On December 1′, 52 antiques dealers, along with many old Saint Nicks, converged here for the fifth annual Christmas Antiques Show managed by Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz.
Stephanie Chiappa, who trades under the name of Sandbrook Antiques, Flemington, N.J., was just one of a number of dealers who filled her booth with items from Christmases past. One of her holiday goodies was a 1930s German candy container of Old Saint Nick with a composition face, hands and boots. Attired in a felt outfit and a rabbit fur beard, this busy Santa even held a feather tree tightly in his hand ($1,275).
Decorating a 1940s German feather tree at $295 in Chiappa’s booth was a grouping of early ornaments that included a circa 1935 Dresden wolf, a circa 1920 German touring car, and a circa 1890 German brass basket candy container.
In the non-holiday category, Sandbrook Antiques exhibited a Nineteenth Century immigrant’s dovetailed trunk with early red paint and all-original hand forged iron that was bound with great handles. Found in New York State, it was offered for $450.
Also noted was a Nineteenth Century King Charles iron spaniel, with its original gold paint, that was offered for $395. For $975 patrons could have acquired a Nineteenth Century country Sheraton tiger maple, drop leaf table that was found in Hunterdon County, N.J., or a Vermont treen storage container that was possibly used for sugar, which could have been purchased for $325.
The Christmas festivities continued in the booth of first-time exhibitors Christmas Nostalgia, Somerset, N.J. Included in its holiday sales were a pair of 1930s German figural Christmas tree stands of mushrooms and elves, and many antique German and Russian glass ornaments. In a booth filled with holiday attention-getters, shoppers gravitated toward a rare blue aluminum tinsel tree from the 1950s and a large electric Christmas dollhouse that was purchased at FAO Schwarz.
Philadelphia exhibitor Joan Bowman, who began the show with a forest of bottlebrush trees, will happily have to “replant” before next year’s show. Joan said that Christmas houses were also very popular with patrons.
In the fun-filled holiday booth of Tomorrow’s Treasures, Flemington, N.J., it was two early Walt Disney cloth figures of Sneezy and Bashful that captured attention. They could be had for $300 each.
But it was not only Christmas that attracted showgoers. Exhibitors Annette Colletti and Richard Fuller, who trade under the name Hand Picked, also made their annual trip from picturesque Stowe, Vt., for this show. Included in their sales was a painted early Nineteenth Century rope bed, a tumbling block quilt and a dated 1839 mustard and blue bandbox. Richard noted that one of the salient points of this wallpaper box was the early Baltimore train advertising on its interior.
One patron, building a new home, found the perfect pieces for her new abode in the booth of River Country Antiques, New Hope, Penn. She left with a pair of iron Victorian urns, down spouts, garden carriers and a Pennsylvania paint decorated bench. In addition to these sales, River Country also sold an Eighteenth Century apothecary in its original paint, a pair of New England pantry boxes in bittersweet and green paint, a mustard bucket bench and a lobster decoy.
Long rifles were long on history and value in the booth of Dark Moon Antiques, Johnsonburg, N.J. For example, there was an 1851 Whitney US percussion rifle †aka Mississippi rifle †of which 26,500 were made between the years of 1843 to 1855. It was tagged at $3,700. There was also a US Model 1840 flintlock musket dated 1851 on lock and barrel, with armory converted to percussion. There were 30,421 made. All original, it was priced at $1,975.
Other treasures offered to the public by Dark Moon Antiques were a musician’s Civil War sword for $395; a Fairbury, Neb., windmill weight for $1,600; a wooden boot box, with strong original paint decoration and dovetail construction as well as cast butt hinges, $985; and an early Cherokee Indian storage basket with hickory binding for $424.
Other offerings at Dark Moon included an early New England hutch/table for $975, an Eighteenth Century Revolutionary War camp stove for $895 and a continuous arm Rhode Island Windsor (1775‱800) that was refinished in the 1960s but still retained traces of its original blue-green paint in the turnings at $2,750. A dynamic hollow metal lion head, possibly from a circus wagon, was ready to roar out of the show for $1,350.
Pinkerton Antiques, Newark, Del., sold a Lancaster County pine jelly cupboard, a cherry country Sheraton chest of drawers and a pine blanket chest.
Jim Woodruff, Chester, N.J., sold two Bergen County, N.J., redware chargers, a New Brunswick, N.J., stoneware jug by Connelly Pottery and a pre-1917 Belsnickle Santa.
Woodruff’s show neighbor, Distant Past, Mount Laurel, N.J., reported sales that included numerous Christmas items, a wooden sled, a candle box, a large carpenter’s carrier and an iron candlestand.
Show promoters Ellen Katona and Bob Lutz said that they were “pleased with the attendance and the overall sales at this show.” On Saturday the Tewksbury Historical Society (which managed the parking), reported that every parking space was occupied.
For more information, contact Bob and Ellen at 856-459-2229. Their next show is the fourth annual Key West (Fla.) Antiques Show and Sale on February 22′4.
