Susan Franks sold out all her space to antiques dealers offering great collections of antiques for the March 30⁁pril 2 semiannual event known and chased by antiques lovers across the country, The Original Round Top Antiques Fair.
With about 300 exhibiting dealers in the Big Red Barn, the Continental Tent and the Big Red Barn Tent and Carmine Dance Hall, customers arrived by the thousands for the four-day treasure hunt to search out their own special pieces to take away.
“This show has so much to offer; it never sells out of the great stuff on the first day, and that’s good because we never seem to make it here before Saturday morning,” said a Houston couple who saw some things early Saturday, spent the day wandering the various shows, but came back to the Big Red Barn before closing to do the buying, spending a couple thousand dollars in the last hour.
Patti Walsh, the owner of Historic Mayo Tavern Antiques of Chappell Hill, Texas, was selling throughout the show. Her collection is very heavy in early New England painted furniture, and accessories that would be appropriate for an early Eighteenth Century home or tavern. “Sales were good all week,” she said, and included several cupboards, a corner cupboard and an early table, as well as many small antiques.
The Stomas, Latcham House Antiques of Waterville, Ohio, were selling every day. Among their sales were several early hooked rugs or mats in excellent condition, early paintings and silhouettes and some small furniture.
R&F Antiques, an open shop in Houston, also does some shows, including a large exhibit in the Big Red Barn. Sales included several small Victorian tables, a Victorian dresser and a walnut chest of drawers. The dealer had sales in jewelry and other smalls as well.
Hazel Giles, Glenville, N.C., was having a good show, too. Her sales included the Victorian dollhouse priced at $525, some smalls and “a lot of malachite to one lady who knew I was coming with it,” she said. The large furniture she brought did not sell, but even so, her sales total was sufficient for a profitable week.
In Texas, the paint tends to be stronger than colonial-era paint from New England, in part because it is often early oil-based paint, as was the cupboard with Humble Bee Antiques from San Antonio.
A new dealer to the show this spring was Terry Schurmeir of Cowboys and Indians Antiques, a shop from Albuquerque, N.M. Offering only antiques from the Wild West, especially oriented to Native American antiques, Schurmeir displayed a 100-year-old squaw dress in buckskin and beads, Sioux, priced at $18,000. Sales during the show were good, according to Schurmeir, consisting “mostly of antique Native American jewelry.”
Offerings in the Continental Tent were from various countries and covered many different styles. Stevens Antiques, Sarasota, Fla., was showing early wood and gold leaf pieces mixed with later upholstered furniture. Tony Henninger was showing his collection of tortoiseshell and shagreen tea caddies.
Susan Franks announced that for the fall show, some later styles will be introduced into the Big Red Barn Tent, including Art Deco, Modern and Midcentury Modern, and early industrial, plus there will be some allowances for vintage fashions. She anticipates having examples of Twentieth Century art and design ranging from couture and designer jewelry to colorful Modern paintings and sculpture, as well as a sampling of midcentury and Art Deco furniture. No reproductions and no new items will be allowed. She said the Big Red Barn and the Continental Tent will not be affected by this change in policy.
Fall show dates are September 28⁏ctober 1. For more information, 512-237-4747 or www.RoundTopTexasAntiques.com .
