The Antiques Dealers Association of America (ADA) celebrated its silver anniversary in understated fashion, glitter dusting an ornamental gourd here and a discrete blue swag there.
A more boisterous tribute to the ADA’s achievement over the past quarter century was offered by its loyal following, the deeply knowledgeable Americana collectors who each year journey to Deerfield Academy over Columbus Day weekend for the vetted fair jointly sponsored by the ADA and Historic Deerfield.
To New York in January, Philadelphia in April and Manchester in August, add the ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show in October. This fall classic has been burnished to a sheen since its debut in this setting in 1998.
The 113 ADA member dealers pride themselves on the pronounced New England flavor of their fair, which boasts depth in early American furniture, folk art, textiles, metal and ceramics. “I’d like to see us be even more specialized. Too many shows try to be all things to all people,” said ADA President John Keith Russell, who marked the event by selling a Cushing weathervane to new clients from the Midwest.
The ADA/Historic Deerfield partnership has proved durable, in part because the identities of the two organizations blend seamlessly. With its enfilade of restored and furnished Eighteenth Century houses lining Old Main Street, Historic Deerfield provides a richly textured backdrop for the show. As the fruit of Henry and Helen Flynt’s passion, it offers vivid inspiration to fellow collectors.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” agreed Grace Snyder. The Massachusetts dealer and her husband, Elliott, made 19 sales, only one of which was furniture. “It’s a trend that we’ve been seeing for a while. Our customers are buying small items of the highest quality, including early lighting.”
A look around the floor spotted plenty of pieces that might have tempted the Flynts themselves: rare Seventeenth Century linen-fold blanket chests at Nathan Liverant and Son and Elliott & Grace Snyder; paneled Seventeenth Century blanket chests at Stephen-Douglas and Good & Forsythe; flamboyantly painted lift top blanket chests at Olde Hope Antiques, Jewett & Berdan, and Barbara Ardizone; tables with painted game board tops at Jeff Bridgman and A Bird in Hand; and exceptional watercolor memorials at Don Olson and Joan Brownstein. That was just the beginning.
A choice Canton covered vegetable bowl illustrated on the cover of the book Pursuing Refinement in Rural New England 1750‱850 (1998) by Historic Deerfield President Philip Zea, came from Gail and Richard Mellin. New to the show this year, the Redding, Conn., Canton specialists featured massive Canton fish tanks, $25,000, ex-collection of Doris Duke, on custom mahogany stands. “This is the first pair of fish tanks we’ve owned,” said Gail Mellin.
Van Tassel Baumann Antiques invoked the book Deerfield Embroidery (1987) by Margery Burnham Howe with a rare blue and white embroidered spread, $4,000, in the Deerfield Society style. “It’s the first one I’ve seen for sale in our region,” said West Chester, Penn., dealer Ruth Van Tassel.
“This show is really about qualified buyers. We attract a large number of seriously interested people who come intending to buy. Saturday was busy and Sunday was better than expected. There were people on the floor all day and lots of sales,” said show manager Karen DiSaia.
Historic Deerfield and Deerfield Academy supply some of the gate. This year as last, dealers reported sales to visiting Deerfield Academy parents. A group visiting Historic Deerfield from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia also contributed at least one confirmed sale, a reverse serpentine chest of drawers at Gary and Martha Ludlow Antiques of Ohio.
“It sold with 45 minutes of opening to a doctor who fell in love with it,” said Gary Ludlow, who also sold a Sheraton stand in bird’s-eye maple, a Philadelphia side chair and several other items. “All in all, I was very pleased.”
“Quality is still selling, things with excitement and pizzazz,” said New Hampshire dealer George Spiecker, who wrote up a good card table, a tiger maple chest, an eagle carving and a ship painting. Another card table was on hold. Spiecker was surprised not to sell a $4,800 reverse serpentine chest of drawers in original condition except for replaced hardware. Three years ago, it would have been $6,500.
The show is a prime source for Connecticut River Valley artifacts and objects from interior Massachusetts and Connecticut. On Sunday, Arthur Liverant of Nathan Liverant and Son sold a small but powerful late Eighteenth Century high chest of birch with imaginatively carved maple drawers, elongated flame finials and lavish moldings.
“Our theory is that it was made somewhere along the Connecticut River between Suffield and Deerfield,” said Liverant, who also parted with a fine card table of brilliant tiger maple and cherry.
More furniture sold at Lewis Scranton, Pam and Martha Boynton, and at Ted and Jennifer Fuehr’s American Spirit Antiques. “People come wanting to buy and know what they are looking at,” said Ted Fuehr, who wrote up a tiger maple drop leaf table, a tiger maple four-drawer chest, a mirror and a painting.
“This is one of the finest Southern tea tables I’ve ever seen,” Virginia dealer Sumpter Priddy III said of a Frederick County, Md., ball and claw foot piecrust example that descended in the Shriver family. Made of walnut throughout and carved with pointed lozenge-shaped leaves and acanthus, it was $135,000.
Other formal furniture included a Pennsylvania walnut chest on frame, $14,500, at H.L. Chalfant Antiques and a stylish Massachusetts Sheraton drop leaf table with diamond inlays and tiger maple drawer fronts, $5,500, at Peter Eaton Antiques, which also featured a Dunlap School Queen Anne chest-on-chest, $35,000.
Clock authority Kirt Crump, who made five sales, has rarely been busier on opening day. “I didn’t leave my booth from 11 am to 3 pm,” said the Madison, Conn., specialist, who recently collaborated with Frank L. Hohmann III, Donald L. Fennimore, Morrison Heckscher, Martha H. Willoughby and David F. Wood on the book Timeless: Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks .
“People still reticent to buy are buying again and that is encouraging,” said Butch Berdan of Jewett-Berdan, which displayed an exceptional white and red painted lift top Vermont blanket chest, $24,500, on a high cutout foot with original strap hinges next to a Matteson school Vermont tall clock, $48,000. The Maine dealers sold another painted blanket chest and a folk art painting of a cat.
Another Matteson-style paint decorated Vermont blanket chest was $10,500 at Olde Hope Antiques.
“Everyone is nervous to be enthusiastic, but sales are certainly better than a year ago,” said Elle Shushan, the Philadelphia specialist in portrait miniatures. Her sales included a pair of circa 1800 wax portraits by Johann Christian Rauchner, a German immigrant who worked along the East Coast as an itinerant. Shushan also wrote up American works by Mrs Russell, Elvin Clark, George Freeman and Mr Porter.
Philadelphia dealer Amy Finkel produced a silk pocketbook filled with letters and mementos from Sarah Adams, a western Massachusetts girl who studied at the Balch school in Providence, R.I. Her sales included samplers from Lebanon, Conn., Chester County, Penn., and England; a Rockingham, N.H., family register; and a New London, Conn., illustrated letter from Coast Guard Captain John Henriques.
A Newburyport, Mass., sampler by Abigail Whitney and Abby Wright’s memorial to the Judd Family were standouts at Stephen & Carol Huber Antiques of Old Saybrook, Conn.
Noteworthy folk art included a double-sided English tavern sign, dated 1854 and priced $28,000 at Courcier & Wilkins; a carved and painted Uncle Sam whirligig, $39,500 at Greg K. Kramer, Robesonia, Penn.; and a tape loom, $8,500, with heart cutouts at Samuel Herrup.
“We sold 15 items, including three pieces of furniture, a Grenfell rug, a Bennington bird stoneware jug and a zinc ram’s head trade sign,” said Ron Bassin of A Bird in Hand.
Five new and returning exhibitors included ADA’s first president, Dan Olson, and his wife, Karen. “We had a good preshow sale and Sunday got a commitment on our step back cupboard, which we dropped off on our way home. It was fun to be back at the show,” said Karen.
New exhibitors Jeff and Holly Noordsy burned the candle at both ends, Jeff taking part in the Keene, N.H., bottle show, while Holly managed their ADA booth. The Vermont dealers arrayed folk art, including lily pad-style glass from western New York State.
“We made an important sale and had strong interest in everything,” said Jeff Noordsy. “We were impressed with how knowledgeable the ADA crowd is.”
Among several specialists in metal, pewter expert Wayne Hilt reported good sales. “People left their prints on everything. We had a lot of interest in our George Richardson sugar bowl, of the variety made famous by the early dealer J.B. Kerfoot,” said Hilt.
“The ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show is a great vehicle. I’m delighted to be part of it. We kept the show really simple this year, but we are always looking for ways to make it stronger,” said DiSaia.
“We are definitely evolving,” agreed Russell. “We’re committed to the ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show, but remain interested in hosting a second show in an urban setting. Putting together two shows is doable for us.”
For information, 203-364-9913 or www.adadealers.com .
