The Marion Antiques Show and Sale has a lot going for it. In addition to an interesting lineup of exhibitors, the Fish Center on the attractive Tabor Academy campus is a comfortable setting with air-conditioning and food service. A preview party with the popular raw bar kicks off the show, and Eden Landscapes presents a wonderful garden welcome at the entrance. And it “all went well,” according to Trisha McElroy, show manager. The gate was down by about 100 at the preview on Friday, August 15, due to a conflict with several social events, but “Saturday was strong and we saw a good number of be-backers on Sunday who did some buying,” Trisha said.
This year 18 new dealers were added to the list, complementing the mix of formal and country furniture, garden sculpture and accessories, paintings and prints, fabrics, pottery and some folk art. “We had a number of painting and prints dealers and most seemed to do well,” Trisha said.
Among those who offered works of art was Bradford Trust of Harwich Port, Mass., a regular at the show, with a pair of village scenes painted in Provincetown by John Whorf (1903‱959). A large landscape by Grace S. Clark, a New Jersey artist, oil on canvas, dated from the early Twentieth Century.
Lisa McAllister of Clear Spring, Md., was new to the show and offered a tea table with drawer from Franklin City, Penn., circa 1790, oval top and red painted surface, in as found condition. Impressive was a large compote filled with wax fruit, Victorian, including apples, pears, grapes, berries, watermelon and peaches, all under a large green glass dome.
Zane Moss of New York City had filled his booth with mostly English furniture, well polished, with equally well polished accessories. He showed a half partners’ desk in mahogany, circa 1860, with tooled leather top, and an English Regency drum table inset with leather, splayed legs ending in brass casters, circa 1820, with a 28-inch-diameter top.
Formal English furniture also filled the large booth taken by Georgian Manor of Fairhaven, Mass. Weaving through this booth, one passed a Nineteenth Century turned walnut tripod table, octagonal upholstered top, 26 inches high and 20 inches wide, circa 1880; a Regency writing table in mahogany, toupee feet ending on brass cups and caster, circa 1810, 30 inches high, 45 inches wide and 27 inches deep; and a George III inlaid oak paneled mule chest, circa 1800, 57½ inches wide.
Roger King Fine Art of Newport, R.I., was also new to the show and, in fact, “This is the first antiques show I have ever done,” Roger said. His booth was filled with works of art, including a view of Echo Lake, White Mountains, N.H., on oil on canvas by Edward Hill (1843‱923); “Corn Shocks in Winter,” an oil on canvas by John F. Folinsbee (1892‱972); and a ship portrait of the Emma Babcock by Charles S. Raleigh, 1892, oil on canvas.
Brian Cullity of Sagamore, Mass., showed a cherrywood and mahogany card table with reeded legs, possibly Connecticut, circa 1820, and an interesting Charlestown stoneware jug with three hearts, outfitted with a make-do iron handle that was designed for easy pouring. A selection of glass included a Midwest pitkin in brown, several English seal bottles and a few bitters.
William the Conqueror was pictured on a double-sided inn sign, English, 1840, in the booth of Leatherwood Antiques, Sandwich, Mass. A wrought iron grille gate with the initials JN, along with heart design, was English and dated 1830. A large case was filled to capacity with Black Forest carvings, Vienna bronzes and a large selection of childhood cups and plates.
Chapel Hill, N.C., dealer Robert Burrows, also a new exhibitor, showed a pair of dragon statues from a Cincinnati estate, circa 1870‱910, in old white crusty paint, and an American cylinder desk with writing slides, paw feet, in cherrywood and tiger and bird’s-eye maple. It was from the Delaware Valley, circa 1825.
Hilary and Paulette Nolan, Falmouth, Mass., offered a number of nautical objects, including a large ship model of the bark John C. Morrison that was built by a retired sea captain at his farm in New Hampshire, circa 1882. “This particular model is exceptional with great detail, form and paint,” Hilary said. An Eighteenth century tea table, Rhode Island origin, Queen Anne, had a round top, button feet, and untouched paint history. On the outside wall of the booth was shown a Nineteenth Century doll’s bed in old white paint, with three wood jointed and painted dolls resting on the pillow.
Henry T. Callan, the sampler man from East Sandwich, Mass., offered 13 examples, including one by Jane Small, aged 12 from Maine, dated Nov 2, 1801, with the alphabet, house with fence, large tree, garden and floral border. Phoebe Slocum’s 1833 sampler also had the alphabet and some flowers, along with a basket and urn of flowers.
Early New England furniture and fabrics filled the booth of Colette Donovan of Merrimacport, Mass. An interesting candlestand, New England, had a root base and retained traces of old red over red, New England, dating from the late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Century, and a pair of crewel chards, embroidered on homespun linen were also of New England origin, mid Eighteenth Century, and measured 14¾ by 17½ inches. Each depicted a flowering tree, one with three birds in it, the other with two birds.
A New Hampshire two-part tambour desk, circa 1800, was of birch, cherrywood, poplar and mahogany, and was offered from the booth of Custom House, Cromwell, Conn. Steele & Steele, Middletown, R.I., had a Nineteenth Century Sheraton slant front desk, red paint over brown, that was once used by the first postmaster of Eastham, Mass. (Cape Cod). Dating from the mid Eighteenth Century was a shadow box of a classic barkentine sailing ship.
A large painting in an ornate gold frame, a winter scene of snow frozen banks along a river, a Nineteenth Century oil on canvas by Heinrich Petri (German, 1834-1872), hung in the booth of the Marion Antique Shop. A set of six ribbon-back dining chairs, circa 1920, two arms and four sides, surrounded a large dining table at the front of the booth. In the corner was a tall case clock by Jacob Willard, Ashby, Mass., circa 1806, with that dial signed “J. Willard.”
Derik Pulito of Kensington, Conn., sold his Rhode Island Chippendale six-drawer tall chest in cherrywood, circa 1780, 36 inches wide and 54 inches high, with the original bracket base. Other furniture included a Chippendale graduated four-drawer bureau with molded top, cherrywood, 37½ by 34½ inches, that just came out of a Woodstock, Conn., estate.
The furniture was polished and the brass sparkled in the booth of Drake Field Antiques, Longmeadow, Mass., where about the only painted object was a pair of Hessian andirons. The selection of brass included a large kettle, a tall and a short fireplace fender, andirons and fire tools, a spirit kettle with rosewood handle, circa 1860, and tavern or tap sticks, circa 1860, with bells just below the candle cup that was rung to receive service.
A carved wood and gilded pilothouse eagle of Massachusetts origin, white pine, spread its 21½-inch wingspan in the booth of Heller-Washam, Portland, Maine, and Woodbury, Conn. It was found on Cape Cod and dates circa 1865‱895. Among the furniture was a Queen Anne tripod, dish-top, tilt-top tea table with birdcage support in walnut, circa 1755, of small size.
At the front of the booth of Paul and Karen Wendhiser, Ellington, Conn., was a cast iron bird bath, circa 1900, 32 inches high, with cherub pedestal and open shell basin. A lotus leaf sculpture in brass was done by G.W. Hansen, an artist who did sculptures for Boulder Dam in 1935, and a Civil War naval dress hat, shoulder boards and sword strap were in the original painted tin box.
Two sandpaper paintings hung in the booth of Mad River Antiques, LLC, North Granby, Conn., one a nautical scene showing the nighttime battle between American frigates flying American flags and a side-wheeler, Nineteenth Century, the other a classic scene of a lake with columned buildings on both sides, sunburst in the background and a seated figure in the foreground. Dating from the Nineteenth Century was a white pine bin in oyster paint, hinged cover metal corner supports and the original iron handles.
The Village Braider from nearby Plymouth came prepared to outfit a garden, offering a cast iron bench and two chairs in white, fern pattern, and a pair of demilune cast cement benches. A statue of Napoleon was on a pedestal, and a handsome, life-size, cast iron retriever had a black painted surface.
“It took me about ten years to put the collection together,” Louis Dianni of Fishkill, N.Y., new to the show this year, said referring to a case filled with 26 ships in bottles. Some showed fishing villages, other had the ships at sea. On the opposite side of the booth, a similar case was filled with nautical doorstops and many sets of bookends. Among the paintings offered was a view of Nantasket Beach, 1879, an oil on canvas by Frank Knox Morton Rehn (American, 1848‱914), with the artist and title listed verso. An oil on canvas by George Chambers showed the “Merchantman in Downs of Deal,” a work signed and dated 1826 on an oar.
A large carousel horse, mounted on a stand and converted into a rocker, once was used as a sign in front of a “Walk-Over Shoe Store,” was shown in the booth of Langenbach’s Fine Art & Antiques, Kingston, Mass. A colorful hooked rug depicted a boy in red pants feeding an apple to a horse, and “For Danny” was in block letters in the right lower corner.
Charles and Barbara Adams, South Yarmouth, Mass., had a large Bennington bowl filled with apple-shaped pin cushions, shelves of Bennington pieces and a mammy’s bench, stenciled over black. They shared a booth with Lewis Scranton of Killingworth, Conn., and among several pieces of Connecticut furniture was a banister back side chair, circa 1750, from Stratford. And as usual, there was no shortage of redware and painted tole in this booth.
Several special events were worked in with the show, including a lecture by Steve Gonsalves of Eden Landscapes on antique gardening. On Sunday, appraisals were given by some of the dealers for $15, up to three items and show admission included. All funds benefited the Sippican Historical and Preservation Society.
Dealers agree that Marion is a lovely place for an antiques show, across the street from a beautiful harbor, and that it is an easy and comfortable show to do. In fact Merle Koblenz best sums it up saying, “I would like to thank publicly the marvelous co-chairs, Jill Fearon and Trudy Kingery, and the committee of the Marion Show. They gave us dinner before the opening on Friday evening and allowed us to enjoy the festive hors d’oeuvres later on. The committee made sure we had drinks and snacks during the run of the show and offered booth sitters if necessary. It was delightful to have a committee care for us so graciously. Thank you Sippican Historical Society! And also thanks to the promoter, Trish McElroy, for bringing customers to this show.”
