Following a successful first year at the White Plains High School, the White Plains Winter Antiques Show returned January 14-15 to the spacious, well-lighted venue with 48 antiques dealers in a compact event that presented everything from fine art to Chinese furniture, Oriental rugs and estate jewelry.

The show is sponsored by the White Plains Parent Teachers Association, which uses the proceeds to fund school projects. Martin Greenstein of The Last Detail Antiques Shows, Ltd, launched the show in 2004 with the assistance of Jackie Graber, owner of White Plains-based antiques business Lunatiques and whose daughter attended the school.

January is a great time for an event like this,” said Greenstein, who also operates River Stone Antiques And Design Center, a 40-dealer group shop in a stone-covered building in Haverstraw, N.Y. “The holidays are over and people are looking for indoor activities that will get them out of the house.”

Peter Winjum Works of Art, Fairfield, Conn.

“A look at the calendar shows that the stars do seem toalign. Greenstein hosted the show over the Martin Luther King Jrholiday weekend, preceding the pilgrimage into Manhattan forAmericana week shows, thereby hoping to catch the interest of thosewho are looking for an indoor activity within easy strikingdistance of the affluent suburban enclaves in New York andConnecticut.

At the same time, he was able to secure a roster of dealers who were not inclined to save both merchandise and energy levels for, say, the Piers.

A custom made tea service by Gorham in the booth of Wandering Moose, Woolwich, Maine

Weatherwise, it was a bipolar weekend – Saturday was mild butrainy, followed by a freezing slush on Sunday. Bad weather may haveput a dent into the anticipated gate for this year’s edition.Still, Greenstein said attendance numbers were up slightly overlast year. “And the dealers who consistently do well did well atthis show,” he said.

Jeweler Brad Reh of Southampton, N.Y., was among them. Reh said he always likes to bring something from his inventory that “performs a trick.” For this show, it was a pair of 18K earrings from the 1950s created by Chantecler, Capri, Italy, which throughout the 1950s and 1960s catered to high-profile patrons such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Grace Kelly, Maria Callas and Charlie Chaplin with its fantasylike, one-of-a-kind designs using colorful and exotic gemstones.

All these elements were evident in these earrings, which for their $14,000 price of admission – presto -changed out a selection of sapphire-, diamond-, ruby- and pearl-studded balls. A wonderfully engineered design also contributed to the wow factor of an 18K gold, platinum and diamond brooch, unsigned, with an articulated floral design from the 1950s.

Laura Schoene and Robert Trites, Red Hook, N.Y.

Blue Heron Interiors of Cohasset, Mass., showcased Nineteenthand early Twentieth Century American paintings. “The show lookedvery pretty and our booth display of American paintings was wellreceived,” said Shelley Brown, who owns the business with partnerJames Puzinas. “Business could have better. The weather may havebeen a contributing factor, but it’s hard to tell how much itaffected the gate. We made a couple of sales to new clients, one avery pretty New Hampshire lake scene by Henry Curtis Ahl, the sonof Henry Hammond Ahl. As always, we enjoy meeting new customers andhope these new relationships will lead to future sales.”

Marilyn and Ron Saland of Scarsdale, N.Y., set up a welcoming space with their inventory of Nineteenth Century Continental and American furniture. “We thought that Marty, once more, mounted a great looking show with a diverse mix of dealers,” said the Salands. “Loading in and out was handled well and relatively painlessly, which is very important to us, as well as every other dealer. As usual, some dealers did very well and, while we ended up in the positive column, our last year’s show was markedly better.”

Tom and Lynn Woods, Wandering Moose Antiques of Woolwich, Maine, offered fine silver, including a custom designed and handmade tea service by Gorham from 1927 designed with French Art Deco influence. Such custom order items are extremely rare, according to Tom Woods, and even more so a complete tea service.

Jaffe & Thurston, Wawarsing, N.Y.

Diane Davis, owner of D&D Antiques, recently moved toNewtown, Conn., from nearby Ridgefield. At the show, Davis featureda burled wood console table with a French design made in Italy,paired with a couple of painted French chairs, newly upholstered insilk beneath a French wrought iron double-sided mirror. Other itemsincluded a Chippendale painted settee, newly upholstered, with balland claw feet, a painted table with mercury mirror top and a lady’sdesk with grill doors and pull-out leather top.

From Brookfield, Conn., Arja and Timo Parviainen usually bring their line of antique European furniture and smalls to shows such as Atlantique City, Morristown, Brimfield and Virginia Beach. Later this year, however, the couple plans to open a new store on Federal Road in Brookfield. Among the items Arti Antiques Inc, displayed at this show was a French oak Louis XVI-style cupboard with a marble top, beveled mirror and hand carved decoration, a Nineteenth Century Swiss walnut bookcase with pine as the secondary wood and an unusual small, a circa 1900, French wedding gift, a kind of dried faux floral arrangement displayed under a hand blown glass dome. The couple sold the wedding gift, as well as a Swiss burl walnut armoire, among other items. “The show for us was okay,” said the Parviainens. “Saturday was much better than Sunday, many more people from all over the tri-state area. What was nice, because we used to have the store in Larchmont for almost ten years, some of our old customers did come, so it was nice to see them also.”

Biuk Fardin of Fardin’s Antique Rugs, Fairfield, Conn., has advice for folks who shop for antique Oriental rugs – buy the rug first, then acquire the furniture and decorative items that complement its colors and design. “Measure your room, and buy the rug first,” suggested Fardin, who added that key factors in a rug’s quality are age, condition, color and design.

Fair Trade, Shelburne Falls, N.Y.

Antique maps and prints specialist Maile Allen was sidelinedby illness on the first day of the show, but the Colonia,N.J.-based exhibitor had help from her father, George Dickinson,who set up the booth and handled sales on Saturday. Among thebooth’s highlights were a Martha’s Vineyard nautical chart from1855 by A.D. Backe, a set of six mollusk prints by James DeKay,dated 1843, and three turn-of-the-century Sherman Foote Dentonlithographs of trout, which are highly sought after.

Bruce and Deborah Phillips are eclectic collectors who do business as Fair Trade. “The show was reasonably attended with a higher percentage of people willing to buy than last year,” said Bruce Phillips. “I sold jewelry, Nineteenth Century bell jar lanterns and a pair of leather Deco chairs,” said the Shelburne Falls, Mass.-based antiques dealer.

Greenstein said that when he and Graber planted the seeds for a mid-January show last year, they knew that conventional perceptions of low-end PTA shows would gradually be replaced by word-of-mouth testimonials as to how high end the show actually was. He said, “As word continues to get out, it is becoming established.”

For information, 914-572-4132 or 914-582-8782.