Click here to subscribe to M.A.D.

Princeton, New Jersey

Reworked Princeton Show Is Reenergized

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Demographics suggest that Princeton, New Jersey, should be the ideal place for an antiques show, as the town and surrounding countryside is filled with well-educated, well-heeled people living in colonial or colonial-style houses. Why, then, has there not been an antiques show that draws people from the entire Delaware Valley since the days of the old Wellesley Club show, held at the Princeton Day School, that closed up shop 15 years ago?

In 2005 the Historical Society of Princeton decided to fill the void and make an antiques show its major fund-raiser. The first attempt in 2005 with only 28 dealers was not a success, but the committee did not give up. They asked show promoter Frank Gaglio if he could perform a miracle and create a new show that would prosper.

Gaglio said he signed a three-year contract because it usually takes that long to create a new tradition. He went right to work and came up with a new design, doubled the size of the show, and scheduled it for September 29-October 1, 2006.

The show committee had leased space in a hangar at the Princeton Airport, conveniently located at the junction of routes 206 and 518, with plenty of free parking. Gaglio created a floor plan that included a tent attached to the hangar. The committee and Gaglio went out and, together, rounded up 42 dealers with a broad range of antiques and decorations, paintings and prints, jewelry and handbags.

"We asked some local dealers from Lambertville, Hopewell, and Princeton," said Barbara Webb, assistant development director at the historical society. Among the Lambertville, New Jersey, dealers who signed up were Jim Alterman with good New Hope school paintings, the Lovrinics with American furniture, and MiX Gallery with 20th-century furniture and pocketbooks. Perrisue Silver, a well-known jewelry and silver dealer in Princeton, added great style. Brian Gage of Hopewell, who usually sells to the decorator trade, took a booth and filled it with a variety of furniture and decorations, including cast-iron garden benches and a Chinese lacquer table.

Gaglio recruited some dealers who brought some impressive 18th- and 19th-century antiques, paintings, and accessories. "It was a different kind of show for me," said Gaglio. "Not a lot of country things."

The mix of period 18th- and 19th-century furniture, ceramics, brass accessories, and 20th-century design created a show for furnishers and collectors. One could buy the rugs, sofas, and chairs, the garden furniture and paintings, and then fill drawers and cupboards with jewelry and handbags. The three jewelry dealers, Perrisue Silver, Johanna Antiques, Kingsville, Maryland, and Ellen Ring of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, sold well, even at the expensive Friday evening preview party ($500 and $350 to $175 a ticket). The social fund-raiser offered very good food by Main Street, plus music, and it was attended by what one local wag described as the "who's who of the financial world." Only a few of them looked at antiques.

By 9:15 Saturday morning, however, there was a line to get in for $10 a ticket. People stayed for lunch, catered by Panera Bread, and they shopped. A young collectors' party ($25) on Saturday evening included wine, beer, hors d'oeuvres, and a show tour with Frank Gaglio in an effort to educate the next generation.

"The attendance was good on Saturday and Sunday; the aisles were crowded. At least fifteen hundred came through the doors," said Barbara Webb. The dealers said there were a lot of lookers, including Barbra Streisand and her husband, James Brolin, and some business was done.

"I sold several paintings and forty-five of my books [New Hope for American Art]" said Jim Alterman of Jim's of Lambertville. "Many people took cards and dimensions, and they are coming to my gallery for my Thrilla in Lambertvilla [exhibition] next weekend. It was good all around."

He was one of a handful of dealers who sold well, but even those who did not sell said they would be back. Some said they may tweak their booths toward the decorative next year because it was the dealers with upholstered furniture and 20th-century material who sold quickly.

"I sold a Davenport desk and a pair of leather-covered chairs," said J. Wilson of Wilson's Main Line Antiques. B & D Johnson Antiques sold an 18th-century Massachusetts corner chair, and Olivier Fleury sold an 18th-century French armoire.

Betty Koren of Bridges Over Time, Newburgh, New York, sold a sofa and two chairs covered in red and gold Scalamandré silk. Local dealers said every decorator in the area came to the show and that the Princeton crowd depends on decorators to make their purchases. Douglas Constant said he delivered a sideboard to a decorator in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Barbara Webb said the trucker on hand to make local deliveries was busy.

When Streisand and Brolin came to the Lovrinics' shop in Lambertville on Saturday, Tim Lovrinic said his mother suggested that they stop at the Princeton show on their way back to New York. "She called ahead, so we told the desk they were coming and left them tickets," said Tim Lovrinic. "Barbra bought an old iron ladle signed by its maker from me after telling me I was asking too much," he said. "She also bought a sign from Leon Weiss of Gemini [Antiques]. Everyone was courteous-they let them have their space, no cell phone photographs-but everyone recognized them."

Barbara Webb said Barbra Streisand took lots of pictures with her digital camera and that the show committee gave the couple a canvas bag filled with all the giveaway magazines and some snacks from Panera Bread for their trip home.

Webb credits the good gate-some 1500 people-to the $14,000 that the committee spent on advertising. She said any profit came from the patrons' party.

Frank Gaglio said he was pleased with his first Princeton show. "I think we made a good start; the feedback from dealers was gratifying. The show has potential. Almost everyone said they will be back."

For more information, telephone (609) 921-6748 or (845) 876-0616; Web sites (www.princetonhistory.org) or (www.barnstar.com).