Although this Nineteenth Century copper rooster weathervane with weathered patina was just acquired by Craig Cheney from a collector who was downsizing, it quickly sold on the first day. Nancy and Craig Cheney Art and Antiques, Mansfield, Ohio.

Review by Kiersten Busch

ONLINE — While fields lined with tents of dealers or the perfectly neat aisles of booths at both indoor and outdoor antiques shows nationwide may be every collector’s happy place, sometimes the life of a dealer can be wearisome. Waking up early, traveling for long hours, staying in hotels; sometimes it can be enjoyable browsing an antique show from the comfort of your own home. This is what The Chicago Suburban Antiques Dealers Associates (CSADA) hopes to achieve with the online Fox Valley Antiques Show.

The latest iteration of the bi-annual online antiques show took place October 18-19, with 28 dealers operating online “booths,” where they are able to upload images of items they’d like to sell, along with descriptions and a price. “Attendees” are able to email, call or text dealers during the shows hours to inquire about any items that may strike their fancy before completing a purchase.

“In 2020, the show was developed as a response to the Covid pandemic, providing a way for dealers and customers to connect while in-person shows were closed. Our online shows continued to thrive, even after in-person shows resumed,” shared CSADA president, Debbie McArdle, on behalf of herself and fellow show administrator, Barb Lemme. However, this year, things took a turn. “October 18-19 was different. Our sell-through rate declined by two percent, though some of our dealers with websites did have other significant sales not reflected in our totals. As just one of several examples, a dealer reported a $3,000 sale after the show closed. Total booth visits were down as well.”

One of four items that sold in the booth of Michael Pheffer, Two Sides of a Road Antiques, was this Norwegian staved and decorated ale pitcher. New London, N.H.

McArdle continued, “Fox Valley Online is reflecting trends that are at work in the antiques marketplace in general. A number of our exhibitors who also participate regularly at in-person shows report that sales and attendance have been down at many well-known Eastern and Midwestern shows, and many report having none or only one sale to the public at those shows. What is different this fall? Our advertising was exactly the same as previous shows, including significant print, email and social media coverage. Is it uncertainty about the economy and the dollar? Inflation? Tariffs? Job uncertainty, including government jobs? Distraction from participation in the ‘No Kings’ rallies held throughout the country on [the 18th]? Other political issues? Just a general sense of unease?”

Despite the decline in sell-through rate and total booth visits, some dealers still reported some success, even McArdle herself, who operates Iron Horse Antiques with her husband, Jim. The Manitowish Waters, Wis.-based pair, who have retired from in-person shows, have participated in the show every year since its 2020 origin and sold mostly early painted smalls, with holiday following behind. They ended the weekend with two repeat customers and three new ones, shipping their wares to Wisconsin, Texas and Illinois. “We offered a nice mix of carefully selected items and expected we would sell half of them, as is typical for us, but we only sold five,” explained Debbie. “We have devoted customers who follow us, but this time we noticed many of our usual buyers were not making purchases.”

A few of the items the McArdles offered — which were still available at press time — included an 1843 watercolor painted by “H.A. Urmston” of the Patapsco Girl’s School. Identified by her initials alone, as well as “P.F. Inst. Md. 1843,” the McArdles were able to potentially identify the painter as Hannah Ann Urmston, born 1814, who may have been an instructor at the school. Debbie also highlighted a watercolor and ink record of the family of Reverend John Finley of Philadelphia and a three-finger oval shaker box with copper tacks and provenance to the family of the 25th governor of Vermont, Hiland Hill, as other objects of note.

David and Cheryl Craig Antiques offered this circa 1840 New Hampshire shaker oval fingered carrier, made with a maple band, ash handle and pine bottom. Indianapolis.

Fellow show administrator Barb Lemme, who owns Liberty Tree Antiques and is an owner at the four-woman-run Sign of the Whale Antiques, both in Glen Ellyn, Ill., also saw some success, reporting that she “sold a variety of items,” including a miniature Nineteenth Century three-drawer chest in its original mustard paint, a circa 1900 German papier mâché snowman and a tin hogscraper chamberstick in its original white paint.

Lemme has also been a participant since 2020, and professed, “There are a number of advantages to an online format as a dealer — the main one being the reach of the show. We have contact with people from all over the country, and internationally as well; potential customers who would never be in proximity to our shops or in-person shows. For example, while I live in Illinois and had repeat local customers, sales went to new customers from California and Colorado, while another went to a repeat customer from Nebraska.”

Lemme continued, “There is also the convenience of doing Fox Valley Online. We have arguably the best platform, created by Marvin Getman and updated and improved over the last 11 shows. It is very accessible and user-friendly for both dealers and customers. Dealers have access to the site for weeks before the show opens, so I can set up my booth at my convenience and continue to edit my offerings up until the show opening. And, I appreciate the personal contact with interested show attendees who can contact me directly by phone call, text or email. This allows a personal touch, which is so important for buyers who are putting their trust in us as dealers.”

Virginia Larsen offered this circa 1900 Rufus Bliss dollhouse made in Rhode Island, which still had working electric components! Virginia Larsen Antiques, Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Another owner at Sign of the Whale Antiques, Virginia Larsen, also had a booth open for Fox Valley Online and had sold several items early on in the morning on the first day. Her offerings reflected the specialties of Sign of the Whale, which, according to their website, include “quilts, hooked rugs, lighting, folk art, decoys, early glass, oil paintings and yellowware.”

Unique items in Larsen’s booth included a Rufus Bliss dollhouse made circa 1900, which was still fully electrified and “structurally sound,” as well as a mid Twentieth Century carnival knockdown of a clown and a small mid Twentieth Century melon basket with a hand-carved acorn attached. Larsen’s sold wares consisted of an Indian splint basket, a sheep figure with a woven collar, an American painted tin coffeepot, a silhouette of children with a dog and a turtle dish decoy.

Also 11-show veterans are David and Jane Thompson of South Dennis, Mass. By the time this reporter browsed the pair’s booth, they had sold upwards of 12 items, including an 1860 ferrotype campaign pin back brooch of Abraham Lincoln’s opponent, Stephen Douglas, which went to a buyer in Nebraska; a 1795-1800 watercolor of a schoolgirl titled “Sweet Poll of Plymouth,” which will head to a private collector in Massachusetts; and a CDV photo of a fisherman displaying a group of large pickerel in Pittsfield, Mass., which sold to a New England institution. Also on offer in the booth were items such as an antique Kugel Christmas ornament shaped like golden grapes, an early Steiff teddy bear (1908-10) with a hump in its back that was sourced from a New Hampshire estate and an 1866 edition of Milton Bradley’s historic The Checkered Game of Life.

David Thompson Antiques & Art, headed by David and Jane Thompson, South Dennis, Mass., offered “Sweet Poll of Plymouth,” a schoolgirl watercolor made between 1795-1800, which sold to a collector in Massachusetts.

“One of the things we like about the Fox Valley Online show is that we have made many new friends and customers this way, some of whom we have never met in person,” shared Jane Thompson. “This time, we sold to buyers from Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. We sold a wide variety of material, most with interesting histories. Our customers tell us that they enjoy reading the background information on the items, and the stories related to them. We will definitely be participating in Fox Valley again.”

“I felt the show was good for me in that I made some higher-end sales, and this time it was to all new customers, including one from Buenos Aires, which was interesting. It started out slow; however, Sunday was actually my better day,” shared Michael Pheffer, who is Two Sides of a River Antiques. The New London, N.H., dealer shared that he was “very pleased” with the four items he sold. “On Sunday, I sold a great diminutive bronze sundial dated 1690, an exceptionally detailed oil on board painting of the Claud Hamilton steam locomotive and a Norwegian staved and decorated ale pitcher.” On Saturday, he also sold a miniature shaker splint basket and offered other wares such as a hand-painted circus animal feed bucket, two separate paint decorated Scandinavian bride’s boxes and a Nineteenth Century oil on canvas titled “Children by a Stream,” among others. With the exception of one, all of Pheffer’s sold items are shipping off to Midwest locations.

Pheffer also offered some commentary on the online format of the show. “I very much like the format, especially at this time of my life, as in-person shows are getting difficult with packing, traveling, lodging and of course the weather, especially outdoor shows! Although I still do a few in-person venues and have a space at the Windham Antiques Center in Vermont, I am working on a transition to all online website selling and, of course, venues like Fox Valley, which maintains a great and easy-to-use platform.”

Just in time for Christmas was this 1882 Santa Claus Souvenir children’s book, published by Tuttle & Company (Rutland, Vt.) and containing Christmas poems by various authors, including its editor, Julia Dorr. Sandra L. Hoekstra Bookseller, Thomaston, Maine.

Home Farm Antiques, Bolton Landing, N.Y., is run by Pat Martin, who has participated in Fox Valley Online for a few years. She had already sold a German candy container in the shape of a snowy tree trunk with a robin by the time this reporter browsed her offerings and had a Victorian Christmas cat theorem reserved, which she reported later sold. Martin added, “I saw Christmas being sold. Also, historic photography, ephemera and small-sized antique artwork, such as theorems, samplers and paintings. I sent packages out mostly to the Mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest this year.”

Martin explained, “What I like about this show is that what could be simply an impersonal event is presented as a pleasant and personal experience, giving people the chance to establish relationships. Another thing I like about this show is that I can do it in my pajamas with my cup of coffee close at hand!” She concluded, “This past weekend has been my most successful so far. The show organizers have made this online experience a pleasure to do, especially for me; I am terrible at technology, we just don’t get along. Barb Lemme, Jane Thompson and Debbie McArdle have developed an itemized format, easy-to-follow. For the benefit of the customers, viewers and dealers, each item offered is evaluated for authenticity. Barb, Jane and Debbie keep their windows wide open for constant communication with the dealers, which I think is a grand thing to do.”

By around midday on Saturday, Jane Langol of Medina, Ohio, had already sold three items: a Johnson Brothers ironstone dessert plate, a Weller Pottery basket and a blue-white quilt. Langol offered a few other quilts, including a Log Cabin example and one from Lancaster, Penn. Some Ohio tintypes, a stone carving of a sheep, a face jug, a black duck decoy, some doll shoes, a portrait of a mother and child and a pair of watercolors were all still available on Saturday afternoon as well.

Priced at $2,950, this circa 1800 Staffordshire creamware Liverpool pitcher, complete with American soldiers on one side and a soldier’s farewell on its reverse, belonged to David M. Kurau, Collegeville, Penn.

Langol chose a unique approach to participating in Fox Valley Online, explaining, “I was exhibiting at a ‘real physical’ show in Rochester [N.Y.] for GCADA [Genesee Country Antique Dealers Association] at the same time the Fox Valley Online show was running digitally. In some cases, the items sold at Fox Valley were the same items that were in my inventory at the in-person show in Rochester. Fortunately, the Fox Valley Online event provided my sales — four items — and I could mark them ‘sold.’ Since the GCADA event had a slower gate, I could rely on Fox Valley for success. The dealer list for Fox Valley was certainly credible, but it was reduced in number. I did not have any repeat customers, which is a good thing, perhaps, since it exposed my antique choices to a new person. My most successful category was pottery, upon which I put focus since I come from Ohio, where much of the art pottery was made. I certainly will participate in the Fox Valley show next March.”

While David Weiss, owner of David M. Weiss Antiques in Sheffield, Mass., did not have any sales over the two-day span, he still commented, “I like [the show] because I am not tied down. I give full contact information, so wherever I am, I can discuss business. Once familiar, the format is easy to work with. The ‘rent’ is reasonable, and I hope to get people to my website. This time, it just didn’t work out.” Weiss’ booth included items such as a four-gallon stoneware jar, a carved and painted decorated round mirror, a scalloped coin sugar tong by Henry McKeen dated 1820-50, a Nineteenth Century firkin, a pair of serving plates by William Ridgeway and a pastoral oil on canvas depicting cows.

The Fox Valley Antiques Show Online will be back on March 7-8. For information, www.foxvalleyantiquesshow.com.