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New York City

The American Antiques Show

by Lita Solis-Cohen

When you take a bedraggled plant, repot it, and move it to a different place, it often thrives. That is what happened with The American Antiques Show, which benefits the American Folk Art Museum.

The band of established dealers who used to do the fall pier shows and then the shows at the armory have been joined now by a group of newcomers, and, like new leaves on a plant, they have made a healthy contribution. They widened the variety of offerings to include more American Indian arts, rustic furniture, high-style country furniture, and decoys in this all-American show.

Moving the museum's fundraising show to January was risky, but it has proved to be a good decision. "If it is going to be called Americana Week, we must have a real Americana show to go with the auctions," said Camden, Ohio, dealer David Good. "This show epitomizes what this week represents, and it seems to be thriving."

The American Folk Art Museum owns the show. The show's executive director, Alice Hoffman, who is on the staff of the museum, runs it, and Keeling Wainwright Associates is its paid manager. The museum supports it with volunteers and many ancillary events. It is a major fundraiser for the museum, but unlike the East Side House Settlement and the hospital shows, the museum will not release any figures for its show. Apparently a lot of money was spent to launch it, but the preview tickets are steep—$750 at 5 p.m., $350 at 6:30 p.m. Plenty of tickets were sold. The attendance was remarkably good both at the preview on January 15 and during the entire run of the show, Thursday through Sunday, January 16-19.

The right people came from New York and from all parts of the country and some from abroad. Young collectors arrived for a special party on Thursday night while their elders went to the preview. More young people came on the weekend.

"We may have lost some Upper East Siders, but we gained a lot of people from downtown, and anyone serious about collecting folk art doesn't miss this show," said Roger Ricco of New York City's Ricco/Maresca Gallery, who offered a first-rate selection of 19th- and 20th-century folk sculpture, including three stone sculptures by William Edmundson.

There was more than just folk art at this show. "I have never talked to as many interested and knowledgeable people," said Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, dealer Christopher Rebollo, showing mostly Pennsylvania furniture for the first time at this show. "I sold smalls," he said, adding, "There is interest in my most important pieces of furniture, and they may be sold soon. Furniture suffers in this economy, though last year was my best ever."

Rustic furniture, lamps, and mirrors sold very well, much of it to decorators. After the first day, Jeff Cherry and Kass Hogan of Cherry Gallery had to go back to Pine Plains, New York, more than a three-hour drive, to restock their stand.

All 45 dealers brought the finest material they could muster, and the consensus was that quality was up from the year before. Selling was brisk at the preview party, and it continued all weekend.

Alice Hoffman said that inviting decorators was a good idea, and that many of them came and bought. George Allen and Gordon Wyckoff of Raccoon Creek Antiques, Bridgeport, New Jersey, said a client came late on Sunday and said, "I'll take the wall, if you deliver it and it looks good." "We did, and she bought it all," said George Allen, a few days later. "We sold the three weathervanes and a carved pair of moose horns, so we had the best opening night and the best follow-up, which makes it the best show!"

Some serious purchases were made early in the show. David Wheatcroft sold his Sheldon Peck portrait of a girl in a white dress holding a rose, probably painted in Vermont circa 1825. David Good sold his painted two-drawer decorated blanket box from Vermont, which had been in a private collection in the Midwest since the 1960's. Raccoon Creek sold its carved open Bible painted with a scene of Noah's ark.

Textiles sold well. Amy Finkel sold needlework pictures priced from $4000 to $85,000. Quilts and embroidered bedcovers were snapped up too. When the show was over, David Good said he had sold glass, redware, painted boxes, folk sculpture, a whirligig, watercolors, painted furniture, and an inn sign.

It is not a beautiful show, nor does it have a flowing floor plan, but the ambiance is pleasant enough, and it is bright with wide aisles so shoppers can really see what's for sale and stay and converse. The show does not feel pretentious. It is informal, warm, and friendly to go with the merchandise.

"It was heralded as a success its first year, and it was an even bigger success its second year, with plenty of material for serious buyers," said Woodbridge, Connecticut, folk art dealer Allan Katz, who said he made 30 sales.

The American Antiques Show is already an institution, and it will be back in 2004 with a preview party on January 14 to open Americana Week.

For more information, call (212) 977-7170 or visit the Web site (www.folkartmuseum.org).