“Mid*Week went great; we had a very good crowd, and now we are planning for next year,” Frank Gaglio said following the close of his last show on Thursday, August 11, in the Furniture World Building. “We are already looking for a new location, since that building has been sold and will become a parts department for the nearby Chevrolet dealer. We are giving lots of consideration to a dealer poll we took when we really get down to scheduling for 2012.” And on top of all that, the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford, location for Barn Star’s Autumn Hartford Antiques Show, has also been sold and this will be the last year at that location.
People came early to get in line for Mid*Week, and the rain held off for the first part of the morning. Before the show opened at 9 am, however, a light rain started, forcing Frank Gaglio to let people into the main lobby of the building, and it worked out perfectly. There was more room for sitting, the space was air-conditioned, and when the opening time rolled around, Frank was right there to welcome everyone and send them off shopping.
Ninety-three dealers were on hand for the show, and the offerings covered most every field of collecting. A sampling of what was available follows.
Richard M. Conrad Antiques, Yeagertown, Penn., showed a circa 1800 dough box in the original green painted surface, fresh from an estate in Frederick, Md., and a hanging wall cupboard was filled with a selection of redware, including a bottle, pitcher, slip plate and a mug from Shenandoah Valley with glazed surface.
American Whimsy of Hewlett Harbor, N.Y., likes collections and always seems to have one ready for each show. At Mid*Week, the dealer featured 20 bottle dolls, all black and in the original clothing, along with a grouping of folk art that included three horse weathervanes, one a Jewell jumping through a hoop. Four large lidded baskets, all painted, were stacked in a corner of the booth.
Colette Donovan of Newburyport, Mass., demonstrated the workings of an Eighteenth Century applesauce press (we were hoping to see some real apples and a free sample) of New England origin, and a blue wheelbarrow carrying a his and hers ear of corn child’s costume. A large splint winnowing basket, New England origin, dated from the late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century.
Otto & Susan Hart, Arlington, Vt., had a marquetry table, circa 1920s, with a 48-star flag on the top that measured 41 by 21½ inches. The table came from an American Legion Hall in western Pennsylvania. A pair of African American house slaves, dating from the second half of the Nineteenth Century, were carved from American chestnut, polychromed male and female, 17 inches tall, probably from either Georgia or Louisiana.
Stephen & Carol Huber, Old Saybrook, Conn., showed an important sampler worked in black silk by Anstiss Crowninshield, Salem, Mass., circa 1740, depicting a house, man and lady, foliage and animals. It measures 9¾ by 141/8 inches sight, and, according to the sampler researcher and author Betty Ring, “The work of Anstiss Crowninshield is perhaps the earliest of the Salem silk embroiderers known today.” Hung next to it was a Wethersfield, Conn., sampler by Celia Talcott (1804‱886), silk, paint and painted paper on linen, 21½ by 27½ inches, a family record with a scenic panel across the bottom depicting a bridge over a pond, trees, flowers, animals and two young ladies in the foreground.
A Lancaster County, Penn., wall box, circa 1810, 13 inches high, heart-shaped backboard and paint decorated, hung in the booth of Steven S. Powers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Another wall box, with tulip serving as the back board, 11 inches high, 127/8 inches wide and 6 inches deep, dated circa 1810 and was from Schoharie County, N.Y.
Ted and Jennifer Fuehr of American Spirit Antiques, Shawnee Mission, Kan., started the show with a wall filled with sailboat weathervanes, all from one collection they purchased. Not long into the show, there were several blank spots, and new vanes were put in place. Among this group was a sailboat by L.W. Cushing, 36 inches long and 36 inches high, with a main sail and jib, and a single-masted sloop, circa 1930‱940, 31 inches high and 26 inches long. An American biplane vane joined the fleet, good verdigris surface, circa 1930, measuring 21½ by 22½ inches.
West Chester, Penn., dealer Charles Wilson, who has had countless hitching posts during his time in the antiques business, came up with one that was new to him †”Never seen one like it before,” he said †a full bodied owl in old green paint, the owl alone measuring 10 inches tall and dating circa 1860. “It was found in Michigan,” Charles added. A pair of wagon doors in old paint, one with the original beveled glass, measuring 39½ by 47½ inches, hung on the back wall next to a large quill weathervane, probably from a school or library, that came from a long-established collection in the Midwest.
Holden Antiques, Naples, Fla., and Sherman, Conn., offered an Eighteenth Century New England lift top chest with two drawers over two false drawers, tiger maple, and a hooked rug from the early 1900s with a tiger in the center on a salmon ground. A folk art carved black man figure measured 42 inches tall and was constructed of a jointed wood frame for movement. He retained the original clothes.
The original gold leaf squares were still intact on a large copper-gilded cod weathervane, New England, possibly Cushing & Co., Waltham, Mass., circa 1880‱900, in the booth of Hilary & Paulette Nolan, Falmouth, Mass. Other vanes included a large horse with a wonderful verdigris surface, American, circa 1880‱890, great form and movement, and a whaler “thar-she-blows” example in pine with the original paint and standard. It dated circa 1900 and did not show excessive wear. Furniture included a paint decorated, one-drawer blanket chest, a pair of Connecticut banister back armchairs and a flattop highboy.
An American carved wooden head, green painted with a cut around the top as if it could be removed, reminiscent of Hannibal, was in the booth of Brennan & Mouilleseaux of Northfield, Conn. A rare cast iron urn, possibly by Abend Roth Foundry, circa 1880, had handles formed like a squirrel holding a nut, with round rabbit medallions attached to the sides.
A large cast iron eagle, with a wingspan measuring about 6 inches, rusted surface, was in the display of Greg K. Kramer & Co. of Robesonia, Penn. A double-sided game board, Parcheesi and checkers, hung next to a folding Parcheesi game board, and a child’s chest featured 12 drawers flanked by delicate turned columns, Hepplewhite flared bracket feet, and alphabet letters on the front of the drawers. It was of Pennsylvania origin and dated circa 1890‱900.
A large reclining deer by Fiske & Co., New York City, cast zinc, circa 1900, 37½ inches long and retaining traces of the original paint, rested at the front of the booth of Jeffrey Tillou, Litchfield, Conn. A barber pole about 9 feet tall and with a diameter of about a foot, American, iron and rolled sheet metal, original painted surface, dated 1850‱875, stood near a Chippendale chest-on-chest, bonnet-top, carved fan in the top center drawer, that dated circa 1765‱785. The chest, in birch, pine and bass wood, measured 86 inches tall and was from New Hampshire or Massachusetts.
Rich and Pat Garthoeffner of Lititz, Penn., had a pair of centennial shields, probably parade pieces, in the original paint and dating circa 1860. Sitting in the corner of the booth was an oil face doll dating from the late Nineteenth Century, painted face and hair and in period clothes. This rag doll came originally from St Charles, Mo., and “she is one of the things we took out of the house for this show and I have had her for 35 years,” Pat said.
A pair of lidded baskets, Eastern Woodlands Indian, dating from the Nineteenth Century, were shown by John Hunt Marshall, Florence, Mass., and one end of the booth was filled with a large selection of picture frames of many sizes.
A large hooked rug with an eagle holding crossed arrows in its talons, 13 stars, cotton and wool on burlap, measuring 75 by 40 inches and found in New York State, took up the side wall in the booth of Robert Snyder / Judy Wilson, Wiscasset, Maine. Corn also got some notice in the booth with a whimsical plaster ear of corn, 36 inches long and an advertising piece, New England origin, hanging on the back wall, as was a trompe l’oeil painting of four ears of yellow corn and one ear of Indian corn, an oil on board measuring 25½ by 11¼ inches and found in Vermont.
A massive, oblong burl bowl with lug handles, late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century, 21 inches wide, probably Iroquois, was shown on a New Hampshire sawbuck table in the original green surface, three-board top 60 inches long and 33 ½ inches wide, in the booth of Quiet Corner Antiques, Sterling, Conn. A collection of miniature redware pieces was shown in a step back cupboard in the original blue, open top with one shelf, dating from the Nineteenth Century.
Steve and Lorraine Marshall Antiques of Greensboro, N.C., had a large smoke decorated fireplace surround in yellow pine, Virginia or North Carolina, against the back wall of the booth, and a paint decorated bench was dated 1898.
Heller-Washam of Portland, Maine had a large booth in the center of the left portion of the show, and, “We did very well, selling lots of smalls and a good number of pieces of furniture,” Don Heller said. He listed a Bergen County cupboard, a Boston compass seat chair, a set of ten Windsors including two arms and eight sides, a Hudson Valley Queen Anne armchair, a pair of Queen Anne Hudson Valley side chairs, a large wooden bowl that measured 28 inches in diameter, a New Hampshire Chippendale slant front desk in maple, tea caddies and three wall shelves.
Nautical items filled the booth of Broadglance & Coot Antiques, Weston, Mass., including a large brass telescope, a Nineteenth Century shadow box with six sailing ships, a brass mounted cannon and a ship sign that read Fannie Hazard .
An interesting plant stand dating from the Nineteenth Century, original blue surface, on casters with finial at the bottom and round top, circa 1860, Ohio or Pennsylvania, was shown by Grace and Elliott Snyder of South Egremont, Mass. A two-door cupboard, one over one, American, circa 1820, retained an old white painted surface and measured 82 inches tall, 32 inches wide and 14 inches deep. An Eastern Massachusetts Windsor armchair with an imaginative shaped crest rail, circa 1770‱780, was of maple, pine and hickory. It descended in the Pearson family of Byfield, Mass.
Paul & Karen Wendhiser of Ellington, Conn., were having a good show. “We sold three pieces of furniture and many smalls,” Karen said. One of the pieces of furniture was a lift top blanket chest with three drawers and old red painted surface. A carved tramp art jewelry chest had a four-heart design, and a circa 1800‱825 white silk reticule had a round watercolor on paper in the center depicting a young girl with sheep and flowers under a tree with a cottage in the background. A similar paper with floral and vine decoration was on the reverse.
James Grievo of Stockton, N.J., again chalked up a good show, offering a selection of many smalls, some furniture and folk art. A Midwestern carving of an eagle with wide-spread wings, painted, was a striking figure, but attracted little attention as the show opened. “Most people do not understand this kind of Twentieth Century folk art,” Jim said, “but I love it.” More familiar was a fish weathervane with old surface, full bodied, and a paint decorated dower chest, Nineteenth Century, Berks County, Penn., with bold paint and a star inside a triple circle on the lid.
Thurston Nichols of Breinigsville, Penn., drew people into his booth with a large Victorian house model in yellow with green trim and red roof. This wonderful piece had everything going for it, including dormers, balconies, fancy trim, shutters, a finial-type piece on the roof and more. A highly decorated tall case clock stood against the right hand wall, and a one-of-a-kind model car, labeled Benz, was painted red and measures about 10 feet long.
A secretary desk in butternut, with two raised panel doors, compartmentalized interior, lower section with two raised panel doors, circa 1880, probably Ohio, was shown by John Keith Russell of South Salem, N.Y. A Shaker cobbler’s desk with 18 dovetailed drawers above a work surface, circa 1850, was of birch and pine.
A final reminder: Mid*Week will be at a new location next year.
