The lobby was filled with shoppers waiting for the show to open. The first sale we saw, made by Dennis Raleigh, Searsport, Maine, took place a few moments after the crowd entered.

Review & Onsite Photos By Rick Russack, Contributing Editor

HAMPTON, N.H. — It seems that many antiques collectors and dealers do not take holidays off. Peter Mavris’ December 31 show at the Best Western hotel had 35 dealers and garnered an audience consistent with what his shows typically attract. We have said before that the quality of the offerings at this show is consistently high. There were several early objects, some made well before the first English settlements in the United States. We were curious as to what might be the oldest item in the show and asked some of the dealers who deal in early items what they had brought this time.

Ross Levett, Thomaston, Maine, is one of those dealers and probably had the earliest item. When asked, he picked up a Chinese carved stone cong, dating to the Neolithic period, perhaps 3,000 years BCE. The cong was used as a ritual utensil during sacrificial and burial ceremonies. This one had carved decoration and was priced $3,800. Elliot and Grace Snyder, South Egremont, Mass., also specialize in early material, and their offerings included a joined stool which they dated as circa 1640-60 and priced it $1,200. They also had a late Seventeenth Century Westerwald jug for which they were asking $2,200. There were more Westerwald jugs in other booths, including that of Hollis Brodrick, Portsmouth, N.H., who had a slightly later jug dating to the time of George II, whose reign began in 1727. He had priced it at $1,450.

There was Eighteenth Century furniture and ceramics in several booths, as well as glass.

One of the most exceptional glass items was a pair of candy containers in the booth of Dennis Raleigh and Phyllis Sommer, Searsport, Maine; they were about 2 feet tall. With gilt decoration and hand painted labels on gold leaf, one was labeled for candy wafers and the other for caramel rolls. Raleigh said they had been found in upstate New York and had likely been used in an exclusive retail establishment, perhaps in New York City. He and Sommer thought they dated about 1880 and they were priced $1,850 for the pair. It would be a challenge to find a more elaborate pair.

Have you seen a more impressive pair of candy containers? Dennis Raleigh and Phyllis Sommer, Searsport, Maine, priced this pair at $1,850.

Hollis Brodrick, as well as Brian Cullity, both offered early glass. Brodrick had a circa 1745 English black-glass mallet bottle priced $495 and a circa 1730-40 English half-size black-glass flattened wine bottle marked $995. Cullity had a delicate, clear blown glass covered bowl, elaborately decorated with a bird finial and rings hanging on the sides. He dated it as circa 1570-1625 and said that the origin was uncertain but that he thought it had been made in the Low Countries. The price was $1,450. One has to wonder how such a delicate object survived for more than 400 years. He also had three blown and banded pieces of glass, two of which incorporated early coins, one with an 1853 American 3-cent piece and another with an English sovereign.

There was more early material. Levett also had a horn, chip-carved whet-stone carrier, dating to the Sixteenth Century, priced $3,500, along with a circa 1790 bronze spoon mold with initials that appeared to read “MW” for which he was asking $1,550. He commented that while spoon molds are found from time to time, initialed ones are scarce. The Snyders had several early brass candlesticks, including a circa 1600 Flemish stick priced $1,250. They also had a very unusual, small, polished steel tilt-top table. Elliot Snyder said that it was probably made in Scotland during the late Seventeenth or early Eighteenth Centuries. He was not certain of its purpose but thought it may have been made to place next to a fireplace to keep a beverage warm. The price was $2,400.

Peter Eaton had recently bought a collection of early woodenware and furniture from a home in New Hampshire. He brought a selection of small burl bowls from that collection, priced between $275 and $650. From the same collection, he had a circa 1740-50 banister-back side chair with a rush seat. He also had a Nineteenth Century painted trunk, for which he was asking $1,950.

The Pembroke table with an attractively carved apron belonged to Mark Brightman, Lunenberg, Mass.

Mark Brightman, Lunenberg, Mass., had an early drop-leaf Pembroke table, with an unusual, scalloped apron. Brightman also had a New England early embroidered bed covering priced at $2,800. Interestingly, he had found it in New Mexico.

In a recent auction review in this publication, we reported on the strong prices achieved by early telephones. Doug Brown, of the Curiosity Shop, Parsonsfield, Maine, had several at this show, but not quite as early or expensive as the examples that had been auctioned. They came from one Maine collection and included one Brown said was a very early example of a Western Electric pay phone. It was an oak, wall mounted, crank-operated, example. It was in fine condition, with a coin receptacle and an original inserted label which said a 5-minute local call would cost 10 cents and that the operator should be contacted before depositing money. The price was $525. A Kellogg crank-operated wall phone was $425. It had a circular button that said, “Turn to Clean After a Thunderstorm.” The Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company was founded in 1897 by Milo G. Kellogg after Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patents expired in 1893 and 1894. Brown also had several vintage desk phones.

A very early Western Electric pay phone (shown left) was just one of the early phones that Doug Brown, the Curiosity Shop, Parsonsfield, Maine, brought to the show. The other phone was made by Kellogg and was priced $425.

The day after the show, Mavris summed it up nicely. “It’s not a big show but the quality is great and the exhibitors are some of New England’s finest and they do nearly each of the shows here. The crowd is here for the quality and they, too, are here from show to show. We’ve made it an easy show for exhibitors to do, ending at 1 pm, which I think is good for winters in New England. I saw a lot of shoppers leaving with their purchases and I didn’t hear any unhappy exhibitors. For those exhibitors thinking about doing the show, we offer a substantial discount for first-time exhibitors. We have at least four more scheduled for early 2024, usually on the last Sunday of the month.”

For information, 207-608-3086 or www.petermavrisantiqueshows.com