The Holiday Antiques Show on Thanksgiving Weekend, November 23′5, had record numbers for attendance and exhibiting dealers at its 26th meeting. Bettianne Sweeney, show manager, said, “The demand for space this year was so strong that I took an extra section of the ballroom to accommodate seven more dealers.” Held at the Kingsmill Marriott Hotel, the event displays room settings for most of the dealers. Even those offering small antiques, such as prints, jewelry and dishes, used attractive retail showcases so that all the exhibits created a festive atmosphere for selling, which commenced at the Friday evening opening.
This event also marked the last show for popular veteran dealer John Long, who earlier in the year announced he would retire from participating in antiques shows. He has exhibited for 23 of the 26 times this show has run, and he is well-known at many other shows throughout the East. A regular at such shows as Brandywine and York, Penn., and Manchester, N.H., John always puts together an excellent display with fine furniture and accessories, giving his exhibit the look and feel of an upscale home in America, circa 1775.
West Palm Beach, Fla., dealer Christopher English was showing a leather covered living room in his exhibit †a leather sofa filling the entry to his oversize booth sold on the first night. His sales over the weekend included some Chinese Export dishes, fine art and even an early muzzle loaded gun, believed to have been made outside the United States.
Sweeney picked dealers for the mix of styles and goods they offer, allowing her customers a great variety and assortment of antiques. Next to Christopher English was Mad River Antiques of North Granby, Conn., offering a collection of early American crafts, including stoneware, furniture, art and folk art. Nearby, Patricia Barger was offering about a dozen early long case clocks, both American and British. Barger, from Fairfield, Conn., and at this show for the first time, also carried a collection of art and early Chinese ginger jars, which had been made into lamps.
Just around the drapes was Marie Miller Antiques from Dorset, Vt. Marie and her husband, Larry, brought an outstanding array of quilts and coverlets, her specialty. In addition they offered a collection of early primitive New England furniture, most of which was sold over the weekend.
Holder Antiques was at the show again this year with a collection of fine porcelain, including English dishes and Chinese vases and ginger jars. Patricia Holder, the Asheboro, N.C., proprietor, was also offering a collection of fine heirloom jewelry.
More jewelry was available from Josephine Hart Thrasher of Alexandria, Va. She was one of the original dealers in the show years ago, but missed the last two years. She was “welcomed back to the show by the customers and old friends this year,” according to Sweeney. Completing the jewelry group was Maxine Shapiro of Richmond, Va.
Silver was the primary focus at Robert Woody’s business, At the Sign of the Sycamore. Formerly from Madison, Conn., and for the last several years from Sewickley, Penn., Woody has done this annual affair every year without fail. The focus of his inventory is early silver pieces from Europe and America. Woody has been a collector and dealer for most of his adult life, absorbing a wealth of knowledge in his field. Further, as a participant in this show for all 26 years, he has developed a strong group of clients who come to examine his collection and add to their own.
McNeil and Reed Antiques is the partnership of Rex McNeil and Ben Reed from Delmar, Md. Their taste in antiques is fine early furniture, antique Persian rugs and the variety of Chinese Export porcelain †Rose Medallion and Rose Mandarin. Their exhibit has been at the front entrance of the show for many years, with a very elegant room setting for the visitors to peruse. This year, Reed was also showing a collection of very early and exotic porcelain and pottery from Asia.
New to the show this year was Richmond House Antiques, from Ashford, Conn. Karan and Edd Oberg, the owners, have a personal affinity for early American primitive furniture, especially if it is in original paint. Their sales were good, according to Karan. “We sold as many chairs as we had packed into the trailer.” They also sold a green painted chest of drawers, a blue painted six-board chest and a supply of small household articles.
Other dealers new this year included David Beauchamp from Brookline, N.H., with his collection of American hardwood furniture, primarily from the first half of the Nineteenth Century, and Witt’s End Antiques, Wallkill, N.Y. Dealer Chris Doscher had a collection of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century furniture, mostly from America, but with a few pieces from England. Keystone Antiques, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was also a first-time exhibitor, offering a collection of hardwood furniture from the Nineteenth Century and smaller antiques including art, folk art and early copper kitchen utensils.
Well known in the area, Karen Austin came to the show exhibiting her formal antiques and design style; her Richmond, Va., business is called Apropos Antiques and Design. Among the pieces in her collection were a George III formal chair with needlepoint cover, an Eighteenth Century chest of drawers in mahogany and a large collection of fine art. Also from Richmond, Louis Sikkilee was offering fine silver †large pieces and an extensive collection of flatware †along with some fine early porcelain.
Bob Baker of Poverty Hollow Enterprises, Stamford and Redding Ridge, Conn., was selling well. Baker says he does much of his shopping in England for furniture and accessories from the late Georgian Period, but he never passes up a good piece of furniture that will mix with his collection.
Another dealer who shops in England is Mel Madson of Antiques of London, where he has a second home. His collection, however, is made up of small antiques, such as the collections of candlesticks, dishes †both English and Chinese Export †early prints and fine art.
Anne Hall’s Antique Prints of Sturbridge, Mass., was back for another year with her outstanding collection of early antique prints. One example was an early print, circa 1730, of an original watercolor by Maria Sybilla Mariaen. The artist had traveled to the Dutch colonies in South America early in the Eighteenth Century to do her work, with much of her collection going to Peter the Great of Russia. Hall’s collection has become one of the more popular exhibits at the show over the last several years.
Selling almost exclusively early American primitive art is Neverbird Antiques from Surry, Va. Originally from the Northeast, Bill and Joyce Subjack moved to Virginia to further their interests in American primitive art, including samplers; they expect to complete a book on the subject soon.
Sweeney plans another Holiday Antiques Show next Thanksgiving, Friday evening through Sunday. For more information, Bettianne Sweeney, 757-220-1299.
