Prallsville Mill Offers Inviting Antiques Show

STOCKTON, N.J.

:It was not the icy, foreboding Delaware River that greeted General Washington. Nor was it a churning, rising Delaware. Despite eight days of rain of Biblical proportions, and a state of emergency declared by the governor, the Delaware that met dealers and patrons at the Prallsville Mills Fall Antiques Show on the banks of this noble river was serene and inviting.

And inviting were the antique treasures that awaited patrons at this October 15 and 16 show managed by Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz, who for the first time changed the date to fall, to avoid contending with the August heat. "It was a wise decision to move this show to the October date," noted Lahaska, Penn., exhibitor Richard Suydam.

Perhaps York, Penn., dealer Chris Brey was subconsciously thinking about the rainy days preceding this show when he decided to exhibit one of the highlights in his booth - a signed oil on canvas ship portrait of the Andrew Adams. By maritime painter William Pierce Stubbs (1842-1909), it was offered to patrons for $12,000. Some of his furnishings included a circa 1825 Federal figured maple and cherry, two-part dining table, an early Nineteenth Century soft wood Dutch cupboard in a red wash finish, and a New Hampshire, circa 1800, country Chippendale ribbon back side chair in birch. Early in the show Chris sold a ship painting by James Gale Tyler and whale oil lamps.

For neighbors Ron and Sharon Pittenger, who trade under the name Dark Moon Antiques, Johnsonburg, N.J., it was artwork, in the form of a quilt, that took center stage. From the time that Sharon acquired an intricately stitched crazy quilt (with 11 images and fancy border work), made by Ebbacinna Wieder, she embarked on a genealogical search more readily associated with the work done on schoolgirl samplers. Sharon's work paid off. She located the marriage records for the quiltmaker's daughter Anna (in the territory of Greenwich, N.J.) and ascertained that the large "A" and "Good Luck" embroidered in the center clearly identified it as a circa 1880-1883 wedding gift. This irreplaceable act of love, from the "Golden Age of the Crazy Quilt," was offered to patrons for $1,295.

It was apropos that a patron from New Hampshire should purchase a New Hampshire blanket chest with cutout apron and retaining its original blue-green paint. Both the blanket chest, and the fine braided accent rug that it rested on will be returning to their roots. A slipware plate and a pair of hand forged andirons were several smalls that also found new owners.

This area is replete with "knowledgeable antique customers" noted exhibitors Gordon and Normandie Schell. And as dealers for 30 years, no one would dispute them. Commenting on the fact that this show was taking place on the same weekend as Atlantique City, the Galloway, N.J., couple said, "We only live 12 miles from Atlantic City and look where we exhibit." The Schell's sold a taper leg pine stand and smalls that included an Empire doll bed. Several items seen in their booth included a late Eighteenth/early Nineteenth Century Connecticut cherry candlestand, a late Eighteenth Century Philadelphia nine-spindle Windsor side chair, $695, and several Drake canvas back decoys.

In the booth of LCS, Inc, Washington Crossing, Penn., there was a box with its original stencil design and the name "Cordelia" boldly inscribed on its lid. But it was another Cordelia that came to mind: the only faithful daughter of Shakespeare's King Lear. It was fitting that Sharon Huss, who happens to be a "faithfully" returning exhibitor to this show every year, should display this circa 1820 treasure in her booth. Some of her other offerings included "the best" circa 1740 Shenandoah Valley blanket chest, with dovetail construction and rosehead nails, and retaining its original paint decoration, $5,400. Other furnishings included a Nineteenth Century, North Carolina step back cupboard with its original green paint and a pair of circa 1760 New England slat back chairs with early woven seats.

"I have always loved to attend this show as a customer," said first-time exhibitor Malissa K. Davis, Bethlehem, Penn. "I love the setting and it's a good quality show where you can still buy affordable items."

River Country Antiques, Piermont, N.Y., reported sales that included a 6-foot-long farm table, a tin trade sign, shore birds, and quilts.

Annette Coletti and Richard Fuller, who made the trip from Stowe, Vt., and trade under the name Hand Picked, sold a set of four, mid-Nineteenth Century painted chairs with plank seat and a lot of smalls.

Ken Silveri, Hamburg, Penn., said that he had a good show and "sold a lot bit of everything," adding, "I'm pleased with my gross."

Katona and Lutz, Greenwich, N.J., found new homes for a small hanging cupboard, a painted shelf, a youth chair, and a child's wagon.

Larry and Helen Bryan, Princeton, N.J., must have been relieved that their booth was located on the ground floor, given the number of hefty furniture items that they sold. Leaving their inventory was a mid-1800s six-board, pine blanket chest, a cherry and pine one-drawer stand with bread board sides and turned legs, a mid-1800s pine cupboard with its original finish and original pulls, and, as Larry said, a "very heavy" large dry sink.

Front and center in the booth of Chester, N.J., dealer Jim Woodruff was a circa 1850 four-drawer Sheraton cherry and mahogany chest, $1,475. Also noted was a set of four arrow back, paint-decorated, Windsor chairs, a circa 1870-1880 grain painted jam cupboard, and several turn-of-the-century paint decorated children's sleds. Stoneware, redware, yellowware and an Enterprise No. 2 coffee mill in "exceptionally good paint," completed his look.

Included in a collection of silhouettes seen in the booth of Lynne Oppenheimer, Ivy Hill Primitives, Langhorne, Penn., was one Nineteenth Century example of a full-bodied boy and girl from Foristell, Mo., that was found in a house built by slaves before the Civil War. Lynne also exhibited a mid-Nineteenth Century 12-drawer apothecary with dovetailed construction and its original pulls, $1,250, an early Nineteenth Century worktable with unusual beaded Chamfered legs North Carolina origin, a rare mid-Nineteenth Century frame with six ambrotypes of one family from central Pennsylvania and a Nineteenth Century, New England, mahogany sewing box with ivory inlays of hearts and diamonds, $795.

For more information, 856-459-2229.