While just outside there were breathtaking views of the charming village of Weston, the views inside at the 51st edition of the Weston Antiques Show were just as breathtaking. The show filled every nook and cranny of the Weston Playhouse with the wares of 35 preeminent antiques dealers from the preview on Thursday evening, October 1, through Saturday’s close at 5 pm.
Managed by Patti Prairie, the show is the first of the five shows of Vermont Antiques Week. It has solid community support (140 named supporters in a town with about 600 residents) and raises money for historical preservation of the area. The Weston Antiques Show offers high-quality formal and country antiques in a beautiful setting.
Hilary and Paulette Nolan, Falmouth, Mass., featured Eighteenth Century and earlier American antiques and were set up on the lower level of the show. They have been in business since 1971, and Paulette said, “Weston harkens back to the old days †just like a show used to be years ago. It is very nice and easy and the people who come really appreciate your antiques. Definitely a retail crowd.”
The Nolans sold weathervanes †a Harris horse and a fish †hooked rugs, tables, carvings, decoys, apothecary jars and woodenware. “It was our show, I guess,” said Paulette. “You can’t always do well, but we just lucked out. We met some wonderful people. Weston is a small show with a great ambiance.”
An exquisite 8-by-10-foot Serapi rug hung tantalizingly in the Peter Pap Oriental Rugs display in the playhouse auditorium and was priced in the high five figures. “It drew everyone’s attention,” said Barry Featherstone, who was staffing the show for Pap this year. One could also buy Caucasian and Persian bag faces for under a thousand dollars. Afterward, Featherstone said, “We sold one large carpet; the rest were smaller rugs and we are still dealing with customers for some of the larger rugs.”
James Island Antiques, Charleston, S.C., owned by dealers Robert and Roxanne Werowinski, was set up on the upper floor of the playhouse. They drove about 1,000 miles to Vermont and brought some truly rare old English and American candlesticks and pewter. This was their first time at Weston, but they are no strangers to New England, having participated in neighboring New Hampshire shows every summer. A Flemish mortar and pestle by Henrick ter Horst of Deventer was dated 1657. An English Beefeater flagon of Kings Lynn, 1639‱684, was “the only one of these on the market that I know of,” said Robert Werowinski.
Ester Gilbert Antiques, Southampton, Mass., owned by Bob and Sue Kozub, has been a participant in the show for at least 40 years. The Kozubs set up in front of the stage and along the wall, where they hung some interesting New England artworks, including an ocean scene by William Bradford (1823‱892) in watercolor and gouache on paper titled “Rough Seas.” They also brought a fantastic scrimshawed swordfish bill that was used to sheath a sword, powder horns and a selection of long rifles made in Pennsylvania. A doll’s bed with ivory inlay was a choice find.
Henry T. Callan Fine Antiques featured about 20 schoolgirl samplers from Maine, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. He also offered a beautiful set of circa 1790 Canton blue and white china.
Karen Wendhiser, Ellington, Conn., draped a 18-by-10½-foot wool gauze 1870 38-star American flag over a window. It was machine and hand sewn in Wooster, Mass., by H.A Bowman. A 1950s large painted cast iron piggy bank had a mean expression. A lovely, finely detailed Eighteenth Century floral theorem came out of a house in Coventry, Conn., and was truly remarkable.
A mustard-colored barrel front English corner cupboard and a nice selection of cast iron door stops were highlights at The Red Horse, Bridgewater, Vt. The dealer also set up garden furniture, urns and statuary outside on the back porch of the playhouse.
Martin Ferrick, Addison, Maine, featured American furniture, including a lovely tiger maple chest and tilt-top tea table. For Anglophiles, Fiske & Freeman had a pair of English circa 1680 back stools, a circa 1625 Bible box, a great oak server and a William and Mary gate leg table.
It is no wonder that collectors seek out this stellar little show for significant American and English furniture, Oriental carpets, hooked rugs, quilts, samplers, silver, stoneware, pewter and folk art, among other things. This is a show where you do not want to miss a single dealer.
For information, www.westonantiquesshow.org or 802-824-5307.
