As it has nearly every time for the past 52 years, the August 6‸ New Hampshire Antiques Show drew a crush of shoppers and elicited fervent praise from its legendarily loyal fans.
“I’ve got an Aunt Ann who just turned 100 and is famous in our family for her comments, which we call Aunt Annisms. One comes to mind: ‘You’ve got to take the bitter with the better,'” mused Illinois dealer Barbara Pollack, a summer resident of Lake Sunapee, N.H., long before she became an exhibitor. “The better, in this business climate, is all the great people who come to the New Hampshire Antiques Show. It’s a big reunion, my favorite.”
“NHADA members are like family. We take care of each other. It’s reflected in the quality and character our show, right down to the last volunteer-supervised detail. The public responds in kind,” elaborated New Hampshire dealer Sharon Platt.
Community, commitment and continuity were unofficial themes of this year’s show, which delivered throngs of buyers and unmatched excitement. A line snaked out the door of the Center of New Hampshire Radisson Hotel before the 67-exhibitor event opened at 10 am on Thursday. The floor was packed 15 minutes later and remained so for hours.
Adding to the suspense was NHADA’s tradition of asking each dealer to hold back an important piece as a surprise. In the spirit, Elizabethtown, Penn., dealer Steven Still posed in a full-page advertisement as a security guard protecting a black-draped object, which turned out to be a mid-Nineteenth Century salmon and teal painted blanket chest decorated with a vase of flowers.
“Given the economy, none of us really knew what to expect,” confessed NHADA President Kathy Schoemer. “I was thrilled that our attendance was on par with last year. I really didn’t hear a major complaint. When something goes awry at the New Hampshire Antiques Show, it’s an aberration.”
Pleased with the cadre’s outstanding performance, NHADA rebated $200 to every exhibitor as thanks for a job well done. “As an organization, we wanted to give something back to the dealers,” said Schoemer. “They upheld high standards in every way and the show ended on a real high note.”
We may never know the exact nature of the New Hampshire Antiques Show’s durable chemistry, but important ingredients include the fact that it happens only once a year, boasts a unique combination of exhibitors and remains true to itself.
Quintessential NHADA show dealer Stephen Corrigan of Stephen-Douglas Antiques ventured further: “It’s not luck. Many of us work very hard to have fresh merchandise and put things away for six months, which isn’t easy these days. We bring things that are interesting and, for the most part, within reach. I’ve been doing the show for 37 years and know what sells. People want things they expect to find in New Hampshire, old-fashioned country things that resonate New England. Everyday things that were in old homes. You can still sell a butter stamp here!” said Corrigan. Or, in Portsmouth, N.H., dealer Ed Weissman’s case, a bed warmer.
Stephen-Douglas’s major sales included a rare 12-sided Queen Anne table retailed in the mid-1960s by old-time dealer Robert Avery Smith, previous owner of Stephen-Douglas’s Rockingham, Vt., house, and a decorated dome top box.
Big, bold graphic folk art and decorative smalls were hot, but furniture sold, too. A centerpiece of Peter Sawyer and Scott Bassett’s display, a James Cole of Rochester, N.H., tall clock with a rocking ship dial and cherry case inlaid with figured birch was one of the first things to go. “It was as nice a case as I’ve seen on a Cole clock,” said Sawyer. Other sales included a circa 1815 Norwich, Vt., table in as-found condition, a Boston lowboy with a fan-carved drawer, paintings and accessories.
Arthur Liverant also parted with a tall clock. His was an unsigned country Connecticut River Valley example with a charmingly articulated bonnet, base and paneled door and great old surface. Liverant also wrote up a rare miniature watercolor portrait by Frederick Mayhew of Martha’s Vineyard. “The crowds came and I think everyone did business. In these times, that’s what we hope for,” said the Colchester, Conn., dealer.
Newbury, Mass., dealer Peter Eaton sold 44 out of 47 pieces of woodenware from a New Hampshire collection assembled before 1982. Several once belonged to the late, great New Hampshire dealer Roger Bacon. Eaton’s furniture sales included two mirrors, a corner chair and a Windsor chair. A William and Mary gate-leg table in old black paint, ex-collection of John Walton, sold later to someone who had seen it at the show.
Shaker furniture performed well for Courcier & Wilkins, who sold an Enfield, Conn., armless four-slat rocker and a harvest table, their most expensive piece. “The harvest table is going into a private collection. It’s the second time we’ve sold it,” confirmed Bob Wilkins. “We were very pleasantly surprised to see how active the show turned out to be.”
NHADA wisely extends the fair through Saturday so that casual shoppers and working people can visit. The third day of any show can be slow, but this year the investment of time paid off for several exhibitors on the far right aisle of the main floor.
“The best thing any show can do is get new people in, which we did on Saturday,” said Beverly Weir-Longacre, co-chairman of the event with Thomas Thompson. “Saturday also resulted in some big sales. Penny Dionne sold a bench, we sold our overmantel, Jim Hohnwald sold a cupboard, and Michael Hingston sold a highboy. Our overmantel went to a couple from Vermont who decided to go for a ride. The comp card worked.”
“What sells here are graphics, color and things that aren’t run of the mill,” said Bev’s husband, Tom Longacre, ticking off his receipts: an oversized game board, a demilune table with Bennington Museum provenance, a house hooked rug, a two-drawer decorated blanket chest, three decorated dome top boxes, a theorem, painted tin, a whirligig, decoys, a Dexter Cushing & White weathervane and smalls.
Russ and Karen Goldberger sold a boldly graphic Maine trade sign for Del’s Smoke Shop and a beautiful blue dome top box. “We had lots of sales, but dollars were off because we brought less expensive things with tighter margins,” Russ said.
“New Hampshire is our favorite show. It just works,” said Tom Jewett. Jewett-Berdan’s sales included a decorated box, a collection of velvet fruit and several hooked rugs.
Cheryl Scott parted with five weathervanes, a hutch table, a Windsor bench, sculpture, painting and smalls. NHADA members helped out in her booth so Cheryl could also be with her husband, Paul, who continues to recuperate at home after a bad fall.
“I haven’t seen such excitement in ten months,” said Connecticut dealer Mike Whittemore, whose stand was a sea of red in the opening hour.
Opposites attracted at Jef and Terri Steingrebe, where major sales included an opulently gilded Classical Revival pier mirror and, at the other end of the spectrum, a folk art blacksmith’s trade sign imaginatively painted on both sides.
Known for primitives, Portsmouth, N.H., dealer Sharon Platt wrote up a rare pair of early New England tin chandeliers and an Eighteenth Century tavern table in original mustard paint. “Customers may have been a bit more cautious, but they definitely went for the powerful items,” she said.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” said Hollis Brodrick, who sold more than 30 items, including a rare boxed set of agate-handled cutlery, a 1770 marriage license signed by John Wentworth and a dated 1759 French and Indian war powder horn engraved with views of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, by New England soldier Nathaniel Horton, together with a period map of Annapolis Royal.
The textiles market was robust. Jan Whitlock wrote up a large Amish quilt and several early hooked rugs. Philadelphia dealer Amy Finkel sold 12 samplers and silk embroideries at the show, plus another three pieces just prior to the event. Highlights of her display included a “Nymphs of The Vineyard” silkwork piece made by Eliza Bradlee at Mrs Peterson’s Academy; a Balch School piece from Rhode Island; and unusual Kentucky and western Alleghany samplers.
New exhibitors included Joan R. Brownstein, John D. Gould, A.E. Runge Jr Oriental Rugs and Russack & Loto Books. Each was embraced as part of the New Hampshire Antiques Show’s extended family.
“It is a very collegial atmosphere and the crowd is phenomenal,” said Brownstein, happy to be part of the event.
For show information, call Beverly Weir-Longacre at 203-876-4080 or www.nhada.org .
