front of the booth of Cheryl and Paul Scott of Hillsborough, N.H. A rocking chair with red surface, splint seat, dated circa 1820, and a wooden horse weathervane with good surface was circa 1900. Cushing and White was the maker of a large, full-bodied bull weathervane, circa 1885.
Attracting lots of attention, but unsold as of noon on Sunday, was a circa 1930 tricycle that had cleverly been made to support a glass top, turning it into an interesting table. It was shown by American Classics of Canaan, N.H. A standout in a selection of paint decorated chairs was one in yellow, complete with finely decorated stretcher, probably from New Jersey, and a grouping of early signs included a large one for “Tourists.”
An Eighteenth Century tavern table from the Mohawk Valley, cherrywood, one drawer, two-board top with breadboard ends, all original, was shown by Home Farm Antiques of New Paltz, N.Y. A Pennsylvania-German pie cupboard, circa 1870, with bootjack ends and six punched tin panels in the front, retained the original painted surface.
“It has been a good show,” Tom Longacre of Marlborough, N.H., said, listing among his sales a couple of game boards, a Federal corner cupboard, a set of four Pennsylvania decorated side chairs, and a New England Queen Anne blanket chest in old red.
Among the rare and unusual at the show was a large Chinese painted screen, two sided and two pieces, of elm wood shown by New Hampshire dealer John Rogers. The piece dated 1730 and came from the Shanxi Province. Closer to home was a Vermont server in cherrywood with mahogany veneer, circa 1840–60.
Another local dealer, Millstone Antiques, located across from the Equinox House, had two booths, one with formal things and the other filled mostly with accessories. A large Hepplewhite dining table stretched across the front of one of the booths, and hanging in the other was a large oil on canvas by William Frederick Paslcoll of The Worthy Inn in Manchester, circa 1929. At the time the painting was done, the artist used the pseudonym T. Bailey and the establishment has been renamed The Village Country Inn.
Gloria M. Lonergan of Mendham, N.J., showed a nice arrow back Windsor settee in red and black rosewood graining, New England, circa 1820, and on the wall was a hanging cupboard in pewter paint, New England origin, measuring 25 inches wide, 50 inches high and 7½ inches deep. A stack of seven graduated pantry boxes in old green paint was at the front of the booth.
One wall in the booth of Clint and Pat Bigelow American Antiques, East Berlin, Conn., was taken by a folk art quilt, red, white and blue flags, commemorating the Spanish-American War, circa 1898. Of interest was a small cast iron parlor stove with sliding door in front, detailed casting, that dated circa 1870.
Jeff and Holly Noordsy of Cornwall, Vt., were celebrating their 11th anniversary on the VADA weekend, combining selling antiques with a special dinner on Saturday night. They offered a collection of early flasks, mostly green glass, with embossed decorations including stars, eagles and trees. Three Vermont boxes were stacked at the back of the booth, all paint decorated with a dome top yellow example on top.
A great blue heron, carved and polychromed wood, circa 1890, stood tall in the booth of Susan and Otto Hart of Arlington, Vt. A grouping of World War II era patriotic frames, made of slate and decorated red, white and blue, was of interest, and a large sign advertised “Hilltop Tea Show — Rooms” in white lettering on a blue ground.
A convex hanging corner cupboard, English, 39 inches high and dating from the early Nineteenth Century, was offered by East Dennis Antiques, East Dennis, Mass. From the mid Nineteenth Century was a pie safe in cherrywood, old surface, two drawers over two doors, with four punched panels in the front.
Ron Chambers of Higganum, Conn., showed a nice selection of furniture including an oval scrubbed top tap table from Vermont, circa 1760, and a two-drawer blanket chest with the original pin hinges, circa 1760. “Pewter is selling well,” Ron said, listing off several pieces of American pewter that went opening day.
An English advertising clock, eight-day in mahogany case, 23 inches high, promoted the Aristocrat of Whiskey, Black & Gold, in the booth of Charles Breuel Antiques, Glenmont, N.Y. A nice Atkins & Downs shelf clock, circa 1831–32, Bristol, Conn., has 30-hour wooden works, weight driven, carved eagle splat and paw feet. The reverse painting on glass in the lower section showed a landscape with a large house in the foreground.
“Our gate is pretty much the same, but we got a few more this time,” Howard Graff said. For those planning ahead, the VADA show will be over the September 29–30 weekend in 2007.
