“It’s good to see the lobby filled with people,” Melvin “Butch” Arion said as he held the doors to Memorial Hall East on the York Fairgrounds open for people to enter his Original York Antiques Show & Sale on Friday, August 31. The 10 am opening brought some eager buyers into the show and many of the 98 dealers saw early sales. “By and large, the show was good overall,” Butch said, even though the gate was down slightly on Saturday and Sunday.
Management owns the booth walls, a total of about 1,800 of them, and the show begins construction on Monday, papering takes place on Tuesday, dealer set-up is on Wednesday and Thursday, and the public moves in for the next three days. “We try to offer a variety and pick exhibitors so that we can meet the needs of most every collector,” Butch said.
Doorstop collectors probably headed right to the booth of American Sampler of Barnsville, Md., where many examples in original paint were offered, including Little Red Riding Hood, a large covered wagon, rabbit, several dogs and a number of baskets of flowers. An assortment of decorated seaside tin pails was also offered.
A rare set of four side chairs, yellow with fruit compote decoration, branded “J. Swint †Chairmaker,” was at the front of the booth of Joseph Lodge of Lederach, Penn. Several weathervanes on display included a large fish with gilded surface.
A pair of large reclining zinc dogs guarded the front of the booth of Kelly Kinzle of New Oxford, Penn., and included among the pieces of furniture was a flattop highboy, maple and walnut, circa 1760, with cabriole legs, pad feet and a carved center drawer in the lower section.
Harry B. Hartman of Marietta, Penn., a fixture at this show, showed a painted and decorated child’s bench in perfect condition, Pennsylvania origin, along with a large sheet metal Indian weathervane, complete with bow and arrow. His cases were filled with vast collections of spatterware and yellowware.
Large, framed advertisements for Interwoven Socks for Christmas covered much of the back wall in the booth of James Kilvington of Dover, Del. One depicted The Christmas Ship in Old New York, the other was Christmas in Old Virginia. Lisa McAllister of Clear Spring, Md., offered a collection of 15 baskets, among them ones for sewing, gathering and cheese. Buttock baskets and covered baskets were among the group.
Ten tall case clocks, a portion of the current inventory of James L. Price Antiques, Carlisle, Penn., were lined up against the booth walls, each with a detailed description. A Chippendale example with walnut case, scroll pediment, eight-day brass movement, moon phase dial, dated circa 1790, was possibly from Montgomery County, Penn. Another one from Pennsylvania, also walnut, was Queen Anne, Philadelphia, with sarcophagus top and applied columns on the hood, eight-day brass movement, moon phase with date and strike dial, sweep second hand, circa 1750 and by Joseph Wills.
J. Gallagher, North Norwich, N.Y., again filled his booth with fireplace equipment, giving buyers a choice of 42 pairs of andirons and brass fenders stacked 7 feet high. An elaborate New England hall tree in walnut was complete with the pan for dripping umbrellas and an oval mirror. School House Farm Antiques of New Holland, Penn., had a nice selection of redware including several slip plates and a grouping of small jugs with black glaze. A bowl filled with large Christmas balls reminded shoppers of the approaching holidays.
Several pieces of stoneware were shown by Edward S. Goodhart Antiques, Shippensburg, Penn., including a Cowden & Wilcox cream pot with flower and leaves decoration, and a one-gallon pitcher with tulip and leaves design. A Hartford Fire insurance sign, Nineteenth Century, showed a deer with shield.
Blue Lion Antiques of Williamsburg, Va., offered the largest selection of carpenter tools at the show including a wide range of planes, levels, brace and bits, files and scrapers. Local exhibitor Brey Antiques had a Federal two-part dining table from Ohio, circa 1825, maple and cherrywood, with a top measuring 39 by 96 inches, and one set of shelves was filled with whale oil lamps and canary glass candlesticks.
The Live Store was advertised on a large wooden sign that hung across the front of the booth of Mario Pollo, Bearsville, N.Y. “It is the only place I could put it,” Mario said, “and I hope people see it up there.” Furniture included a tiger maple drop leaf table, a small lift top desk, several chests of drawers and a game table.
Irvin and Dolores Boyd, Fort Washington, Penn., had a round pine and maple New England chair table at the front of the booth, well-outfitted with a set of six bow back Windsor side chairs attributed to Abraham Shove of Massachusetts. A hand painted canvas covered box, Chinese, Nineteenth Century, retained the original hardware, and measured 25 inches wide, 18 inches high and 17 inches deep.
As usual, Greg Kramer of Robesonia, Penn., had a large booth with every inch used for display. One case was filled with examples of Pennsylvania redware with slip decoration, a shelf was devoted to chalk figures, including several stags, and at the front of the booth was a tapered leg table with splash gallery in old mustard paint. A pair of tin single arm sconces dating from the early Nineteenth Century, ex Donald Shelley collection, hung on the wall in the booth of Steven Still of Elizabethtown, Penn. A colorful wooden and painted sign advertised “Twinkie Shoes for Boys and Girls.”
Another ex Donald Shelley piece, a rare stamp-decorated grain bag, hung in the display of The Herrs of Lancaster, Penn. This bag was made for Anna Ranck, 1818, Manheim, Lancaster County, Penn., twill weave. Century House Antiques and Toys of Alfred, N.Y., captured the market on papier mache Santa figures, exhibiting eight of them, holding pine boughs and in various sizes. Halloween collectors had a choice of dressed up figures and pumpkins, and among a selection of tin toys was a cast iron hook and ladder rig with drivers and drawn by three horses.
Furniture filled the booth of Gary Promey, Atwater, Ohio, including a Rhode Island five-drawer tall chest, paint decorated, tall bracket feet, circa 1750, and measuring 36 inches wide. A Chippendale four drawer chest in maple, circa 1770, was from the North Boston area and on a bracket base.
Samplers and family records filled the walls in the booth of The Fassnachts, Canandaigua, N.Y., along with an oil on canvas portrait of Mrs Charles Burgess by Daniel Huntington (1816‱906), a New York City portrait painter. R.W. Worth Antiques of Chadds Ford, Penn., offered a diminutive Queen Anne chest on frame in walnut, scalloped apron and trifid feet. It was of New Jersey origin, circa 1740‱760, and all original.
Thomas Brown of McMurray, Penn., had a Philadelphia card table in mahogany, in ‘as found’ condition, and an oak spice chest was English, circa 1760, with panel door, ball feet and eight fitted drawers. A large landscape showing woods, pond and cabin, oil on panel, was done by the impressionist painter John T. Dwyer, New York, late Nineteenth to early Twentieth Century.
Stephen-Douglas of Rockingham, Vt., had an interesting mix of country objects including a penny rug with flowers in each center, an Eighteenth Century tavern table from a home in Duxbury, Mass., a colorful stack of painted finger boxes and a large sawbuck table across the front of the booth.
A large quilt rack in old blue paint, sawbuck base, was striking at the front of the booth of Jewett-Berdan, New Castle, Maine. It was from either Pennsylvania or Ohio and Tom Jewett said, “It is one of our favorite things in the booth, and if we don’t sell it here, we are going to have a glass top cut for it and use it in our house.” A New England table cover, stencil and free-hand, with yellow flowers in the center and a rose border, dated circa 1830, was mounted for hanging.
Two rooster mill weights shared a stand in the booth of Michael and Sally Whittemore, Washington, Ill., opposite a pie safe in old green paint with punched double star tin panels from Indiana. An Eighteenth century ladder back armchair in old black paint was from Connecticut.
A lift top school desk with sponge decoration on a salmon ground was displayed with the lid open to show a Pennsylvania German heart and star design in the booth of Raccoon Creek at Oley Forge, Oley, Penn. Dating from the Nineteenth Century was a pie safe in cherrywood with punched tin ends, and a vibrant hooked rug with four red hearts in the center and a green border with more hearts hung on the back wall.
A “Patchen” horse weathervane, 42 inches long, cast iron head, was from the Boyden estate in Wenham, Mass., and offered by SAJE Americana of Short Hills, N.J. A dough box with scrubbed top, salmon brown over red base, dovetailed, circa 1830, was of Pennsylvania origin.
Garthoeffner Gallery, Lititz, Penn., showed a nice carousel horse in park paint, Charles W. Dare, New York City, circa 1880, and in a booth close by Jeff and Cathy Amon of Jamestown, Penn., offered a large wall-mounted member list plaque that once hung in the IOOF Lodge in Steelton, Penn. It was in the original condition and dated 1886.
A William and Mary wainscot blanket box, Philadelphia, circa 1730, with a Sack provenance was displayed by Thurston Nichols of Lehigh Valley, Penn. A George Washington cast iron stove top figure by Mott Iron Works, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1875‱900, stood at the back of the booth. This figure had a dark gray surface.
A hanging cupboard in burnt umber grain paint, found in Southern New York but of Pennsylvania origin, was shown by Keith and Dianne Fryling, Green Lane, Penn. A blanket box with turned feet and till was in flame grain painted surface, while a second example from York County had a vibrant yellow painted surface. It, too, had turned feet and till intact.
Special mention was made on the cover of the show program regarding the retirement of John Long of Mineral, Va. “I have been in the antiques business for the past 34 years and it is time to call it quits,” John said at the show. He will do five more shows this year, ending his long career at the Williamsburg Antiques Show. In addition to presenting a large booth filled with antiques at the York Show, he is the man behind the floral arrangements that decorate both the lobby and the exhibition area. Concerning his inventory, which is vast, “I will be letting things go from time to time, as many of the objects I have in storage have been spoken for. Then I am going to just relax,” he said. We all wish him the best.
