The Birchwood Manor Antiques Show continued its New Year’s tradition by offering an impressive antiquing experience at its January 2‴ event at the elegant manor whose ballrooms were eminently suited to displaying fine antiques.
With more than 130 dealers showcasing a broad swath of categories, including furniture, china, fine art, works on paper, glassware, coins and all manner of smalls, the show offered the level of diversity longtime visitors to this twice-a-year show (the summer edition will run in July) have come to expect.
Standouts in the booth of Antique Prints and Paper, Highland Park, N.J., were a framed “Peony” by Basilius Besler, dated 1613, and Louis John Rhead’s lithograph “Woman with Peacocks,” created for L’Estampe Moderne , Paris, 1896.
Colophon Books, Layton, N.J., specializes in antiquarian science and history books and scientific items. At the show, dealer John Tyler offered a nice grouping of early brass microscopes, including a binocular microscope made by R&J Beck, London and Philadelphia, circa 1883.
Bonkey’s Treasures, Hellertown, Penn., can always be counted to have an eye-catching booth. This time out, eye candy came in the form of a collection of boule balls made by farriers in the south of France in the mid- to late 1800s.
With more than 30 years in the business, Shoemakers’, Voorhees, N.J., had a considerable inventory of coins and antiques in its booth, led by a fine grouping of Carson City silver dollars. With the US presidential inauguration of keen interest these days, the dealers also had a display of presidential campaign buttons from older examples, including Wendell Willkie, Gerald Ford and George Wallace to recent ones such as Mike Dukakis, the Clinton/Gore team and George W. Bush.
Vintage ladies hats added a splash of color to the booth of 3 Vintage Babes, Morristown, N.J., which also showed handbags and other accessories for the well-dressed woman.
Carved and choice furniture occupied prime real estate at Flo ‘N’Time Antiques, Mays Landing, N.J., which offered a highly carved mahogany slant front desk with brass knobs and four drawers over an inside drawer, circa 1900; a country Sheraton chest of figured walnut with a large drawer over three graduated cockbeaded drawers, circa 1850, and an Aesthetic period (circa 1870) corner cupboard with its original ebony finish and mirrors.
Also offering fine furniture along with smalls was Asbell’s Antiques, Boyertown, Penn., which displayed a Victorian walnut chest with a marble top and a mirror above.
Lending a Southwestern flavor to the show was Vicki Turbeville, New York City, with a variety of turquoise and sterling accessories from belt buckles to bracelets and necklaces.
Majolica in all manner of wonderfully whimsical examples was spectacularly displayed at Carol A. Kooperman, Blue Bell, Penn., with George Jones and Minton cheese keepers, vases, plates, and a veritable zoo of animal forms.
With a massive crystal chandelier hanging directly over its booth, J&M Antiques, East Amherst, N.Y., was a study in elegance. Choice furniture examples included an early Nineteenth Century mahogany drum/game table; a New Hampshire Federal Sheraton chest with figural birch panels, circa 1810, and a split drawer tiger maple Federal formal country chest, circa 1815, with dovetailed feet and shaped apron. A standout painting was a Nineteenth Century winter landscape signed A. Halgh on the back.
The Next Antiquarians, Arlington, Va., featured a rare set of lithography work of French painter Philippe Andlauer that was published in a limited run along with text by French historian Andre DeMaison for the Exposition Coloniale in Paris in 1911.
The show will return here July 17‱9. For information, www.jmkshows.com or 973-927-2794.
