Click here to subscribe to M.A.D.

Hartford Survives—Again

by Jonathan Rickard

Hollis Brodrick of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, sat at one of the tables near the food vendor eating his lunch on Saturday, September 29 at the Fall Hartford (Connecticut) Antiques Show. "You're not going to say anything bad about the show, are you?"

Brodrick loves the Hartford show. He's loved it in all of its different venues. He's loved it when he did well, and he's loved it when he didn't. Brodrick is an antiquarian. So is Robert Thayer of Sheffield, Massachusetts. When someone showed interest in his fascinating carved slate family record, Thayer immediately dove for a folder of background information he'd researched. It's easy to get the feeling that he'd rather not sell it. There are dealers who have an instinct for what's hot in the antiques world and have the financial wherewithal to buy and display the best. And there are dealers who, like Brodrick and Thayer, buck the trends and make discoveries.

Brodrick worried about the show. And he wasn't alone. Hartford, vaunted Hartford, has been run over, beat up, mugged, and abandoned. And Hartford has survived. This year was no different. Having outlived the long-term restoration of its home, the Connecticut State Armory, which meant functioning for a while at the University of Hartford's athletic facility and then moving back into its familiar confines, the Fall Hartford Antiques Show was once again prepared to dazzle when disaster struck on September 11.

With most people beginning to regain their spirit after two weeks of being glued to breaking news reports and stories of financial downturns, show manager Linda Turner of Forbes & Turner got some more unwelcome news. The armory was now closed to non-military personnel.

In one week, Linda and her staff secured a new location at the comparatively new Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford's North Meadows, next door to the Meadows concert facility. Ads were placed, and floor layouts were planned. Dealers were notified. But would anyone come?

The facility is large. In addition to the full complement of Hartford dealers in an arrangement reminiscent of the armory layout with wide, comfortable aisles, there was a gem show (jewelry) going on in the same hall, separated by a makeshift wall. The ceilings aren't as high as in the armory but certainly high enough, and the dealers found that there were five truck bays available instead of the one at the armory. Paulette Nolan of Falmouth, Massachusetts, said that her husband, Hilary, had a big Ryder truck and a trailer and was able to drive right in and unload next to their space. Packing out was five times faster than at the armory. And the customers had acres of parking—free and safe parking—surrounding the building. And while some of the directional signs off I-91 were contradictory, it was comparatively easy to find.

People did come to the show, held on September 29 and 30. Dealers sold. Some didn't. Peter Eaton of Newburyport, Massachusetts, had sold five pieces of furniture by 3 p.m. Saturday. Pam Boynton of Groton, Massachusetts, reported a very good show before the first day was over. One customer, newlywed Robin Hall of Old Lyme, Connecticut, had several bags of ceramics by 11 in the morning. Her husband, Phil Schonberger, asked if we liked the venue. On getting a positive response, he replied with a grin, "That's good. I own the building."

Turner said that she is interested in the possibility of moving here permanently. By choosing the Expo Center, she unwittingly avoided another disaster. On Friday, during setup, a transformer at Turner's other choice, the Hartford Civic Center, exploded, pouring great black billows of possibly toxic smoke throughout Hartford's downtown. People thought the terrorists had found Hartford. In addition to the smoke, the ensuing fire wiped out electrical service to the downtown, including hotels and restaurants.

San Antonio, Texas, dealer Jackie Radwin was evacuated from the Hilton and spent the night in Farmington, this after missing her flight connection in Dallas due to security slowdowns. On Saturday she was still prevented from getting back to her Hilton room. While she flies, her driver makes the long haul back and forth from Texas to the eastern shows with all of the stock. This time, to top off a weekend with Murphy's Law in effect, after unloading and setting up, he had a fender bender in Hartford. "Nothing serious," Radwin said.

This show has every right to survive and thrive. It is one of the oldest continuously operated antiques shows in America. It has a long history of including some of the top, most respected dealers. The high quality has remained, due in part to Linda Turner's management and to her choice of dealers. A number of dealers were asked about the venue. Paulette Nolan said that, strangely enough, when the show was held at the University of Hartford's athletic facility (a location not appreciated by many), she encountered a lot of new faces, many of whom became customers. She said that one acknowledged that he wouldn't go into Hartford for the armory show. Here again, at the Expo, were new faces. Paulette said that she and her husband were encouraged by the new faces, whether they bought or not.

In something of a M.A.D. tradition, we do a survey of the quantity of furniture offered at Hartford. This year, as always, there was an abundance, with only one form represented by a single example. There was but one chest-on-frame; there were 13 tall chests, seven highboys, three secretary-desks, 42 cupboards, seven slant-lid desks, and 45 chests of drawers and blanket chests. We used to call it "brown furniture," but this year the tally included blue and red and green too. In that respect, one could see a shift in what dealers brought. In one recent year, one dealer alone had three highboys. Paint remains popular, and the dealers responded.

For more information, contact Forbes & Turner Shows at (207) 767-3967 or see the Web site (www.forbesandturner.com).