Fox Lane High School, fully renovated and restored, proved a grand venue for the Bedford Hills Antiques Show on February 23 and 24. Sponsored by the Lions Club, the venerable show †”My favorite,” as Martin Greenstein of The Last Detail Antiques Show refers to it †opens with a wide entry hallway leading to several open areas where almost 60 dealers set up for two days of selling.
After enduring more than three years of renovation at the high school, many dealers were exuberant with the new setup. The public seemed appreciative as well, with Greenstein relating that the gate was up from previous years.
Susan Vatell, Greenwich, Conn., featured a selection of vintage jewelry and fine art, and the dealer was quick to point out an intricately constructed frog made from 18K gold, diamonds and enamel with ruby eyes. The early 1900s petit frog pin was about 2½ inches long.
Jewelry is the center of Brad Reh’s focus. While the Southampton, N.Y., connoisseur and dealer also shows some striking photography on the walls of his booth, jewelry is his métier. At Bedford Hills he had Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier and other classic designers, but one item the dealer highlighted was a diamond and platinum pendant from around 1910. It had a simple platinum chain and a delicate classic Art Nouveau form with hanging droplets of platinum and diamonds.
Charles and Lori Breuel, who for more than 25 years have specialized in clocks and watches and late Eighteenth to early Twentieth Century antiques and art, had many clocks displayed, including a French architectural mantel clock, “Japy Freres,” circa 1880‹0. It was sitting on an early Twentieth Century rectangular Chinese side table with an unusual form and beautifully carved legs and edges. Hung above the table were several paintings, one by American artist Samuel Chaffee. A lovely watercolor on paper titled “Canoes on the Shore,” it retained its original 11-by-19-inch frame.
Other clocks on display included a German tall case clock with brass workings in a mahogany case. The eight-day clock was unsigned, and Breuel dated it between 1896 and 1910. With a luminous moon phase and calendar dial, the clock stood a towering 8½ feet tall with an elegantly carved broken arch bonnet and brass finials.
Hanging on the outside wall, between the Glenmont, N.Y., dealer and his neighbor, ProArte, was an Impressionist street scene signed F. Galle. Inside the New York City dealer’s booth, were more Modern and contemporary works from well-known and highly collectible artists such as Jean Miró, Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder.
Art was the byword of this show †from ProArte’s Modernists to New York City’s Lerebours Antiques, where there was a pair of signed still life oils of flowers in a vase by Levier, and Stephen Foster’s booth that was filled with European and American paintings. The Washington, D.C., dealer had an arrangement of paintings by Swedish artists Johan Kindborg (1861‱907), best known for his landscapes and marine paintings, as well as architectural scenes, and August Hagborg (1852‱925) in the center of the booth. Included was Kindborg’s “Marine Sunset” and Hagborg’s “Marine Nocturne.”
Beacon, N.Y., dealer Anthony Rosa had a corner booth where he had a Charles Locke, NA, painting, “The Sisters,” resting on an easel. He was also showing a large Impressionist Washington Square Park scene by Robert Lebrón, a member of the Art Students League, with a pair of Pairpoint lamps and a Genet & Michon etched glass shade arranged beneath. Rosa also had Modern furniture such as a pair of black leather Dunbar chairs, which he reported were sold during the show.
Michael Westman brought a wide variety of items from Newport, R.I. With something for everyone, he said he had a good show. Westman was showing several paintings by Norris Embry (American, 1921‱981), including a painting of a head. “I sold a number of small antiquities and had much interest in the Norris Embry painting with the writing and the ‘head.’ I sold a Sabean alabaster plinth [Fourth Century BCE] and a number of small pieces of jewelry. I also have good interest in my two smaller Chinese archaistic bronzes.”
From Emmitsburg, Md., Antiques Folly’s owner Dora Connolly was showing an ornamental painted porcelain plaque with a girl fishing. Her booth was filled with blue Canton ware, majolica, Meissen and other art pottery pieces.
“Marty’s shows are always good for me,” commented John Gould. The Yorktown Heights dealer has Eighteenth Century pieces, especially furniture. This year he “brought a van load over on Friday and had to bring another load on Sunday morning,” he had such good sales. “I sold two Eighteenth Century high chests, a Hudson River painting, some early glassware, including a special hand-blown fish bowl, a cherry hanging cupboard and a couple of two-drawer servers.” He also sold a walnut extension table with a rich top early Saturday morning.
In his museumlike setup, Gould had a minimalist approach, giving each piece space so visitors could see and appreciate the fine quality. Gould believes this is one of the reasons his furniture does well. “If people want authentic Eighteenth Century American furniture, they need to know as much as possible about it,” he concluded.
Several dealers mentioned they had especially good sales on Sunday. “I had two interesting sales on Sunday,” Art Finkel, Vintage Poster Art of N.J., said. “The first was to a couple whose son had previously been to my booth while I was ‘flipping’ posters. He was interested in airline posters and his parents bought him a United Airlines poster for his bedroom. The second was to a man who collects French World War I posters. He selected a poster that he had never seen before and was very pleased with the overall graphic and condition.”
Robert James Walsh, of Walsh & Godoy, Windsor, Vt., and Montreal, Canada, had good success with a pair of Archimedes Seguso Venetian lamps, very modern, hand blown by the master glass blower of the 1950s. Walsh was showing a pair of fantastic tall garden chairs of wrought iron, handmade and hand painted in original 1920s to 1930s flower design; and a 1720s Wethersfield, Conn., six-board blanket chest that “predates dovetailing, if you look at the construction,” Walsh pointed out.
A circa 1820s Windsor settee with a rush seat and original ornamental decoration could be seen at Windle’s Antiques. “The rate of survival for this type of furniture is very low,” the Wilmington, Del., dealer said, “because they were used for parties and other communal events and got a lot of wear.”
Greenstein’s next show will be in Armonk, N.Y., at Byron Hills High School, April 26 and 27. For information, 914-572-4132.
