Brian Cullity, Sagamore, Mass.

Swala’s Antiques Warehouse, Washington, Penn.

Barry Cohen began his second decade of running an antiques show in York on November 5 when his York Classic Antiques Show opened for early buying at 7 am. “The gate for early buying was off some from last fall, but attendance was up from the May show,” Barry said. He added, “We ended up well, with many of our exhibitors reporting good to excellent sales.”

For various reasons, a number of exhibitors choose not to do the show this fall and Barry sought new dealers to fill his 97-booth show. He picked well, filling Memorial Hall with some new faces and an interesting mix of offerings.

Old Stream Antiques of Mt Vernon, Ohio, offered a large baker’s table in pine and a two-board Hepplewhite one-drawer drop leaf table, also in pine. The collection shown by Prints From The Past, located just up the road in Doylestown, Penn., included Prideaux, John Selby, a hand colored copper plate etching/ engraving, 1841, London, from Illustrations of British Ornithology collection, second edition.

Mary Carden Quinn of Floral Park, N.Y., a regular at the Cohen shows, always has a number of hooked rugs and this time offered an example with horseshoes in each corner, surrounding a large one in the center. Flying geese crossed another finely hooked rug measuring 181/2 by 351/4 inches. “We had a good show with sales on both days,” Neil Quinn said. Among the sales was a child’s sled, South Paris, Maine, with a stamp on it for the distributor in Hartford, along with the date of 1916 and the owner’s name.

“It sold four times before the show even opened,” Neil said. He also mention sales of a six-board chest from Connecticut with bootjack ends, old blue painted surface, circa 1840, with the maker’s name in pencil on the bottom. Also sold were a set of six Pennsylvania painted plank-seat chairs, a golfer doorstop in the original paint and a folk art bird tree.

Hanes and Ruskin of Old Lyme, Conn., offered a more formal look with several case pieces of furniture, brass rdf_Descriptions and some porcelain. A refinished country dining table, 5 feet 5 inches long with two drop leaves, dated from the mid Nineteenth Century, and among the chairs in the booth was a Connecticut bow back Windsor armchair, late Eighteenth Century, in vibrant blue paint over the old original red. A note, written by the previous owner and attached to the chair, read, “I always remember this chair as being blue.”

Log Cabin Antiques from Lititz, Penn., showed two New England chair tables, both in old red, and a nice dry sink, circa 1800, among the furniture offerings. A New England one-board tap table in bittersweet paint, 301/2 inches long, Eighteenth Century, tapered lags, was in the front of the booth of Bobbie Pries of Westfield Center, Ohio. A nice stenciled canvas covered dome top trunk, 311/2 by 12 by 12 inches, circa 1820-40, was also shown.

Swala’s Antique Warehouse, Washington, Penn., offered a collection of stoneware numbering about 30 pieces, mostly of Pennsylvania origin. Of special note was a large 20-gallon crock by R.T. Williams, New Geneva, Penn., with an extra tag on it reading, “Best we’ve ever seen.” From Stafford Springs, Conn., Blue Dog Antiques offered a circa 1760 slat back armchair of Massachusetts origin, black painted rush seat, and a Pennsylvania paint decorated cupboard with one paneled door, circa 1820, of pine.

Sheppheard’s Antiques of Bedford, Penn., offered several medicine cabinets with advertising on the front door. Among them were Dr Daniel’s Veterinary Medicine and Pratt’s Veterinary Remedies. A clothing store display rack held a selection of a dozen hats, while a portion of the side wall was taken by two large posters, September 1911, advertising The Great Newark Fair.

A white-painted primitive wood carving of a horse stood out in the booth of Manchester Antiques, Londonderry, N.H. This piece dated from the late Eighteenth century and was of Swedish origin. A round table with green painted and decorated top was from the Nineteenth Century, American, which when not in use had fold-under legs.

More country things filled the booth of Mary de Buhr Antiques of Downers Grove, Ill. Here a tall set of shelves, possibly from a buttery, 521/2 inches wide, was filled with wooden bowls, plates, cutting boards and breadboards. A well-worn knife sharpening box showed years of wear.

A hooked rug, dating from the early Twentieth Century, 31 inches tall, in the shape of a drum and in patriotic colors, hung against the back wall in the booth of David and Sue Roe, Springfield, Ill. “We brought many country things and are doing quite well,” Sue said. Offered was a Pennsylvania grain-painted blanket chest on bracket base, inside drawer, dating from the Nineteenth Century, and a large wood-turned bowl, New England, 22 inches in diameter, salmon paint, was displayed on a Pennsylvania dry sink with two paneled doors enclosing the bottom mustard painted surface.

Michael Caden Gallery, Cody, Wyo.,, combined the York show with Barry Cohen’s new Indian show in Washington, D.C., and Michael noted, “We have had lots of interest, people come into the booth and look our collection of early photographs over, but are hesitant to buy.” He offered some very high-end pieces from a large booth at the end of Memorial Hall, including a work by Edward Sheriff Curtis, “Chief Garfield, Jicarilla Apache,” a 12 by 16 platinum photograph and one of several by Curtis.

One of the most time-consuming booths to set up in the show belonged to Lost & Found from Baltimore. Here eight wide shelves of chocolate molds, taking all manner of shapes, were against the outside wall of the booth, while cases were filled with hundreds of soldiers and other lead figures. One entire case was devoted to sewing related rdf_Descriptions, and of course Christmas decorations were offered, including a large stand of Santa figures.

An interesting set of eight one-dimensional metal crow decoys was just being taken down and packed for a customer by Etcetera, Etc, Cambridge, N.Y., as this reporter rounded the corner at the far end of the show. Among other pieces in the booth were two early painted birdhouses, both of goods size and mounted on cupolas.

One had to be moving fast to miss the vibrant painted game wheel in the booth of Plum Lucky Antiques, Annapolis, Md. It had a bright yellow and orange painted surface, with black numbers, and dated from the early Twentieth Century. And for those looking for folk art from the same period, an eight-foot-long painted snake, North Carolina origin, was available.

An Empire server with bird’s-eye drawer fronts, found in Aiken, S.C., but reportedly made in New York State, was in the display of Warren and Carol Ellis of Elizabeth City, N.C. A Maryland chest of drawers with backsplash, old red surface, was among other pieces of furniture, and a colorful nine-patch quilt of Pennsylvania origin hung on the back wall.

Kensington, Conn., dealer Derik Pulito showed a very colorful red, white and blue star pattern quilt hung near an oil on canvas landscape depicting cows in a pasture. This work was by Nelson D. Wilson (1880-1950), Leopold, Ind. Furniture included a circa 1830 Massachusetts jelly cupboard with cutout base, sage coloring.

More formal furniture was shown in the booth of Lit Kirkpatrick, Kirtland, Ohio, including a tiger maple drop leaf extension table with the original brass cup caters, 12 feet 2 inches long, New York State, circa 1860. An Empire tiger maple six-drawer chest retained an old surface, and a Chippendale five-drawer chest in walnut, with ogee feet, circa 1770, was 34 inches wide and figured with two short drawers over three long drawers. This piece was from Philadelphia.

Among the pie safes offered at the show was a nice one in the booth of The Mersky’s of Paradise, Penn. This one, Pennsylvania origin, had a nice salmon painted surface over the old red. An early cupboard, once in a railroad station, showed a red-painted surface.

Indians, clowns, soldiers and children were among the many forms of chocolate molds shown in the booth of Bayberry Antiques, Orleans, Mass. Two stacks of multicolored firkins were offered, along with a nice selection of doorstops depicting rabbits, ducks, penguin, Old Salt and an messenger from Fiske.

Among the Eighteenth Century furniture in the booth of Antiques at Hillwood Farms, Pecatonica, Ill, were a gate leg table in oak and yew, original surface, and a Chippendale slant front desk in birch, Connecticut origin. A set of New Hampshire storage shelves, Nineteenth Century, untouched condition, were probably originally used for foodstuffs, but served as a display for a large collection of leather-bound books shown at York.

A large black-painted sheet iron horse weathervane stood out from a distance on the back wall of the booth of Brian Cullity, Sagamore, Mass. This Nineteenth Century figures was shown over a New York slant front desk on stand with paint decorated interior. A Queen Anne drop leaf table in walnut, tiger maple secondary, was from the Philadelphia region and dated circa 1740-60. And as usual, a nice selection of redware pieces was available.

“The May show will again offer a wide variety of antiques and we already have a strong dealer list for May,” Cohen said.