“I’m just bumping along through western Ohio,” Marty Shapiro said when called on Tuesday, June 29, for comments about the Litchfield County Antiques Show. Having seen the show from start to finish, he was well on his way to his gallery in Chicago, a 15-hour drive from Kent.
This event, sponsored by the Antiques Council, opened with a preview party on Friday, June 25, and then continued for two days at Springs Center on the campus of the Kent School. Along with Kaye Gregg, Marty served as show chairman and commented that this year 11 new dealers joined the show, and several brought in different avenues of collecting, thus broadening the interests available. He also sang the praises of the show committee, citing the food provided for the exhibitors, the lavish raw bar at the preview and the many helping hands available at any time.
“The show worked out like most of the shows, with about 25 percent of the dealers having very good shows, and the same average for good and fair shows. Some of our dealers did not do well at all, which fits the formula in today’s market,” Marty said. He also noted, and rightly so, that the show looked good and people came and stayed. At last count, the attendance was slightly higher than last year and, while the preview often tends to be a social gathering and a show of support for the sponsoring group, some business was done.
G. Sergeant Antiques, LLC, Woodbury, Conn., had a booth filled with highly polished furniture, including an interesting Louis XVI Trictrac table in mahogany, with the interior outfitted for backgammon and the top for checkers. A Regency breakfront, on six tapered, reeded legs with ebonized coffers, retained the original patina and color.
In addition to his usual stock of interesting painted objects, Victor Weinblatt of South Hadley, Mass., offered signs, signs and more signs. The walls were hung with them, while others appeared to be hanging from the rafters, promoting things such as “Light Lunches,” “Poultry †Fresh Eggs,” “Good Food †Good Bath †Good Bed,” “No Duck Hunting,” “Home Baked Pies” and “Meat Market,” to name but a few examples. Many of these signs were quite colorful, and few appeared to have come from a profession sign maker’s shop.
A booth filled with furniture has always been a trademark of SAJE Americana, Short Hills, N.J., and this show was no exception. A birdcage tilt-top tea table, Queen Anne, applewood, was of Connecticut or New York State origin and dated circa 1780. The oval top measured 31 by 29 inches. From Vermont, a Federal server in cherry with bird’s-eye veneer, crossbanded drawers, retained the original brasses and was circa 1810.
Roger D. Winter, Ltd, Solebury, Penn., showed a George I double-dome bureau-secretary in bleached walnut and oak, circa 1710, 91 inches tall and of English origin. The interior was outfitted with pigeon holes, partitions and drawers. A small-size dresser, faux paint finish, had a plate rack, pot shelf and three drawers, circa 1820, English.
Garden furniture and sculpture was a mainstay in the booth of Bob and Debbie Withington, York, Maine, with a carved marble bench with rounded seat edges and scrolled base, circa 1900, and a bronze sun dial with a seated nude, signed by Lawrence, Mass., artist Lucy Currier Richards, dated 1917.
“We were asked to do an andiron booth, create a different look,” Jim Gallagher of North Norwich, N.Y., said. And that is just what he did, offering everything one could possibly want to outfit the fireplace. Among the stacks of about two dozen fenders was an ornate brass example, circa 1830, New York City, ready to be matched up with any one of 35 pairs of andirons and countless fireplace tools. “These andirons are about as tall as they get,” Jim said, pointing out an urn-top brass pair from Philadelphia, circa 1800, measuring 23 inches high.
Rose Garden Antiques of Red Hook, N.Y., one of the new exhibitors in the show this year, offered a faux bois stone bench of French origin, curved seat with arms, circa 1920, and a postal sorting desk of metal, also French, circa 1930‱940, that was sold during the preview.
A wrought iron plant stand with scrolling brackets between vertical posts on scrolled feet, circa 1870, American, was filled with plants and offered from the booth of Cunha-St John of Essex, Mass. At the opposite end of the booth was a cast iron hitching post of a horse head on an acanthus decorated base, American, circa 1870.
Dawn Hill Antiques of New Preston, Conn., joined forces with Antique American Wicker, Nashua, N.H., to outfit a booth that was ready to enhance outdoor living. A grouping of Bar Harbor-style wicker furniture, circa 1900, in natural color with newly upholstered cushions, included a wing chair, love seat, rocker, ottoman, drink stand and a pair of oak-top tables. Ready for a garden setting was a pair of ornate American cast iron settees, Renaissance scroll pattern, circa 1900, measuring 44 inches wide.
Eight wood-carved and colorful garden birds, original paint, circa 1920‱930, found in Illinois, were mounted on the wall in the booth of A Bird In Hand, Florham Park, N.J. As usual, this booth offered a fine selection of Grenfell mats and a collection of decoys, in addition to a nice pair of carved carriage curtains from a Pennsylvania hearse, circa 1850‱880, in the original black painted surface.
Fletcher/Copenhaver Fine Art, Fredericksburg, Va., showed a work by Georges Leroux (1877‱957), “A Bathing Party on the Tiber,” oil on canvas, signed lower left, 1909, Rome, measuring 32½ by 24 inches sight. A tempera on canvas by Alix Ayme (1894‱989) was a portrait of a “Seated Woman in a Red and White Dress,” signed lower right, and measuring 25½ by 195/8 inches.
Bridges Over Time, Newburgh, N.Y., offered furniture from the 1950s, including a pair of Paul McCobb chests and a cabinet by Johnson Brothers. “Boy with Bunny” was the title of one of the two pieces of bronze sculpture by Edward Fenno Hoffman III, American, 1977.
Otto & Susan Hart, Arlington, Vt., had an interesting carved faux bois sandstone lamp, circa 1920, with four animals and one oversized bird, and a nice fish painting with three fish, dated 1887, signed A.S. Avery, in period frame. In the corner of the booth was a horn rack, circa 1900, painted surface with 14 horns for hanging garments, and four horns for legs. It was from Center County, Penn.
Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, York County, Penn., showed a portion of his large collection of American flags, along with some painted furniture and folk art. A large 34-star flag, dating from the opening two years of the Civil War, 1861‱863, was important “because of the star pattern, with four larger stars at the corners,” Jeff said. Beside it hung a 35-star flag, 110 inches wide, hand sewn and dating 1863‱865, made to include West Virginia as a new state. All of the flags are framed, “a job we do on site at the shop,” he said. Leaping across a painted blanket chest was a sheet metal stag weathervane with old yellow surface on one side, circa 1860‱880.
When Richard “Smitty” Axtell of Deposit, N.Y., was asked what his favorite thing was in his booth, he went right to the oval hutch table with three-board top, from Essex, Conn. The table was of pine and maple, red base with scrubbed top, and a checkerboard was drawn on the underside of the seat. The seat was not hinged, but removable when a game was to be played, rendering the piece useless for sitting. While he was proud of the table, he was equally pleased with a hickory and cherry table model screw-top candlestand, Eighteenth Century, from Massachusetts. And how about the tin sconces, painted and decorated, circa 1830 and found in Connecticut. “I have had lots of tin sconces, but never any painted and decorated like these,” Smitty said.
The show got off to a fine start for Douglas Constant, Orient, Long Island, N.Y., selling three pieces of furniture at the preview. Two large case pieces were against the back wall; to the left, a rare Queen Anne chest on frame in cherry, five-drawer case and narrow drawer in the frame, cabriole legs and pad feet, original finish and dating circa 1750. It was from New London County, Conn., 53½ inches high, and fresh to the market. On the right was a Queen Anne highboy in cherry, Wethersfield, Conn., circa 1775, measuring 74 inches high. Four long drawers and five short drawers were in the upper portion, with one long drawer and three short drawers below. It was supported by cabriole legs and retained the original pierced brass hardware.
Garden furniture filled the booth of he Finnegan Gallery, Chicago, and among the seating pieces was an exceptionally large Arvas bench, 96 inches wide, French origin, “demi-tube” construction. Dating from the late Nineteenth Century was a large garden table, French, with decorative scrolled base and faded blue/gray stone top.
One of the painting stars of the show hung in the booth of the Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, Conn., an oil on canvas by Willard Metcalf titled “Springtime in the Village [Woodbury].” This work was signed and dated 1920, and measured 29 by 33 inches sight. Charles Harold Davis (1856‱933) was represented by “With the Summer Breeze,” an oil on canvas, signed lower left, and measuring 25 by 30 inches sight.
New to the show this year was J.M. Stringer Gallery of Fine Art, Bernardsville, N.J., with a large inventory of works, including “The Milkmaids,” circa 1882, by Edward Potthast, American, (1857‱927). This oil on canvas, signed lower right, measured 14 by 21 inches. “After The Bath,” circa 1915‱918, was by Martha Walter, an oil on canvas measuring 40 by 32 inches and estate stamped verso.
The Litchfield County Antiques Show is sponsored by Greenwood Counseling Referrals and the next show run by the Antiques Council will be the Nantucket Historical Association Annual Antiques Show, August 6‸.
For additional information, www.antiquescouncil.com or 413-436-7064.
