The Richmond-area audience has for many years shown its appreciation of fine and esoteric antiques. Sales for the show have typically included a wide assortment of very fine objects for the collector or decorator alike.
Atlanta dealer William Cawood is a purveyor of fine antique maps, with a collection so vast he can show highlights specific to whatever region he is showing at. Here, he featured a collection of Civil War-era and Southern maps that he said resulted in “selling the better pieces.”
Duchess Antiques, Bethesda, Md., is June Tracy’s business featuring fine small English antiques. She was born and raised in the north of England and still visits family as often as possible, shopping while there. Accordingly, her collection is something like a bottomless pit, always filled with fine pieces. This most recent show had a collection of toleware trays, silver for the dining table and early porcelain.
Small kitchen tools from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries were among the better sales for Country Corner Antiques, Bowie, Md. Owners Ken and Sue Zippel are frequent shoppers in England and France, where they find their inventory of samplers, silhouettes and toys, which also sold well. Peg Lockwood of Zuni, Va., also sources most of her inventory from England and was selling well at the show.
The show is more than just English antiques. Brian Penniston, the proprietor of Queen Street Antiques Mall in Tappahannock, Va., offered an early hunt board, which he said hailed from Georgia and was made of yellow pine. Dick Goff brought a large collection of Nineteenth Century furniture from his home and shop in Newburg, Md. He left some of it in Richmond, including a sea chest and a barrister’s bookcase.
There was a collection of carved figures and vehicles typical of those made for a feather tree village. Also called a Putz village, these toys were made from late in the 1800s through World War II, generally from Germany and the area now called the Czech Republic. Offered by Ostrich Hill Farm Antiques, Adamstown, Penn., they were priced from about $15 for some animals to more than $100 for some of the vehicles.
Face jugs from the South were also available. Roland and Betsy Dallaire, Brockway, Penn., are collectors of that specialty and were offering an assortment, along with some other Nineteenth Century folk art.
The father and son team of Richard and Kevin Timme brought a collection of American hardwood and veneer furniture from the Northeast. Since they are from Killingworth, Conn., their collection is primarily New England furniture. Kevin also trades in silver, mostly American.
Len Harmon, Vilas, N.C., trades in only small things, but he was offering a double booth filled with them. He had early electric lamps, fine china and porcelain, and many small boxes for all kinds of special purposes.
Offering a decorating service as well as antiques, Pat Hunt of PBH Interiors was exhibiting with a small room setting. This Richmond resident was showing a tea room with the furniture and accessories assembled in an attractive manner as though it could be moved intact into a home, but, of course, all the antiques were available individually.
Another large room setting was offered by Edgewood Antiques of Greenville, S.C. Owners David and Karen Metcalf have a preference for American country style with a collection that included many quilts and coverlets, painted furniture, pewter and American stoneware. Vernon Creekmore, a Richmond dealer, trades in furniture, but especially in Southern pieces. Carolyn Brown of Sparrows Nest Antiques in Williamsburg, Va., was selling small pieces this time, as well as early dishes and folk art and a Virginia Pembroke table and a Hepplewhite stand.
From New Hampshire, Lyme Creamery Antiques offered an Irish step back cupboard and a collection of Leeds featheredge dishes. Dishes sold, and so did some furniture, including an early New England nanny’s bench. Nearby, Holiday Antiques of Williamsburg, Va., was offering an English Pembroke table and a pair of New Hampshire country Chippendale side chairs.
Show owners Louise Jesse and Bob and Diana Taylor exhibit at the show. This month the Taylors, who trade as The Old Store in Norge, Va., were very pleased with their sales, which Bob said included nearly 40 transactions, about twice the usual total. He described the sales as “mostly very good smalls, special things that were very good items in their field.”
Jesse was offering a collection from her shop in Lively, Va., including several fine early American portraits.
For show information, call Louise Jesse at 804-462-6190 or the Taylors at 804-769-8866.
