The Richmond Antiques Spectacular was a full house of dealers offering antiques to a very appreciative crowd November 21′2 at The Showplace, which has 175 dealer spaces. “Customers here in the original capital of the Confederacy appreciate early American furniture and home décor, as well as other early collectibles, and they show it with their patronage at this show,” according to Bob Taylor, who been producing this show with Deanna Taylor and Louise Jesse four times a year for more than 20 years.
The show began as a cooperative effort, but the volunteers were quickly overwhelmed, inviting the partners to carry on the work. As active dealers, they were exhibiting in the hall as well, and believe their good sales represented an upswing from earlier this year.
Bob Taylor said, “I had several pieces of furniture sell, along with a good deal of smalls, which all totaled up to a good show. Frankly, the furniture sales were a pleasant surprise.” At the opening of the show, he sold a Baltimore-made Federal period banquet table in mahogany. Made as two smaller standalone tables, each with one drop leaf, the unit had the fluted legs with one swing leg to hold the leaf when turned up, and metal clips that held the two parts together.
Peg Lockwood, Zuni, Va., has built her inventory by shopping in England and other parts of Europe. Her sales included several small tables, a Pembroke and a game table both from England; several paintings and various smalls. One of the paintings was a watercolor she found in the north of England, which she described as a naïve farm scene from the Nineteenth Century in a bird’s-eye maple frame.
The biggest eagle at the show was one from Tom Welch’s Chesapeake House Antiques. With a wing span of about 4 feet, it was nearly life size, in good gold leaf and gilt, and priced at $3,500. The Chesapeake, Va., dealer also was offering a set of birdcage Windsor side chairs, a pair of Hepplewhite chairs, a pair of English Chippendale chairs and fine art.
Samplers from England and America filled the booth walls at Ken and Sue Zipple’s Country Corner Antiques, Bowie, Md. They also collect all sorts of small objects that would be found around the house in Victorian times, such as corkscrews, early and unusual lighting, yellowware bowls, interesting brass objects and many more little things for filling the Christmas stocking.
A recent addition to the show is Bill Cawood with Heritage Antique Maps, Rome, Ga., who has a collection so vast in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century maps, he usually sorts them before leaving home to be sure he has the best supply for wherever the next show will be. Naturally, he brought an abundance of Virginia charts, from the Revolutionary era through the Civil War, to this show.
William and Heidi Sandberg, Waynesboro, Va., trade primarily in fine art, oil on canvas paintings with reasonable prices. As they travel all across the country spending much of their time in a motor home, their collection reflects diverse taste and time periods in the art. At this show was a pencil drawing of a Native American, landscapes from Maine in oil, still lifes from New York and some watercolors of outdoor scenes. The dealers also offer a modest collection of stoneware from Western states.
There was a tester bed complete with the canopy frame and all the drapes from Epping Forest Antiques, Lively, Va. Louise Jesse, the owner of the business and co-owner of the show, was particularly pleased with this piece, for the canopy was topped with a carved wooden crown in very good condition, and a top drape over the bed; it was priced at $7,500 complete.
Remarking on the show’s success, Jesse said the show had a full house of dealers and their antiques and sales “were good for the weekend. We saw a lot of furniture go out the doors, and dealers were reporting to me that good, valuable antiques were selling well.” As a dealer first and show promoter second, Jesse has the understanding for the business and appreciates the need to sell antiques as well as fill the exhibit hall.
According to one South Carolina dealer, “She has the crowd there that buys for themselves and for resale. Either way, we win because it all works in the bank account, no matter who the buyer is, just so long as [the inventory] sells!” This dealer had sold two antiques to a Connecticut exhibitor who bought a total of 11 antiques at the show.
The Richmond Antiques Spectacular runs four times each year along with a smaller show within a show. Dates for 2010 are January 2″ along with an antiques tools show, March 27′8 with a garden antiques and design show, June 5‶ with a Civil War show and November 20′1 with an antiquarian books and paper show.
For more information, www.renaissancepromotions.net or call Louise Jesse at 804-462-6190 or Bob Taylor at 804-769-8866.
