The ski lifts at Okemo Mountain Resort may have been still, but inside the base lodge there was plenty of activity as 35 dealers prepared for the 3 pm opening of the Okemo Antiques Show on Friday, October 2. The second in a series of five shows for Vermont Antiques Week, the Okemo Antiques Show fulfilled its promise of “Fine Americana,” bringing together some wonderful dealers of country antiques for its 16th anniversary.
Pat Clegg sported a “Boss Lady” T-shirt, given to her by her husband Don. Including 2009, the Cleggs have been managers of the Okemo Antiques Show for 14 years. Their friendly, familiar faces at the door welcomed attendees throughout the show, which had its usual rush of customers waiting to get into the preview. Since the Cleggs number all of their tickets and line up customers in order, they get a very accurate count of the preview. Don Clegg said, “We were down just eight or ten people. We were very pleased that we did that well. And our attendance on Saturday was way up over last year. Perhaps the rainy day helped.”
The Cleggs, dealers themselves, have a waiting list of dealers wanting to exhibit at Okemo. “We are kind of country antiques folks and we tend toward&⁰ainted furniture, good textiles, folk art.” As a result, the show has plenty to offer in the way of country antiques.
Emele’s Antiques, Dublin, Penn., offered a hooked rug of cats for $1,650, a beautiful circa 1810 cherry corner cupboard, a circa 1820 tiger maple mirror from Philadelphia at $3,600, a dry sink with its original zinc liner at $2,650, a grain painted cupboard with Chippendale bracket feet at $3,250, and a selection of Santa figures.
Jane Langol Antiques, Medina, Ohio, set up her booth like a gallery for the art pottery that she featured, including a Bristol glaze over stoneware lion with a charming face that came from Crookstown, Ohio, and was priced at $2,100; and a beautiful green “Bedford matt” glaze Weller umbrella stand at $990.
Jane Wargo, Wallingford, Conn., offered an early Nineteenth Century hanging cupboard, an early copper eagle weathervane, a fine ash burl bowl, a one-drawer blanket chest, a Nineteenth Century painted barn door in warm, old surface, a “Honey For Sale” sign and wooden shoe forms.
Gary Promey of Atwater, Ohio, brought a cool old decorative brass snow-depth gauge. Pottles & Pannikins featured hearth cooking tools and early lighting, including pierced tin lanterns and a pewter whale oil lamp with a single bull’s-eye magnifying lens and double burner made by Rosewell Gleason, Mass., in the early Nineteenth Century.
Lewis Scranton Antiques, Killingworth, Conn., had a gorgeous tole tray and coffeepot. Also featured were tole boxes, silhouettes, samplers, redware and baskets. Native American baskets, sewing items, figurative iron sprinkler heads and other smalls filled the display space of Sue Murphy, Milford, N.J., and Carol Woodbridge Antiques, Princeton, N.J.
After the show, dealer Gloria Lonergan of Mendham, N.J., said, “I had a pretty good show. I sold a blue cupboard and a blue table and painted red and blue demilune table, two red firkins of different sizes, a butter mold and a blue carrier on a chest. Blue was a popular color. I could have sold that carrier more than once.” Lonergan sold to a Vermont customer and a few people from out of state. “I had to ship something to Nebraska,” she said.
Frenchtown, N.J., dealer Abby Brooks said, “I was very pleased. I am almost always pleased with that show.” She sold a little bit of everything, including a “nice early three-drawer blanket chest with all-original gray-blue paint with salmon trim †very good looking and in excellent, untouched condition.” She also sold a very interesting still life painting from Philadelphia from the early part of the Twentieth Century and a little mid-Nineteenth Century watercolor of two sheep under a tree. Sheep were apparently desirable.
Steve Smoot, Lancaster, Penn., was back at Okemo this year after a one-year hiatus. He had a striking blue country cupboard with ivory trim, game boards and wall-mounted carvings of songbirds. “This is a dealer-friendly, customer-friendly show to do. The whole week is fun. It is a great time of year to come up to Vermont.”
For information, 717-259-9480.
