The Antiques in the Church Yard show at Stevens Memorial United Methodist Church covered the grounds with exhibiting antiques and collectibles dealers who were greeted by more than 2,500 visitors on Independence Day, July 4. At its 17th consecutive holiday edition, the field was full and the crowds came and stayed, in many cases for the day, shopping.
Gathering a total of 120 dealers, Cord Shows Ltd covered nearly two acres with the collections that drew customers from Westchester County, Fairfield County, New York City and even New Jersey. Dealers filled the field to capacity, for the show has a reputation for great crowds and good sales.
Near the entrance, Tom and Cid Paden’s Mapleside Antiques was showing its mixed collection of primitive furniture, home accessories and folk art. Cid Paden was writing sales tickets from the opening of the show on, with folk art as the strongest category. One of the early sales was a whirligig weathervane going to a New Jersey buyer.
Brooklyn dealer Vicki Turbeville featured Native American jewelry, usually Navajo-made. J&J Antiques from Tucson and Watermill, N.Y., were showing a similar collection.
Traditional antiques were in great supply for the day. Richard Fuller of South Royalton, Vt., focuses on primitives and country styles. For this week he brought textiles in the form of quilts and coverlets; a completely furnished kitchen, furniture and accessories, and all very early America pieces.
Melissa Bourque was showing American furniture with a somewhat formal style, including a pair of Chippendale side chairs, some art and accessories. She and her husband Peter from Garrison, N.Y., were selling “fairly well. This show has been good for us in the past so we will be back.”
With antiques from the Georgian era and some collectibles as late as Mid⁃entury, Marilyn and Ron Saland, White Plains, N.Y., were there. Their collection has evolved a bit with the changing market so they were offering a Wildroot Cream Oil trade sign from a barber shop leaning against a Nineteenth Century bucket bench with an early grain painted blanket chest and a Federal period mirror in the background.
Sugar Princess is the business name for the Aibels of Montville, N.J., with their unique collection of folk art and antiques. Included in their offerings for the day was a naked lady whirligig whose paddle-like arms gave her some minor level of modesty.
Bob Schicke of Reclaimed Memories, Denville, N.J., was a “happy camper selling several parts of the day’s inventory. I sold a set of six oak fanback chairs with cane seats, an oak high chair that converts to a stroller or rocker [and] two oak table lamps.” He reported that Depression glass and some other small antiques were also sold that day.
The Windeckers’ Applied Arts Design was heard to say “we had the best one-day show in our 47 years of doing this business.” From Daytona Beach, Fla., their inventory included Homer Laughlin plates and other early collectible dishes.
Albert Barrows was again accused of early packing out, but the fact was he nearly sold out again this year. His business, Highfields Antiques, St Albans, Maine, offered a collection of early American Colonial and primitive furniture and household accessories.
Fish decoys are the novelty item in the area of sporting antiques and collectibles. Dave Virrill said their importance in a collection is not the age but the skill and execution of the maker’s work. His collection here included a few hundred examples, some as early as circa 1900 and some as late as the era of Donald Duck cartoons, for indeed Donald was the figure of one decoy.
Dave Nelz, and now his recently-retired wife Eileen, have been doing the show for about five years in a row as Platypus Antiques, Dix Hills, N.Y. Sales included several pieces of early furniture and some early advertising.
Among other exhibitors were Soheil Oriental Rugs, New York City, with a collection of antique Persian rugs; Malchione’s Sporting Antiques, Chadds Ford, Penn., with decoys and fishing tackle; and Eileen Lape, Lebanon, Penn., with early painted furniture. Vintage Matters, Mt Bethel, Penn., was there with something for nearly everyone.
The Pirozzoli brothers were both exhibiting again this year. Rick and his wife Candy live in Woodbury, Conn., and carry early furniture; Tom and his wife Kathleen live in Goshen, N.H., and offer a similar collection.
The Churchyard, as most dealers call the show, has very little turnover in dealers so they all have records of past years and other recent shows. Their comments for the most part were that sales were sufficient to have a profitable day.
Show manager Vivien Cord said “the gate was slightly less than the record high of a few years ago, but it is usually the best when the holiday is in the middle of the week rather than the weekend.” For the next year the show will be Sunday, July 4, which is also unusual for the church had in the past moved the show to July 5 when the 4th was a Sunday. Cord thinks this will help show traffic.
For more information, 914-273-4667 or www.cordshows.com .
