The York Show is one of those shows that attracts a large crowd for the opening. Nearly 100 people were on hand when the doors opened.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring
YORK, PENN. — The Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale is a fixture on the antiques show circuit, scheduled on the last Friday and Saturday of January and again in late September. The 184th edition, which took place January 31 and February 1, followed the tried-and-true format perfected by longtime show manager, Melvin Arion: about 60 dealers both local to York, as well as those hailing from upper New England, the South and Midwest, brought a diverse selection of Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American, English and Continental furniture, accessories and fine art.
“I think it went very well,” Arion told Antiques and The Arts Weekly after the show. “With everything that’s going on in the world today, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was so pleased and surprised at how well it went. Attendance on both days was great and most dealers told me they did well.”
As with every edition, the cast of characters who populated the Memorial Hall East venue on the York Fairgrounds Convention and Expo Center was largely unchanged, save for a small handful of new people who filled in for those who could not attend.
Xanthus is the business name for Lahaska, Penn., dealer Martin Platt and he was at York for the first time, at the end of a far row. The dealer specializes in textiles and hung his booth with an antique Kurdish kilim from Persia and a very large resist-dyed piece on the wall that was a Japanese temple banner in the tsutsugaki technique (all hand done with natural dyes on homespun). A stand-out piece of furniture was a rare circa 1820s weaver’s chair from the Delaware Valley that was in original condition. Another piece to which he drew our attention was a mechanical sculptor figure made by contemporary folk sculptor and folk art dealer, Jef Steingrebe.
Jef Steingrebe’s mechanical sculptor was placed on the front right corner of Martin Platt’s booth. Xanthus Antiques, Lahaska, Penn.
“It was my first show and I can say it was a learning experience for me,” Bob Mayeski told us. “I broke even and all of my sales were to new clients. I took a lot of big furniture and sold two of them; next time, I’ll bring better-quality smalls. The few small things I brought sold, and I made a connection with someone who has an estate for sale.”
A large carved bed he brought drew a lot of interest, particularly — to Mayeski’s surprise — from young people. After the sale, he told us one of his customers in Alabama, who saw it on social media, bought it.
Not only was this the first time Aaron and Antinea Ross were doing the York show but it was the first-ever show for the York-area couple, who stocked a large booth in the center of the floor with American and European Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century furniture and decorative arts.
“Having this fair being our first one was an eye-opener,” Antinea told us when we reached her by phone after the show. “Before the show, we didn’t realize that our particular pieces were not what the general York show client is used to seeing there but we thought it complimented what was in other booths. Dealers around us who have been doing the show for years were very supportive and welcoming, as were show visitors; it was very heartwarming. I noticed that visitors responded well to knowledgeable sellers and it was great talking to everyone who came into our booth.
Bob Mayeski acquired this carved bed at an estate in Carroll County, Md, and said it was getting a lot of interest. The Eldersburg, Md., dealer does shows in Chantilly, Va.; Brimfield, Mass.; and Madison Bouckville, N.Y.; but was doing York for the first time. Mr Bob’s Antiques.
“Another aspect of the show we hadn’t expected were the connections we made, not only with other dealers and people coming from all over but we connected with four different antiques mall organizers who want us to sell our pieces through them. I can’t stress enough how great Melvin [Arion] was. He really took a chance on us and after the show, he told us that he thought it had been worth the chance, that many other booth owners told him how refreshing it was to have us there.”
Ross said they sold a lot of their turn of the (Twentieth) century lamps and a Federal sideboard, had a lot of interest in their other American pieces and had a museum looking seriously at a George Washington etching comparable to a model at the Library of Congress.
Thurston Nichols did the show for nearly 20 years and was returning after a 10-year hiatus. “I was pleasantly surprised. I did business and it exceeded my expectations. I had 18 sales, half of which were to people I’d never met before. The show had a lot of positive energy and Melvin [Arion] got in a good crowd.”
Two weathervanes, an Eighteenth Century Queen Anne side chair and a Philadelphia sackback Windsor armchair were among the sales Nichols identified.
Thurston Nichols, back at the show after about a decade away, had a booth full of great things, including this paint decorated two-piece corner cupboard, a carved wingspread eagle and two profile portraits, one by, the other attributed to, American artist, Jasper Miles (1782-1849). Wayne, Penn.
Mark Saylor’s father, Arien R. Saylor, Sr, worked as the entertainment director for the Philadelphia Eagles for years and arranged “Fly, Eagles, Fly,” the team’s fight song. In honor of the Eagles taking the field in the upcoming Super Bowl, Saylor brought a circular sign that had been autographed by various members of the team and an Eagles helmet his father had given him when he was in high school. While neither was for sale, he was pleased to offer two recent acquisitions: a miniature tabletop cabinet from Lancaster County, Penn., and a York County dry sink with original paint. Both dated to the early or mid Nineteenth Century.
Across from the Saylors, Blandon Cherry was back for his third York show. Attracting attention was a Pennsylvania desk-and-bookcase, a walnut and poplar cupboard he had acquired in Virginia, a Pennsylvania cradle with original paint and a giltwood rooster weathervane that had been illustrated in the June 1976 issue of The Magazine ANTIQUES.
There were other items in the show that had also graced the pages of that periodical. Snellville, Ga., dealer Larry Thompson had a Newport, R.I., marble slab-top serving table that dated to about 1780 that was once in the Nashville collection of Mr and Mrs Roupen M. Gulbenk, whose house was the “Living with Antiques” feature of the magazine’s October 1971 issue.
One of the first booths visitors would have passed upon entering the show was that of Robesonia, Penn., dealer, Greg Kramer, who always brings a full booth to whatever show he does. Among many stand-out pieces, a pair of large carved robins perched on a painted chest while furniture highlights included a mid Nineteenth Century Ohio painted diminutive blanket chest and a New England Chippendale desk-and-bookcase.
Winter will linger a few more weeks and robins may not be spotted quite yet, but if you don’t want to wait, Greg Kramer had this pair of large carved and painted birds. Greg K. Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Penn.
Lederach, Penn., dealer Joseph Lodge was across the aisle from Kramer and also in the first line of sight for shoppers. He anchored his back wall with a 1951 landscape by Walter Baum titled “Little Lehigh, Autumn” that hung over a circa 1835 paint decorated table that supported a fish weathervane, some small baskets and painted wooden boxes. Colorful gameboards and tripod tables rounded out one section of his back wall.
Other dealers placed great things in the center of their back walls, too. Bob Haneberg (The Hanebergs Antiques, East Lyme, Conn.) paired a Hudson River Valley landscape of West Point, after Victor de Grailly (1804-1889), with a blue and white Canton punch bowl of impressive 18-inch diameter and a serpentine mahogany chest of drawers that dated to circa 1780. On his side wall, he had a circa 1820 banjo clock that was in working condition and featured an eglomise panel depicting the 1812 battle between the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere alongside a landscape by Henry Pember Smith (1854-1907).
Manheim, Penn., dealers Steven and Sally Still were across from Haneberg. One wall featured several star lots, including a framed double-sided house painters trade sign for Miller M. Fogg, a Pennsylvania dwarf tall-case clock, a pair of portraits of Mr and Mrs Martin Ebert of York County that had been painted by Jacob Mantel, a miniature New England four-drawer chest once handled by Bill Samaha and a paint decorated blanket chest from Mount Joy, Penn.
Steven & Sally Still, Manheim, Penn.
Gene Pratt had the booth next to Joyce and Ron and one of his early sales was a chair table that he said was made in New England but which he acquired in Ohio. It sold to a buyer in Delaware. Other things that captured early interest were a circa 1840 theorem, a set of bentwood doll furniture and a painted wall chest.
Christopher Evans of Waynesboro, Va., was wrapping up a red painted Shaker measure he’d just sold as we came through; he had also sold another one in blue-gray paint. The black paper of his booth made everything stand out, including a pair of colorful quilt tops that had cut-out and appliquéd squirrels, a drawing of a turkey and a four-gallon stoneware crock made in Peabody, Mass., by G. F. Worthen.
Drew Epstein and Sandy Jacobs came to York after a good Washington Winter Show in Washington, DC, in early January. A pair of gnarled-wood wall brackets that supported modern miniature bird decoys caught this reporter’s eye, as did a group of five ink and watercolor portraits of children, all in individual oval frames. The artist was unknown.
At the end of one aisle, Butch Berdan and Tom Jewett were busy throughout the entire show. By noon on Friday, Jewett reported selling two rare Belsnickles. After the show, he told us, “we were very pleased with the show and sold both days: the North End Grocery sign, a folk art frame with carved hearts and pinwheels, a Steiff lamb pull toy, a large cat painting, a small folk art cat watercolor and lots of holiday items.”
Tom Jewett and Butch Berdan fronted their booth with this large nodding donkey pull-toy fragment. In this reporter’s eyes, the similarities between it and Donkey from Shrek are unmistakable. Perhaps Eddie Murphy, who voiced the donkey in all seven Shrek films, should know about this! Jewett-Berdan Antiques, Newcastle, Maine.
Daniel and Karen Olson of Newburgh, N.Y., closed several sales from the beginning of the show with a painted cupboard to, right before the show closed, a large wooden bowl. One of their best sales was a large oil on canvas portrait of five members of the Evans family of Philadelphia. It was purchased by a couple who traveled to the show from Williamsburg, Va.
Galena, Md., -based dealer Paul Thien and Firehouse Antiques had a spacious booth behind the Olsons, at the back of the show. Standing out from a large selection of painted and formal furniture were two framed circa 1913-14 silhouettes advertising the works of G.C. Wallé, a silhouette artist working on Lexington Avenue in New York City, who advertised he could cut and complete a silhouette portrait “in two or three minutes.” According to Thien, Wallé had once done the silhouette portrait of Mrs John J. Astor.
In early November, Zac Ziebarth and his wife welcomed their daughter and first child, Zoey. The show was the first time the newly minted father had left home, and he said it was hard to be away. The Madison, Wis., dealer showed off a large and colorful Outsider art landscape he’d purchased for Zoey’s room and tallied several sales both early on and throughout the show, including a sampler with a cat and a sign that was inscribed, “Gas & Oil.”
Jane Langol, Medina, Ohio, sold a 21-inch-tall Roseville umbrella stand on the first morning. Situated in the show’s lobby and near the concession stand, she reported “a lot of activity” and characterized the show as “strong.” A few colorful quilts and coverlets — some from the Gunn collection — were hung on her walls, which also included vibrant landscapes in oil and watercolor.
These two coverlets, and a Mona Freziss watercolor with sheep, were with Medina, Ohio, dealer Jane Langol.
Also in the lobby was Centreville, Del., toy specialist and folk art generalist Michael Paul Gunselman, whose sales on the first morning included a Mickey Mouse Ferris wheel, two Chen roadsters, a cement urn, a wall figure, a planter and more, or, as he said, “a little bit of everything.”
Few dealers specialize only in fine art, but Peter Bazar of Saratoga Fine Art is one of them. His booth — papered in a cheerful yellow — was hung “salon style” with a broad range of works in a variety of styles and media. One eye-catching presentation paired a graphite drawing of the residence of Mr and Mrs Conrad Hoese of Flat Creek, N.Y., with one of Erik Johnson’s colorful “slice” paintings of a racehorse and an equally colorful still life of flowers and vegetables in a watering can by Johann Berthelsen.
Bill Union of Art & Antiques Gallery, Holden, Mass., was another fine art specialist. His large booth featured a recently-acquired oil on board painting of a steamboat by Albert Szatmar Nemethy, Sr, (1920), a portrait of a young woman by Daniel Strain (1847-1925) and Leopold Franz Kowalski’s (1856-1931) oil on canvas painting of girls in a field.
Arion confirmed that the 185th Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale would return to the York fairgrounds Friday and Saturday, September 19-20. For additional information, www.theoriginalyorkantiquesshow.com or 302-875-5326.
