One of a pair of Continental giltwood wall mirrors, $32,300.

Americana Week in New York:

By R. Scudder Smith and Laura Beach

NEW YORK CITY – “The antiques are back!” a shopper on the floor of the American Antiques Show exclaimed happily on Wednesday, January 18, at the opening of the new fair benefiting the American Folk Art Museum.

Enron and Ashcroft loomed, but neither appeared to have any effect on sales, which surged after a fall lull, when most of New York’s major antiques shows were cancelled. In an outstanding show of professionalism, participants in the 2002 Winter Antiques Show – management, exhibitors and technicians – produced a stunning display in record time at the expo’s temporary venue, the Americas Exhibition Halls at Hilton New York, Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street. The show continues through Sunday, January 27.

“By all counts, we’ve had a record-breaking opening weekend,” manager Catherine Sweeney Singer said early in the day on January 21. “Over 3,000 people attended the show on Sunday, a record for opening day. The breakfast sponsored by The Catalogue of Antiques and Fine Art was also a huge success – 200 dealers and collectors were invited and 265 showed up!”

Anxiety about the Winter Antiques Show’s bi-level floor plan faded as exhibitors on the show’s second level – among them Leigh Keno, Wayne Pratt, and Stephen and Carol Huber – racked up opening-day sales. “I counted empty nails in the Hubers’ booth on Sunday. They were so busy selling that they hadn’t had time to replace their stock,” said Sweeney. Notable New Yorkers who bought at the show include lifestyle empress Martha Stewart and new mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Antiques and The Arts Weekly will bring you complete coverage of Americana Week in New York in a coming issue.