Jenkins Show Management was pleased with a new record for the Farmington Antiques Weekend †the highest Sunday visitor total for the Labor Day weekend edition since it took over eight years ago. According to Steve Jenkins, president of the family business, the attendance boost was due to “several factors, including the sponsorship by Country Home magazine, live television coverage both Saturday by NBC and Sunday by CBS, and perhaps also to the overcast day Saturday, so some visitors waited for the beautiful weather we had on Sunday.” The Saturday weather was a light rain early in the day, which may have reduced attendance, but Jenkins said the parking lots filled quickly after the rain drifted out.
According to Jon Jenkins, the show manager, there were about 200 dealers exhibiting their collections for the two-day affair, together with the Country Home magazine exhibits for decorating in the country style. Most of that display featured antiques borrowed from exhibiting dealers at the show. Nancy Fishelson and Ali Mahon, both from Connecticut and full-time antiques dealers and decorators, designed and organized the exhibit for the magazine.
Exhibitors at Farmington have traditionally held back special items found in their continuous searches to bring to this show. These pieces have some significance as especially appropriate for this time and place, and for the customers they hope will be visiting their tents.
Bryne Wippick had something in that category: a pair of Connecticut-made Chippendale-style side chairs in cherrywood with upholstered slip seats. The price for the pair was $1,200, the Guilford, Conn., dealer said.
Offering a vast collection covering about 300 years of styles and trends, Albert Joseph Antiques of Woodbury, Conn., was there with a large truckload. Owner Albie Yurovich had a Victorian sofa upholstered in an attractive damask, several steamer trunks, a refinished early pine blanket chest, an Eastlake dining room server and a Victorian marble top tea table.
Another Connecticut exhibitor, Chatlas Antiques from Kensington, was offering an old dog sled from the far north in very good condition for $200 †all it needed was the dogs.
Hartman House Antiques is from East Bridgewater, Mass., not far from where the well-known folk painter Peter Hunt did much of his work. The business often has some of Hunt’s painted furniture, but it also carries a good deal of other early antiques. At Farmington, the dealer was also exhibiting small accessories.
Salvaging old buildings, houses, restaurants and offices has been a good source for architectural elements, which then get reused in modern décor. John Messina Antiques and New York Salvage, both owned by Messina, are two such organizations, both headquartered in Oneonta, N.Y. Messina takes down old, distressed buildings, saving as much as possible for resale to home, office or restaurant decorators.
His inventory includes roof brackets or corbels in several different patterns; window treatments for the outside, which today are often found on the inside as decorating accessories; the gingerbread trim formerly on porches; old stairs and decorative wrought iron fencing.
Early primitive wooden household articles and primitive furniture were prominently displayed by many exhibitors at the show. Susan H. Wirth, Union, Conn., was selling well from an inventory that included small wooden pieces, such as a lap desk from the Eighteenth Century; a modified hog scraper candlestick, with an unusual elevating mechanism; several early boxes, which appeared to have been made for special purposes; and some furniture.
In the same category were Edd and Karen Oberg, Richmond House Antiques of Ashford, Conn. Their sales included several cupboards and an assortment of accessories. By late Saturday, Karen was apologizing to customers when she said, “&ut I sold the big stuff already!”
Early glass, all bright and shiny, is at the business is called GlimmerGlass from Schenevus, N.Y. Rusty Roland has been an avid collector for most of her adult life and trades in it as well. She offered glass in great quantities: pitchers in cranberry, Sandwich, Pierpont, some European makers were all there.
Massachusetts was represented by many dealers, including Woodsview Antiques from Norwell. Selling very well, according to owner Jerri Mayhew, the company’s sales included a large farm table, two lanterns and a red painted bench, along with many small accessories. Hartman House Antiques is from East Bridgewater; it was offering some old Peter Hunt paint decorated furniture and Nineteenth Century accessories.
Mapleside Antiques partners Tom Varney and Cid Paden from Titusville, Penn., were offering their latest version of early Americana, with an emphasis on small antiques. From Hampton, Conn., Tom Nagy, Chelsea Hill Antiques, built an elegant room setting in his large tented weekend store. He was assisted by several family members, including his wife and children. Among their sales was a very large painting †too big for the customer’s car, so another dealer delivered it that afternoon.
Really curious things were the substance of Walter Scott’s collection. He is from Baraboo, Wis., and collects the unusual and unique. For example, a Civil War surgeon’s tool kit, which was rather gruesome; early signs and advertising; and the centerpiece for this show, a working musical doll from the late 1800s in a case. The doll was for serious collectors though; it was marked at $6,800.
Joseph Collins, Middletown, Conn., always comes to Farmington with fine antiques. Among his offering this year was a miniature chest of drawers, Federal style with ivory knobs.
Coming from Milton, Ontario, Barry Ezrin was back in the United States with a collection of fine painted furniture. American Heritage Antiques brought its collection from El Jobean, Fla., featuring painted furniture and a large collection of toleware.
The Farmington show had variety, depth in the collections and good pricing. Sales reported by the majority of the dealers indicated they were happy to have been there. As one Connecticut dealer said, “I hope this is the trend, because I did well, perhaps better than I expected. The buyers were definitely here.”
Jenkins Show Management runs other shows, including the upcoming Music Valley Antiques Show and Tailgate Antiques Show at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, October 29⁎ovember 2. The Farmington show is held twice a year: in mid-June and Labor Day Weekend. For information, www.jenkinsshows.com or 317-598-0012.
