“I’m just a little bit country, I’m just a little bit rock and roll,” or that is the way the old Donny and Marie Osmond song goes anyway. And what better place for that to come true than in Music City? Except how about a whole lot of country †infused with an upbeat rock and roll-style attitude. That is precisely what those who attended two fashionable shows, Antiques at Music Valley and the Tailgate Antiques Show, were treated to between February 19 and 21.
A substantial transformation has taken place in Nashville over the past couple of years, and things seemingly have shaken out in favor of the buying public. Formerly, there were three shows taking place biannually; there are now just two that run twice yearly and there are but two events taking place in February. Adding to it all, they, too, have experienced a metamorphosis. Upgrading from the tents in the parking lot of the Music Valley Hotel and from displaying in the hotel rooms at Fiddler’s Motel, the Antiques at Music Valley and the Tailgate Antiques Show have blossomed.
Having produced smaller versions of the two shows this past October, promoters John and Steve Jenkins of Jenkins Management pulled out all the stops for the most recent editions. Lots of new dealers and a brand-new look for each of the shows created quite a bit of excitement for dealers and shoppers alike, as witnessed by the large crowds on hand for each of the openings and the sold tags that quickly appeared around the floor.
Emotions were high and the Nashville area audience was primed for these two show staples featuring a total of more than 300 exhibitors.
Antiques at Music Valley is promoted by John Jenkins, and the line for Thursday night’s preview party began forming a couple hours prior to opening. Those in the long line that extended through the lobby and out into the parking lot seemed anxious for the action to begin. At 7 pm, the Jenkinses gave a nod to a duet, a fiddler and guitarist, that struck up a tune and marked the opening of the show. The crowd rushed in and scurried about in search of treasures.
While the shows share the fairgrounds and, in one case, seem to share the same building, the boundaries of the two events are actually becoming blurred. Management, however, kept things in control on opening night by closing down the Tailgate show prior to Music Valley’s opening. All were treated to wine and food; however, that took the back seat as shoppers cruised the aisles.
Sold tags appeared as soon as the doors opened, and a wide variety of materials were finding new homes. Blue seemed to be the color of the day in Burleson, Texas, dealer Buckingham Antiques’ booth as a large cupboard with a pie shelf and blind paneled doors in the top and the base, in an attractive worn blue paint, was an early seller. Presumably going to the same buyer, a table in blue and a set of thumb back chairs, also in blue, sported sold tags as well.
“I have passed through these doors for more years than I will tell you,” commented Mount Crawford, Va., dealer Judy Warren in regard to a pair of general store screen doors with bread logos painted on the screen. “They came from the general store just down the road from where I grew up,” she said. The attractive doors sold to an anxious buyer soon after the show opened, and before the dealer could get a sold tag positioned on them, several more requests for a price were made.
Other items in the booth included a nice lattice barn ornament, a folky hitching post painted in red, white and blue and adorned with a face, and a handsome Southern tall chest with a three-over-five-drawer configuration.
An early cigar store figure of a maiden was attracting attention in the booth of Kate and Howard Tannery, Pittsburgh, Penn. Scraped down to the original paint, the figure was well-executed. A sheet metal, wall mounted butcher’s rack with cutout decoration of a knife and cleaver surrounded by ornamentation and stars was an early seller from the booth.
“I put this collection together several years ago,” stated Akron, Ohio, dealer Darwin Bearley in regard to a group of pencils with broom tops. “It is actually the second collection. I had formed one many years ago and then sold it, and soon after I realized I missed them, so I formed another one. I haven’t added one to the collection in many years because I just haven’t seen any others,” he said. Offered as a collection, the 15 pencils were dwarfed by the sold tag that the dealer had placed on them.
Dan and Karen Olsen had an attractive booth with a dower chest at one end of the booth, a massive farm table surrounded by Pennsylvania thumb back chairs in a lovely green paint, several pieces of blue decorated stoneware and a varied selection of paintings.
Thurston Nichols featured a nice pair of apothecary chests, one of which had an assortment of yellow spatterware across the top. A Ralph Cahoon painting that hung above the chest was attracting attention. Featuring seven ladies seated in yellow painted chairs around a yellow grain painted table, having tea and knitting, the work also depicted two ladies peering through spy-glasses out the window and across the harbor with moored ships as they awaited their sailors.
Quilts brightened up many of the booths throughout the show, with a bright yellow, red, blue and white appliqué example filling the rear wall of Nancy and Craig Cheney, Newark, Ohio. A colorful sign advertising Bar-B-Q Ribs and another for lemonade hung above game wheels and garden ornaments.
New Brunswick, Canada, dealer Timber River Farms displayed another of the stunning quilts seen around the floor as a star pattern appliqué example in a vibrant red, white and blue dominated the rear wall of the booth. Several hooked rugs were also offered, with a large example featuring a spaniel on a crosshatched pattern rug hanging above a blanket chest in old blue paint.
Country store items were also plentiful, and the booth of Stepstool Antiques, Austin, Texas, featured a fine assortment that ran the gamut from early signs advertising everything from bananas to tires, to store counters, scales, dispensers, trade stimulators and even a selection of children’s cowboy boots.
Friday morning saw the opening of the Tailgate show run by Steve Jenkins. Following a format similar to the one utilized the evening before, Music Valley remained closed while this show opened for early buying. Another long line formed as the Tailgate show opened, and once again the crowd was hungry.
A large early cupboard in attractive red and black grain paint was conspicuously faced with its front toward the wall in Maine dealer John Magoon’s booth. With a set of apothecary drawers in the midsection, the rare case piece had sold right off the bat and had a sold tag stuck between the oversized rough hewn boards that made up the back. A pair of massive snowshoes, said by the dealer to have been used for lake crossings over less than stable ices, stood in one corner of the booth, while a wall rack for canoe paddles, complete with a variety of painted paddles, hung in the other corner. Painted firkins, baskets, creels and all sorts of other backcountry essentials filled out the booth.
A stark contrast to Magoon’s booth was the nice Eighteenth Century bonnet-top secretary featured in the booth next door belonging to Easter Hill Antiques, Sharon, Conn. Although with a diversified offering, it was not that much of a stretch when one noticed the early store display of brightly painted fishing bobbers that were still mounted on their original cardboard backing.
An unusual blanket box with applied twig decoration of two large leaves surrounded by stars and the moon in an old crackled off-white paint was offered by Jan Raber, Tampa, Fla., and just down the aisle was a large selection of Halloween figures and a wide variety of candy containers displayed by Jerry Turner, Hot Springs, Ark.
Country furniture was prevalent throughout the tailgate show as well, with a stunning four-drawer Chippendale chest in vibrant blue paint seen in the booth of Tom Joseph, Limington, Maine. A horse weathervane and a pair of early portraits hung above the chest.
Bennington, yellowware and wrought iron kitchen implements filled the booth of John Kennedy, Troxelville, Penn., although it was the 1940s pair of crossed flags from a race arena that was eliciting attention.
Jenera, Ohio, dealer Jeff Walton was busy tending to customers and writing sales slips as the show got up to speed on Friday morning. A nice pair of loving ducks with heads turned backward and silhouetted against a full moon decorated a hooked rug on the rear wall; a robust grain painted Sheraton server and a dry sink in old yellow were also offered.
One item on the floor that was attracting quite a bit of attention was a large pilothouse eagle in the booth of Randy Forbes, Lewis, N.Y. Retaining a lot of the gilt on the underside, the large and nicely weathered eagle was thought by the dealer to have originated from the Lake Champlain region of Vermont.
By 11 am on Friday, early buying at the Tailgate show had come to an end and the doors to Music Valley had opened once again. A good-sized crowd was on hand for the regular openings and attendance was good throughout the weekend.
The signs that the Jenkinses had posted throughout the area touting “300 Top Antiques Dealers” not only attracted the crowds, but it was a statement that rang true.
For information, Jenkins Management at 317-598-0012.
