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The American Antiques Show 2004

by Lita Solis-Cohen

The third annual The American Antiques Show, to benefit the American Folk Art Museum, was held January 15-18 with a Wednesday evening preview on January 14. A good crowd came to the festive, $750-a-ticket preview, and they did a good bit of buying before snow began to fall and the timid headed home.

The following day, Oprah Winfrey arrived with her entourage, and dealers said she really made a difference. Her designer, Ellie Cullman, had come to the preview and preselected some pieces, then Oprah came and bought what she liked: weathervanes, glass chestnut bottles, quilts, a game board, and more. She then went on to the Winter Antiques Show and bought more.

The American Antiques Show, well managed by Josh Wainwright of Keeling Wainwright Associates and executive director Alice Hoffman of the museum staff, offered ancillary educational events and initiated special recognition to collectors Susan and Jerry Lauren and honorary chair Dominique Browning and to designers who were invited to come and bring their clients. A wine tasting was offered for young collectors; docent-led tours tempted the novices; and the old guard, which traditionally shows up in New York for auctions and other fairs, checked out this show too.

The auction offerings this year were less enticing than usual, so a few of the regulars not willing to freeze in record-breaking cold weather stayed away. But even with its inconvenient location at 125 West 18th Street in now-fashionable Chelsea, at least a $12 cab ride each way to the Upper East Side, attendance at the show was better this year than in the past. Dealers said that there was hardly ever any down time and that new people came, asked good questions, and bought.

Barry Briskin, chairman of the show, said he met a couple from Cleveland who read about the show in the Friday New York Times, decided it sounded great, got on a plane, and came to the show on Saturday. WNBC did the weather broadcast from the show on Saturday, and Alice Hoffman was on CBS at the same time. Media coverage helps.

There was enough to see at this show to spend an entire day. It is not a vetted show, so it demands careful scrutiny. The design of the show makes it seem far smaller than it is. There are 45 dealers in all. After the main aisles are traversed, there is a whole other section not to be missed. Dealers said they had a very educated audience.

According to an informal survey of dealers, folk art and smalls were what sold. Defying this trend, dealers Arthur Liverant of Colchester, Connecticut, and Grace and Elliott Snyder of South Egremont, Massachusetts, sold multiple pieces of fine American furniture to collectors delighted to find exactly what they had been looking for. Others said that brown furniture was a hard sell and that country taste prevailed, as it should in a show put on by the American Folk Art Museum. Any piece that was the best of its kind in any category had no trouble finding buyers, from Tucker china to a burl bowl to a face jug. A large birdbath carved with a figure of a girl on both sides by self-taught sculptor William Edmondson sold early at the preview. David Wheatcroft's asking price was $350,000.

There was just enough edgy material in a broad price range for art collectors, shown by Ricco-Maresca Gallery, Odd Fellows Antiques, Hill Gallery, Carl Hammer Gallery, American Primitive Gallery, Allan Katz Americana, and Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, new to the show.

There was more Native American material than ever before. In addition to specialist dealers David Cook, Trotta-Bono, and Will Channing, three furniture dealers, Jeffrey Tillou, Arthur Liverant, and Skip Chalfant, offered Native American blankets, pots, and beadwork. Indian material seemed to sell reasonably well.

Philadelphia dealer Amy Finkel had the finest display of schoolgirl needlework she has ever assembled for this show, and she sold brilliantly on opening night and all weekend long. Jan Whitlock, a textile specialist from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, sold the items she had put away for this discerning audience. Her yarn-sewn rug, depicting several houses and birds, with a vine border and its original fringe, dated 1835, was the earliest hearth rug at the show. It was illustrated in Joel and Kate Kopp's pioneer book American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot. The price was $45,000, and it sold quickly.

Whitlock said that she sold something every day. Within minutes of closing, a New York City customer came back to pick up her purchase and bought Whitlock's carved Statue of Liberty and a swift carved with a hand and an eagle. "She said she had been to all the other shows and was thrilled these things had waited for her," said Whitlock.

It was good news that people were buying. Dealers had bought from each other during setup, and then customers arrived anxious to buy. "There was a flurry of activity in the last two hours," said David Wheatcroft. "I sold two significant oil paintings and several watercolors late on Sunday."

It was amazing that with five shows and four days of auctions, there was enough enthusiasm and money in the marketplace to support it all.

"The crowd was excited to see the mix of folk art, paintings, Native American, and American furniture," said Arthur Liverant, who is a real booster for this show. "The broad-based mix is what made it a successful show. There was electricity on the floor at the opening. This show has caught on; it will only have an upside."

Liverant said he has noticed an uptick in business. "I think Americans can sit on their hands only so long. They work hard, and they are getting back to the business of living."