Celebrating 40 years as a leading fundraising affair for the Winnetka Community House, the Winnetka Antiques Show was conducted there March 6‸. Winnetka Community House is a group of interconnected buildings now serving a mission “to enrich the lives of the area residents by providing educational, cultural, social and recreational programs for people of all ages and backgrounds.” It is supported entirely without tax dollars through donations, program fees and special fundraising activities, such as the antiques show.
More than 40 dealers were exhibiting in the various rooms of the old stone structures, which included the gymnasium, a banquet hall and a variety of meeting rooms. In fact, the facility is so vast, the complete tour of the dealer exhibits took half the day.
Josh Wainwright of Keeling Wainwright, Ltd serves as show manager, together with a large group of community volunteers. Wainwright has as his principal function gathering the group of dealers and getting them in place, which due to the dispersion of the booth spaces was not an easy task. Once completed, however, there was a unique flow from one area to the next, with either the stairs or elevator feeding the visitors from one area to the next until they saw all the show and even had the food service on their travels about the buildings.
Wainwright had collected a varied assortment of dealers for the affair. Charles Edwin, Inc from Louisa, Va., offered a collection of early clocks and furniture, but also a special surveying tool called a waywiser. It is an early Nineteenth Century land measuring device consisting of a wheel, a handle and frame and the dial counters. Calibrated in yards, poles, furlongs and miles, the 99-inch-circumference iron wheel was used to measure long distances for surveying fields and roads. The dial was signed by Robert Bate of London, circa 1820, and the device was priced at $9,500.
From New Hope, Penn., The Robertsons offered an Italian rustic furniture set, which included a table, two benches and two side chairs, circa 1880, for $20,000. Georgian Manor Antiques, Fairhaven, Mass., showed a large collection of late Georgian furniture and accessories.
Coming in from nearby Wilmette, Ill., Reichner Antiques exhibited a collection of Wedgwood and Chinese Export dishes. Bob Reichner said he believed his Wedgwood collection to be among the largest available for sale. The firm’s Canton famille rose collection at the show was so large it needed a showcase just for that.
A Victorian-era birdcage was the first item to be seen in the Leatherwood Antiques collection. The features of the piece included an iron circular staircase in the back, original finish intact and a price of $4,800. Owner Mo Wajselfish of Sandwich, Mass., was very pleased with his results for the show, saying, “Sales during the show were good, but also we had several calls after for some of what we were offering there.”
Brennan & Mouilleseaux, Northfield, Conn., had a good start to the show during the preview party on March 5. Tim Brennan said while that was not enough for the whole show, “I was pleased that with all the difficulties in the current economy, we were seeing some sales early.”
Many of the exhibitors were art dealers. Eastwood Fine Art showed a large collection, which included an oil on canvas by Edmond Edouard Lapeyre. The subject of the 35-by-47-inch work was an art gallery with many hanging pieces, visitors and a sleepy caretaker; it was from early in the Twentieth Century and priced at $27,000.
F.L. Braswell Fine Art is a Chicago gallery; among its offerings was a charcoal on paper titled “Paysage Cubiste” by Andre Lhote, circa 1940, for $6,500.
Kathy Mongenas, Loveland, Ohio, showed a large collection of early Federal and Regency furniture. One piece was a large sofa covered in a polished cotton dark blue fabric with dragonflies embroidered in gold-colored thread. Matching that was a Chippendale side chair at her New England fall front mahogany desk.
Art glass was offered by several exhibitors at the show. Weiss Gallery of Birmingham, Mich., is David Weiss’s business, with only that art form on display. Hazen and Howard Antiques, Cleveland, Ohio, showed some art glass from Tiffany Studios.
A full-size Navajo transitional blanket, large enough for a small bed, was on the wall of Elliott & Elliott’s exhibit. Circa 1925, according to the Elliotts, it was in excellent condition with good color and clear design. Their business is headquartered in Harbor Springs, Mich.
A late cancellation allowed Malcolm Magruder to spread out his exhibit into an exceptionally large area. The Millwood, Va., antiques dealer is well known for his fine collection of early Georgian and Continental furniture and fine Export and English dishes.
In an extended postshow conversation, Sally Kaltman of Sallea Antiques, New Canaan, Conn., reflected on the long history she has had with the show, about 25 years. During that time she has sold well with, as she said, “great support from the volunteers in the community. This year, our sales were okay, not the best ever, but we did sell Eighteenth Century tea boxes, a lap desk and a lot of early valuable porcelain. We will be back!”
Josh Wainwright said of the show, “It was very well presented by the dealers; their collections and their settings were befitting a very special antiques event. Sales were a little soft, but we were pleased with what sales we had, given the current tough times and uncooperative weather that weekend.”
He added that the date for next year has not yet been set, as the committee and he will be reviewing the traditional date of the middle weekend of March, considering alternates and their potential impact on the show’s sales and availability of dealers. The dates will be posted on his website, www.keelingwainwright.com , later this fall or call 301-537-3375 for information.
