The final show of Antiques Week In Vermont is also the largest, and it provides a platform for a grand send-off for all of the out-of-state buyers that are about to leave the fall foliage and plentiful antiques behind. It is not only the largest of the shows, boasting more than 80 dealers, but Antiques In Vermont is also an event where several upper-end and powerhouse dealers choose to display their wares. Managed by local dealers Tim Stevenson and Phyllis Carlson, this show is the most traditional of all of the events, set up in the spacious Riley Rink with standard-sized booths, wide aisles and uniform lighting.
This is a place where the great stuff appears †and since many of the Manchester exhibitors spend the previous few days picking the other shows, local auctions and the ADA show, it provides great opportunity.
The crowd begins forming a line extra early for this one-day show that opened for early buying at 8 am on Sunday, October 7. As Tim Stevenson prepared to let the crowd onto the floor he noted that the line filled the foyer and extended out of the building and into the rink’s parking lot. For the first time all week it was noted that Terri Tushingham was not the first in line, although it was quickly pointed out there was no need for her to be in line as she was one of the dealers exhibiting at the Manchester show.
Pennsylvania dealers Bob Snyder and Judy Wilson have been setting up at the entrance to the show for as long as we can remember, and their booth was filled with great smalls that ranged from a collection of stone fruit, including many painted “halves” and a pile of walnuts, to one of the best paint decorated Parcheesi boards that has been on the market in a long time. A pair of stoneware spaniels, a cat doorstop in good early paint and a tray decorated with a string of “caught” fish were also featured.
Next door was Holden Antiques, Sherman, Conn., where a good selection of early glass was offered, ranging from free-blown chestnut bottles and early pitchers to Nailsea-style witch balls and Midwestern glob bottles. A set of six arrow back Windsors in good early paint surrounded a large chair table that was topped by a majestic-looking carved wooden horse child’s pull toy.
Alma, Maine, dealer Bill Quinn was busy writing sales slips as the show opened, and the dealer commented that he was having a very good show. Quinn’s booth had a great look, as the dealer had obtained some weathered stockade fencing and trimmed the pointed tops to a flat surface. A “campy” effect was achieved, a good thing, since fishing creels, a rig of bluebill decoys, a large grain box and a “Vacancy” sign were hung all around. A fair of fancy Victorian leaded glass fan windows were marked with sold tags.
A hardware trade sign in the form of a wood chisel measured at least 5 feet in length and was getting serious looks from collectors in the booth of Jeff and Cathy Amon Antiques, Jamestown, Penn. A carpenter’s tool box in great early green paint was also offered, as were several baskets, including a folky Nantucket-style handless example.
A dry sink in bright yellow paint was stopping buyers in their tracks at Davidian Antiques, South Dennis, Mass. With red-rimmed doors and a red drawer, it was what one shopper termed “a dandy.” A nice hooked rug with colorful geometric banding and a brown dog in the center was hung on the back wall of the booth, while a selection of swing-handle baskets was displayed on a seaman’s chest in gray paint.
Wiscasset, Maine, dealer Dennis Raleigh was another to feature a hooked rug; his was decorated with a winter farm scene with a family about to go for a sleigh ride. A nice patriotic American shield was displayed alongside an eider decoy from Maine, windmill weights and several cast iron doorstops that ranged in form from fishermen in yellow slickers to squirrels and lambs.
Irma and Emily Lambert, Wenham Cross, Topsfield, Mass., have been in the same spot for many years at the hockey rink, and as if they were in trouble again, the two were selling their wares from behind the boards in the penalty box. The amiable ladies offered a good selection that ranged from a folky landscape painting to a cutting board in the shape of a pig with the location of all of the prime cuts of meats denoted in the paint decoration.
Three rare stoneware pieces were displayed at Raccoon Creek at Oley Forge, Oley, Penn.: an open mouth crock marked States, Stonington, Conn., a small vertical loop handled jar with clamshell decoration thought to be by Crolius, and a large Commeraws jug with stamped and blue-filled clamshell decoration. Also offered was a folk art bird tree, cheese baskets and a Shaker pantry box in chrome yellow.
Attracting a great deal of attention was a hooked rug in the booth of Wilhide’s Antiques, Shippensburg, Penn. The colorful example depicted a barnyard scene with lambs kicking up their heels amid flowers, frolicking cows, sheep, a huge haystack and Little Boy Blue depicted in the center †daydreaming away.
