It is all business for Nan Gurley and there are few, if any, frills associated with her antiques shows. A case in point: The Sturbridge, Mass., Antiques Show, a one-day event that opens its doors at 1 pm on a Thursday afternoon and packs out a mere four hours later at 5 pm.
“Who is going to go to a show on a Thursday afternoon?,” one might ask. Plenty of people, as this event has surely become one of the highlights for dealers and shoppers attending Brimfield week, the mega-markets that are set up a little more than five miles to the west. Smartly, Gurley’s show is slated for a time period that is generally considered a lull time at Brimfield.
Gurley dubs the show as one that is “close enough for anyone serious about real antiques and Americana to include on their visit to Brimfield.” That might be pushing it a little as plenty of real antiques and Americana were seen mingled among the other stuff displayed throughout the Brimfield markets; on the other hand, there was no junk at Gurley’s.
Traditionally run during Brimfield week in spring, summer and fall, Gurley has cancelled the last two shows for this year, opting only to conduct the event on an annual basis. “May is the strong one,” commented the promoter, “July has been way off and September isn’t great. So why put the energy into a weak show when I can focus on a stronger show,” she said.
Conducting what is perhaps the latest “early buyers” opening at any of the shows in the industry, Gurley swings the doors open to the show at 1 pm for a frenzied hour of shopping. As always, a long line of shoppers ponied up the $10 to shop the show. Those wishing to save five bucks on admission wait for general admission to start at 2 pm to enter the show. According to management, “buyers trickle in all day long and all of the dealers told me that they did well.”
There are 45 dealers set up at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and, true to her word, Americana is the flavor of the day. Gurley takes the booth right at the front door and that is something she is not sure if she likes or not. “People run into the show and go right past my booth,” she proclaimed somewhat disgruntled, “but, I have to be here so that I can keep an eye on what is going on. It would be hard to manage the show from way back there,” she said pointing to the nether-regions that are apparently popular with shoppers.
Jewett and Berdan, Newcastle, Maine, occupied a booth “back there,” and they were doing well. Hooked rugs, blanket boxes, a theorem and colorful doorstops were in the offering, much of which disappeared from view within minutes of the crowd rushing in. Buyers did make their way back around to the entry area of the show where Gurley had a wonderful cupboard in a dry country blue paint with upper and lower blind doors and a cutout base. A tap table, Windsor chairs, paint-decorated wooden bowls and checkerboards rounded out the selection.
Another interesting cupboard in old blue paint was displayed at Wenham Cross from Topsfield, Mass. Probably a chimney cupboard, it measured more than 6 feet tall and little more than a foot wide. A neat pair of oversized garden chairs in old green paint were also displayed.
Pembroke, N.H., dealer Tommy Thompson offered his usual selection of eclectic smalls on tables that surrounded his booth, but the thing attracting the most attention was a pair of Victorian-style lawn chairs in white paint with tall arched backs and stick-and-ball-style staves positioned in the front of the booth. A wooden keg in white paint with red and blue banding was attractively displayed between the chairs.
Wiscasset, Maine, dealer Pat Stauble offered a sheet metal weathervane that featured a train atop an arrow. A nice hooked rug with a center decoration of a basket of tulips and a red painted toleware box was also displayed.
A Blackhawk horse weathervane in a pleasing old mustard surface was featured at the booth of Doug Ramsey, Hadley, Mass.; an attractive pair of cast stone urns in a Gothic form were at Firehouse Antiques, Galena, Md.; and an early Noah’s ark was displayed on a small grain-painted wall cupboard at Caroline Boniello and Johanna Gotheil’s stand.
The next Gurley show scheduled is Castle in the Clouds, Moultonborough, N.H., on Sunday, July 11. Gurley will also be hosting a new “morning” show, “Short and Sweet,” opening at 9 am and closing at noon, at the Frank Jones Center in Portsmouth, N.H., on July 21. Gurley has also announced a stand-alone one-day show on November 7 in Sturbridge. For information, contact Nan Gurley at 207-625-3577.
