Antiques hounds converged in droves at Round Top †No, the dateline is correct and we are not talking about Texas. Round Top Farm, a former arts center just off business Route 1 and now managed by the Damariscotta River Association, was a fitting site for 100 dealers belonging to the Maine Antiques Dealers Association (MADA) in a one-day show conducted August 27 outdoors, under tents and inside the historic farm buildings.
The weather was blissfully pleasant and even at midweek this part of Maine was crawling with vacationers and second home residents anticipating the upcoming Labor Day weekend, as well as collectors attracted by major auctions being conducted by Julia’s, Thomaston Place, Bruce Gamage and Bob Foster.
According to Beverly Reynolds, MADA president, the association’s members had clamored for an outdoor show, so the Coastal Maine Antiques Show was created 11 years ago to accommodate their wishes. This year’s show was managed by Colleen Donovan, a Falmouth, Maine, antiques dealer, who early on during dealer setup was observed deftly doing what show managers do best †ironing out potential problems and keeping everyone happy. In this case, it was a double booking of exhibitor space to Bill Kelly and Bill Joyce. Kelly arrived after Joyce was mostly set up, so Donovan and the two dealers pored over the show’s layout map to carve out a new space in back of the farmhouse for Kelly’s collection.
The property’s layout facilitates the staging of dealers around the historic farm in four main tents, a barn, the farmhouse and several swatches of lawn space separating the buildings, making for a varied and interesting presentation. Inside the barn were more than a dozen dealers, including Nancy Prince and James LeFurgy of Portland, Maine, and Wiscasset, Maine, respectively. Prince co-managed the show for ten years, and this year was just enjoying it as an exhibitor. In front of a decorative backdrop formed by a pair of Palladian windows from the turn of the century she showed a Maine maple Hepplewhite bureau, circa 1900, and a group of three Pima and Southwest baskets ranging in date from the Nineteenth Century to the early 1920s.
For Portsmouth, N.H., dealer Ed Weissman, this was his first year showing inside the barn, although he said he has done this show “a good number of years.” He said he likes the mix of people and the good opportunities to buy. Among his merchandise, he had a set of custom walnut chairs with a Baltimore maker’s label from the 1920s. All handmade. The wonderful set of six chairs featured ribbon backs, Chippendale styling and slip rush seats. “The weather was great the attendance was high and sales were good!” Weissman said in an email after the show.
Across the way and under a tent, Jane and Ed Carr of the Country Squire, Gorham, Maine, had set up their 30-year collection of early hooked rugs and early New England furniture and accessories. Jane Carr enthusiastically noted a folky hooked rug from Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula, which constitutes the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Under the same tent, Paul and Karen Wendhiser were trying to catch their breath, having done four shows in four weeks. Not that they were complaining, as Paul Wendhiser said the shows were for the most part up and they had had their best Mid*Week in Manchester (N.H.) ever. “I just love it,” he said of the Maine Coastal show, citing “good selling and great pickings.”
The Wendhisers offered a sea chest from the early Nineteenth Century with dovetail construction, carved beckets and a deep blue sea paint, along with a Sheraton drop leaf mahogany table from the early 1900s and an Eighteenth Century tavern table, probably New England, all maple and all original.
The weather was fine and promising more of the same, according to the antique instruments assembled by antique barometer dealer Neville Lewis, Cushing, Maine. Noting that he has participated in the show “since it started,” Lewis owned that he had sold some interesting things and bought some as well. One of the best instruments he was showing was an English oak barometer featuring a 12-inch dial and carvings. The circa 1850 barometer was unusual, according to Lewis, because it featured two reference needles (the setting hands), rare for a banjo-style barometer.
Roy and Sheila Mennell, a Harwich Port, Mass., couple who do business as Bradford Trust Art & Antiques, had come to Maine this year to participate in the show as well as to achieve a long-anticipated but unrealized goal †visit nearby Monhegan Island, where so many of the American artists they admire drew inspiration. On view in their space were several works by Henry Kallem (1912‱985), an abstract artist from New York City who fell in love with Monhegan, among them a work titled “Monhegan Woods,” circa 1930s. Although they have missed the last couple of shows, the Mennells said they were glad to return, enjoying the diversity of buyers. “If you have the right material, you’ll do well, ” said Roy Mennell.
Offering Pease ware from Ohio, among a variety of early American smalls, Bette Zwicker of Bristol, Maine, was one of this show’s first organizers, along with Nancy Prince and Priscilla Hutchinson. “It’s a very low key show,” she said, “so people frequently say ‘When is it?'”
“It’s the quintessential country antiques show,” said Ed Miller, Pioneer Folk, Ellsworth, Maine, who was offering, among other Americana and early advertising, an oil on canvas portrait, 1969, by Waldo Pierce titled “King of the Blueberries.” Also on offer was a Nineteenth Century pewter cupboard in robin’s-egg blue.
Over in Tent C, Cheryl and Paul Scott of Hillsborough, N.H., were busily unpacking treasures that included a hackney horse weathervane, circa 1870s, and a wonderful dome top chest, probably by Peter Hunt, whimsically decorated with a ship and initialed on its sides. The Scotts have been coming back to this show for about six years, and said they have a good time here because the show is “nice and easy to do.”
In the same tent, Tom and Beverly Longacre, Marlborough, N.H., were doing the show for the first time with their 35-year collection of American antiques and folk art. “The show was nice and what a week of great weather,” said Tom Longacre. “I thought the crowd was good and for our first time doing the show, we bought well and sold an eagle weathervane, a nautical trade sign, a chair in original green paint and other nautical items.”
In another tent, Howard Graff of Colt Barn Antiques, Townshend, Vt., had set up in a nice sun-filled corner spot. Graff, who specializes in early ironware, had plenty of that, and also offered an interesting piece of personal history in the form of a Chagall poster with a deep red background advertising opening night at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in 1966. “I was there that night,” said Graff, explaining that it was now time for the poster, which had hung in his home these many years, “to help start paying the rent.”
In addition to more than 30 other dealers arrayed in lawn spaces around the farm, the farmhouse itself was utilized to accommodate exhibitors showing more delicate wares. Such was the case with David and Phyllis Gaul. The Searsport, Maine, couple specializes in early American glass, especially Sandwich and Portland. Highlights in their booth included Sandwich canary petal and loop candlesticks, circa 1840‱860, as well as some rare Sandwich overshot pieces, including a champagne glass, two tumblers and a pitcher with a twisted rope applied handle, circa 1860‱875.
“We had a great show,” said the Gauls. “Portland glass was a strong seller for us. Interest in this Maine company, which only worked for ten short years †1863 to 1873 †has certainly grown of late, and many new collectors have emerged. We also had a lot of interest in our Sandwich glass pieces. We always enjoy answering questions about the various early glass houses and helping people better understand how to tell who made a particular piece.
“This show just keeps improving and certainly has become a ‘must see’ summer New England show,” they added.
For information, contact Colleen Donovan, the show’s manager, at 207-781-5367, or visit MADA’s website at www.maineantiques.org .
