“This show is like a big family reunion,” said Jim Dunn. “It’s a nice group of people to do business with.” Jim and his wife, Elizabeth Dunn, began managing the show nine years ago. Now in its 32nd year, the Bromley Mountain Antiques Show is carefully crafted on special criteria. “First, there has to be an opening,” said Jim. “Second, they’ve got to be country. Third, they have to have quality. Fourth, they’ve got to fit the family.”
The Bromley Mountain Antiques Show is a beautiful, cozy and colorful event that takes up two floors of the Bromley Mountain base ski lodge. With its early preview at 8 am on Saturday, October 3, attendees were treated to a continental breakfast of hearty Vermont proportions. When the doors opened, the lodge quickly became jammed with customers, and dealers began scribbling out invoices immediately. The enthusiasm continued throughout the day and into Sunday.
A very early New England settle with “an Eighteenth Century refinish” was offered by Gail and Don Piatt, Contoocook, N.H. Dog and Pony Show of Walpole, N.H., displayed a charming rocking horse, circa 1870, horse brasses from parade regalia priced from $5 to $35, and a wall of appealing oil paintings mostly from the Nineteenth Century †featuring horses and dogs, of course.
Ted and Carol Hayward of Yankee Smuggler, Keene, N.H., had a colorful array of painted wooden boxes, but the prize at their booth was an early Eighteenth Century oval top table that was likely from coastal Connecticut, with maple legs and a hard red pine top with stretcher cleats of ash.
Paint decorated cast iron banks took up a whole wall at Otto and Susan Hart’s booth. The Arlington, Vt., dealers displayed Jonah and the Whale, Speaking Dog, Trick Pony, Teddy and the Bear, and Uncle Sam, among dozens of others. New Paltz, N.Y., dealer Pam Regan, Nutting House Antiques, had hooked rugs, braided rugs, trade signs, game boards and furniture, including a two-part dry sink/cupboard. Kenneth Reid Antiques had a big collection of circa 1850 ironstone, as well as toleware, painted boxes and a substantial Nineteenth Century rocking bench with stencil decoration.
Stephen and Chrisanne Cirillo of Paisley Pineapple Antiques, Abington, Conn., brought a circa 1818 portrait of Cynthia and baby Lydia Thrall, a locking corner cabinet and a circa 1780‱810 settle bench with original surface. Bright and cheerful quilts are the specialty of Marie Miller, while Brennan’s Antiques had vintage door hardware, old skates, wall hooks and even a pair of wool shears with decorative heart handles. A set of eight chairs in red and black paint made by Steven Shorey of Rochester, N.H., was tagged $1,600 at the booth of Eric Nesbitt Antiques, Woodstock, Vt.
Barbara Gentiluomo of Candleglow Antiques, Holliston, Mass., featured a country Sheraton cherry and mahogany four-drawer chest with turned spirals front supports that was in mint condition. The Norwoods’ Spirit of America, Timonium, Md., had a selection of samplers and memorial embroideries.
Lest you forget that you were in Vermont, Antiques at 30B offered up a “Pure Maple Syrup” sign, while Bennington pottery candlesticks, pie plates and pitchers were on hand at the booth of Mill Brook Antiques of Reading, Vt., and The Tates Antiques, Sanbornton, N.H., had a hooked rug that depicted a field of Holstein cows. Mike Tate also had a 5-gallon stoneware jug marked Utica, N.Y., redware molds, and a 58-drawer step back apothecary from New Hampshire, of which he said, “You can’t buy it if you don’t have a good memory!”
Jean Tudhope, Back Door Antiques, East Middlebury, Vt., said, “This show has a plethora of stuff, a real variety that brings the people in. Even if I sold nothing, I would still do this show. This is family.”
Fortunately, after the show Tudhope could report that she sold “a lot more than nothing.” Her sales included a wooden pail, a whale oil lamp and a small Grenfell hooked mat, among other items.
At Bromley, customers are considered part of the family, not outside of it. “Dealers save up things just for their special customers at Bromley,” said Tudhope, who loves the friendly, knowledgeable people who come back year after year. “Bromley’s more like a vacation than work.”
For information, 802-885-3705.
