The words “new” and “antiques” rarely go together, but the Bedford Hills Antiques Show mixed up its familiar presentation with several new dealers and at least one of its veteran dealers showing in a new location, invigorating this longtime show with a fresh look.
The show, a benefit for the Bedford Hills Lions Club, marked its 39th edition February 21 and 22 at Fox Lane High School, under the able leadership of show manager Martin Greenstein. The show featured an appealing mix of antiques, fine art and works on paper, smalls and furniture in room settings, making abundant use of the school facilities.
The booth of T.J. Antorino Antiques & Design, Oyster Bay, N.Y., was a study in neutrals, with Swedish-designed furniture offered in pale grays, creams and beiges, and unusual decorative accessories, such as a large wooden wheel in a light gray paint and a substantial mirror with a framed border that looked to be composed of pieces of driftwood.
The dealer was new to the show and brought pieces true to its mainstay inventory, but also more of a selection that would appeal to buyers in this area.
Also new to the show was Porte Galleries of Northbrook, Ill. The dealer, who is in the midst of a long road trip East and up and down the coast, recently had some trouble with his vehicle, but made it to this show without further incident and set up a lovely display of art pottery, porcelain, glass and other items.
An elegant and unusually tall peachblow vase, likely New England, was attracting attention, as were a few choice pieces of hand painted porcelain, which is the dealer’s specialty. He brought only a select few examples here, however, preferring to test the waters with a variety of merchandise.
Dogma Antiques, Mount Kisco, N.Y., has been doing this show for a few years and the booth is a charming homage to all things canine, from works of art to lamps to figural decorative accessories. Dealer Deborah White offered images of bulldogs, terriers, hunting dogs and the like to charm even the most ardent feline lover.
Another dealer new to the show was Michele Fox Antiques, Grandview, N.Y., which offered a splendid assortment of textiles from large quilts to vintage hankies, including a Democratic party example festooned with a donkey.
The dealer was busy Saturday morning chatting up buyers in her booth that featured a display case filled with the aforementioned hankies and small textiles, Bakelite and small jewelry, while a shelving unit nearly filled the back wall of the booth. On each shelf, choice textiles were carefully folded and organized by colors, stripes or pattern: all manners of blues in one unit, stripes went together and gingham in another.
On the walls, the dealer had adroitly framed miniature American flags in clever ways, around a cigar, accordion-style as a lady’s fan, or stepped in multiple mats.
Melissa Bourque Antiques, Garrison, N.Y., showed off some choice furniture, including a Nineteenth Century maple four-drawer chest on a bracket base and a Sheraton one-drawer stand with a tiger maple drawer front. A standout painting was a circa 1870 oil on canvas of hunting dogs in its original frame.
For most dealers, the buying is where the fun is and Jamie Shenkman of Jamie’s Antiques, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., is no exception. Back from a recent buying trip (she coyly would not say where), she was featuring some choice finds, including a collection of Miriam Haskell jewelry.
For the dealers at Linens by Church Hill Antiques, Pikesville, Md., the passion is Wedgwood and they have been collectors for more than 30 years. Sublime examples in the classic blue as well as basalt and a lovely shade of green †biscuit jars to pitchers, jugs and more †were prominently featured at the show. Of course, given the dealers’ name, there were linens, too, including a wonderful English christening dress and lace tablecloth.
Kimerling Antiques, Chappaqua, N.Y., showed a fine grouping of smalls and jewelry led by an Art Deco bar pin set with a total of six carats of diamonds in platinum.
Debbie Turi, Roseland, N.J., stocked an eclectic booth. Eye-catching pieces included a bronze peacock figural lamp accented with blue and green beads as part of the “feathers” and displayed front and center in the middle of the back wall was a nautical-themed mirror that had a frame alternately depicting a ship’s female figurehead and the captain’s wheel.
Travel and advertising posters were among the standouts at Vintage Poster Art, Monroe Township, N.J., including a French advertisement for “Dentrifices Roi” and a small but compelling “Venice Simplon Orient-Express, Victoria Station, London.”
John Gould, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., was in his usual spot at the show, featuring a recently acquired pair of wooden barbershop poles on stands that he used to flank his booth.
Carol Ann Hart Antiques, Redding, Conn., specializes in British campaign furniture and unusual Twentieth Century pieces from England. At the show, she had a fine assortment of furniture led by a trunk and a pair of black leather club chairs. Accenting the offerings on the walls was a charming grouping of botanical illustrations from the Enid Blyton Nature Plates collection drawn by Eileen Soper that were created to be used in the classroom to educate children on nature and the country.
Sooky Goodfriend, New York City, buys what she loves and loves what she sells. She specializes in unusual figural silver pieces, usually for the bar or the desk, from top names like Jean Despres, Paloma Picasso and Hermes. Almost an entire display case housed fine silver pieces from small boxes to an oversized champagne magnum holder that could be wonderfully repurposed as a waste receptacle in a fine office.
Goodfriend said she carries quirky figural items and things not readily available. Also on display were a shagreen box, brass match strikers, boule balls and tortoiseshell frames.
Day’s Antiques, Brunswick, Maine, deftly combined furniture and fine art in a traditional antiques booth setting. Standouts included a set of six mahogany Regency dining chairs, circa 1850‶0; a gilded mantel clock, Napoleon III Second Empire, with bust on a pediment base with laurel and swag decoration; as well as an upholstered William and Mary settee in oak, circa 1880‹0.
Perched atop a paint decorated one-drawer lift-top blanket chest, circa 1820, were a pair of bronzes, “Madonna” and “Christ Child,” by Sir Jacob Epstein, cast in 1927.
Smalls of all kinds ruled the day at Vintage Matters, Mount Bethel, Penn., where the booth was filled with cast iron bookends, several fine game boards, and everything from a circa 1890 cast iron cork press to a handmade wallpaper-covered kaleidoscope, circa 1875.
A wonderful piece of ephemera was a beauty services listing from a beauty school in 1938, which was advertising perms for $1.35 and up, a facial for either 25 or 40 cents and a hair cut for a quarter.
Greenstein’s The Last Detail Antiques Shows company will next produce the Armonk Antiques Show, April 18‱9. For more information, www.TheLastDetailAntiquesShows.com or 914-572-4132.
