The second New York Antiques Show, conducted by JMK from October 31 to November 2 at Wallace Hall on Park Avenue, continued promoter Allison Kohler’s quest to resurrect this Park Avenue tradition. For years, under different management, this show had brought antiques dealers and upper East Side collectors together for a weekend during January’s Americana Week in Manhattan. Since the revived show’s first running last fall, its new calendar slot pitted it against a bevy of competing activities, including, this year, Halloween, the New York City marathon and concluding forays by national election political campaigns. “Don’t worry,” observed Kohler before the start of the show, “New Yorkers can handle it all.”
And multitask they did, as a slow but steady stream of shoppers found their way to the space below the Church of St Ignatius Loyola to peruse exhibitors’ displays over the event’s three-day run. There were a total of 27 exhibits, this year contained solely within the confines of the hall rather than extending back into the cafeteria as in the previous year. The addition of an onsite porcelain restoration service on Saturday and Sunday was a boon for those with treasures in need of repair or a free assessment of an item needing restoration.
Southampton, N.Y., jewelry dealer Brad Reh can take some credit for this show’s revival. He was one of the former show’s exhibitors to approach Kohler and suggest that there was great potential for an event worthy of this Park Avenue address. This year he brought a display case full of dazzling antique and vintage estate jewelry, including a platinum and diamond necklace with 20 carats of diamonds, circa 1900, which cleverly separated to make a fetching choker.
“The New York Antiques Show went particularly well for us, especially since it was the first time we had done it,” reported Stephen and Ruth Dube of R and S Antiques. “We found the crowds interested in many of our items, with a special interest in silver and fine art.” Among the couples’ treasures was a pair of George II strawberry dishes, circa 1747, engraved with armorial crests, two tazzas and candlesticks by Dominick & Haff, circa 1900, and a Rose Medallion tureen and tray from China, circa 1850.
“The flow of people was steady throughout the three days, with Marathon Sunday our busiest,” said the Dubes. “Our most interesting sale was an oil painting by John Carey, which will be given as a wedding present. In addition to many items of silver, we also sold an unusual Dresden porcelain inkstand and some Minton plates, which will be on display at a New York City restaurant.”
Another newcomer to the show this year, Sue McGovern, president of Washington, D.C.-based Sands of Time, specializes in museum-quality ancient art, such as a pair of Greek Fourth Century urns that flanked artwork displayed in her booth. The featured artwork was something the dealer was introducing †Australian aboriginal art, alive with brilliant colors, patterns and symbolism and based on a 40,000-year-old means of expression that has a very contemporary look.
Many of these works are based on dreams recalled by their artists who live in Western and Central Australia. According to McGovern, each tells a story that is both personally emotional and sacred. She pointed out one such painting, an acrylic on canvas painted in 2007 by Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi. Titled “Seven Sisters Dreaming,” the 37-by-54½-inch work shows a cluster of seven orange orbs representing the sisters with a lone orange figure representing an amorous suitor in pursuit of the sisters against a nebulous blue background. The personal nature of this dreaming becomes universal, said McGovern, when the viewer comes to realize that the fiery cluster of the seven sisters and their pursuer represents the constellation of Taurus in the night sky.
As she did last year, Roseland, N.J., antiques and collectibles dealer Debbie Turi commanded a space perched above the main floor of the hall, just to the right of the entrance. She showed a sweet and small untitled oil on artist board depicting a basket of strawberries, a Victorian English chair with Indian influences made of black walnut or teak with featuring intricate carving and nice paw feet and a two-sided sign that once marked a bus station stop.
After collecting rare and vintage purses and handbags for more than 30 years, Nula Thanhauser of East Hampton, N.Y., imparts her knowledge about this very specialized category at a select number of shows. She curated a mini-museum of the vintage items for this show, one of the highlights being an over-the-top example by American designer-to-the-Hollywood-stars Josef from the 1930s that sparkled with multifaceted crystals, hand beaded with a swirl motif in gold. The specialist of antique and signature purses and accessories also designs one-of-a-kind purses from vintage frames, antique fabrics, exotic skins and classics such as heirloom lace.
In addition to an American mahogany sideboard featuring a center drawer inlaid with an eagle, Gordon and Mary Nicoll, Nicoll Fine Art and Antiques, Newcastle, Maine, brought an American hand-hooked rug. Exhibiting great shading, colors and design, the room-sized rug, measuring 8 feet 11 inches by 7 feet, was “difficult to find in this condition,” according to Mary Nicoll.
Roger D. Winter Ltd, Solebury, Penn., furnished his smaller space this year with a roomful of Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century American and English pieces of furniture. Two were sizable tables, including a French farm table with a four-board top in elm, the base in oak with a drawer on one side and great overhang on the ends. Made circa 1840, the table stretched to 94 inches long and was 36 inches wide. It was topped by a late Eighteenth Century or early Nineteenth Century carved and gilded eagle that had been set into a lamp base. The second table was an English Regency mahogany three-pedestal style, circa 1845, with two original leaves and the top edge crossbanded in satinwood and reeded. It featured a cannon barrel column and reeded saber legs that terminated in brass casters. The table’s commodious size permitted the inclusion of a set of eight Chippendale mahogany chairs †six side chairs and two armchairs †with a foliate carved crest rail above a pierced black splat, circa 1780.
“It was a pretty little show, but I think everyone was in a holding pattern with the election and the stock market. Not sure if we will return next year, although I have been asked by a number of vendors to return,” said Kohler. For information, 973-927-2794 or www.jmkshows.com .
