No doubt there will be myriad outdoor arrangements of baby lettuce and colorful Icelandic poppies all over Bedford this spring. Thank Tracey Young, the Woodbury, Conn., dealer and co-owner of The Elemental Garden, who gives another well-known Bedford resident a run for her money when it comes to using antiques, horticulture and ingenuity to create toothsome décor.
One of about two dozen antiques dealers participating in the annual Bedford Spring Antiques Show, April 9 and 10, inside the Rippowam-Cisqua School, Young assembled a pleasing display combining garden statuary, French furniture and decorative accessories of her own design that played off the show’s theme “April in Paris.”
All of the dealers in fact stepped up to the plate in making for a great looking show, and although some commented afterward that attendance by Westchester suburbanites seemed a bit less than they would have liked, this traditional fundraiser for St Matthews Church is always a popular spring harbinger.
Young said that the pieces she showed with her partner Dennis Kaylor that got the most interest were a pair of Milo Baughman chrome and faux ostrich x-stretcher stools, a pair of French 1930s barrel back settees and a French flame bollard and chain coffee table that Young herself designed using the cast iron posts originally used to keep people off the grass. Above it hung another of the dealer’s creations, a glass garden cloche, circa 1880‹0, naturally frosted by mineralization, that had been repurposed into a lighting fixture.
There were many new faces at this show, probably some 30 percent first-time exhibitors. Nevertheless, most of the important collecting categories were represented, with the exception perhaps of folk art and Twentieth Century Modern.
Lynn T. Ward Antique Prints, Rowayton, Conn., was one of two print dealers, and she remarked afterward that she enjoyed doing the Bedford show for the first time. “How wonderful to have such great support from the committee, including lunch each day and booth sitters,” she said. Sold items included a framed map of Bedford †a “no-brainer.”
Another new addition this year was the colorful Victorian majolica exhibited by Linda Ketterling, a dealer from Toledo, Ohio. Along with a great pair of herons by English maker Joseph Holdcroft, circa 1870, there was also a pair of miniature mantel vases featuring the birds and standing 15 inches high by the same maker.
For Patricia Funt of New Canaan, Conn., a smalls and antique jewelry specialist, the show proved helpful in getting back in touch with a number of clients who she and her husband had not seen since they closed their New Canaan shop last August. “We did find that the sales were mainly in the less expensive things,” said Funt . “People definitely commented and seemed to enjoy looking at our larger ticket items, but that was pretty much as far as it went. Items like our giant carved wooden eagle shelf got a lot of attention. One woman kept saying it should be in the White House, and even though I tried to persuade her to buy it and give it to the White House, that sale didn’t seem to pan out.”
One of the items in the Funt booth †a large terracotta fox head with a cast iron branch in its mouth for holding riding crops †did not go to any Westchester tack rooms, said Funt, although it attracted many an admiring examination. “There was also a lot of interest in our dinner gong carved in wood in the form of a French bull dog, but again no one took it home to call the family in for chow,” said the dealer, who added that she was nonetheless satisfied with the results of the show.
Among the two antique and estate jewelry specialists set up at the show †one in the upstairs gym and another downstairs †Brad Reh of Southampton, N.Y., is a longtime participant. He, too, expressed satisfaction, stating that “while there was not a large crowd, those who did attend looked to be serious buyers. In particular, Sunday afternoon was busy with nice sales.”
Sales included a Cartier necklace with diamonds as well as a necklace by Gubelin. “And people seemed to be in a mood for earrings,” he added.
For additional information, www.stmatthewsbedford.org or 914-234-9636.
