Mid-Week in Manchester Antiques Show

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Twice a year, in January in New York City and in August in New Hampshire, the Americana crowd gathers for a ritual shopping spree.

This August, after some invigorating paddle-waving at Ron Bourgeault's auction at the Holiday Inn on August 2 and 3, they took a day off and then got back in shape on Tuesday, August 5, at Nan Gurley's one-day encampment at the fairgrounds in nearby Deerfield.

They were ready for the keen competition at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, August 6, when Frank Gaglio cut the ribbon for the opening of his Barn Star Productions Mid-Week in Manchester Antiques Show where 96 dealers showed their mostly country wares in the convention center and in a huge tent pitched on the parking lot of the Tara Wayfarer Inn in Bedford, a few miles south of Manchester.

After the initial assault, which lasted less than two hours and resulted in a shower of red "sold" tags, a short truce was declared as the troops withdrew, refreshed themselves, and moved on to the Kaces' and the Ewings' Riverside Antiques Show, which filled Manchester's National Guard Armory.

After doing a certain amount of damage there, dealers returned with their spoils to Bedford, where they found some regulars making sure something had not been overlooked in the morning or securing their "holds" on certain items until after 1 p.m. the following day, August 7th.

These so-called "be backs," as they are known to the trade, said they needed to reserve enough ammunition for their assault on the 40th annual New Hampshire Antiques Show that opened at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The line for that show began to form at 4 a.m. Palatine, Illinois, dealers Mary and Jim Heath, who were first in line for the 4th annual Mid-Week show by arriving at 6 a.m., said they arrived at the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association show at the Holiday Inn at 4:30 a.m. and were tenth.

Massachusetts dealer Stephen Score, who was showing at Mid-Week, said he got to the New Hampshire dealers' show at 7:30 a.m., and there were 70 people ahead of him. (Frank Gaglio didn't reopen Mid-Week until 1 p.m. on Thursday, and most of his 96 dealers swelled the ranks at the New Hampshire dealers' show opening.)

It seems that those who wait in line for hours build up expectations to such a fever that buying becomes frenzied. They believe they have about ten seconds to consider a purchase or it will be sold to someone else. The New Hampshire dealers' show is clearly not for the inexperienced, but those who know the ropes say they always score there.

"That show has an amazing cachet and lots of cash," said Stephen Score. "I look for what I love, and if I don't have to think about it, I go for it."

Mary Heath agreed. "If I would die tomorrow, I would die a happy woman," she said after the first hour of the New Hampshire dealers' show when she sat down for a rest. "I've loved talking to everybody, and I bought three pieces of furniture here. I thought the prices fair, and I got half-a-dozen accessories yesterday: three painted bowls, a blue-painted Shaker bucket, and a game board."

The lines at Gaglio's Mid-Week show were not as long, and those who came into the big tent with its wide aisles and cool breezes were not shopping shoulder-to-shoulder, elbow-to-elbow, so it didn't seem frenzied. On the other hand, the initial onslaught in the convention center at Mid-Week where 30 dealers set up in a less-spacious venue was psychologically better for quick sales. Those in the tent, however, said business was steady, and they pointed out that in four years, this show has not built up quite as much momentum as the New Hampshire dealers' show has built up in 40 years.

Some collectors said they preferred the leisurely pace and easy viewing at Mid-Week and noted that quality and prices were comparable at both shows. "After four years, I think this show has really hit its stride. Dealers have been telling me good things," said manager Frank Gaglio, who had his entire family working for him: father, sister, brother, daughter.

Dealers were pleased with the management, the crowd, and the cool weather. When they weren't selling, they were buying from each other. All the booths looked quite different on Thursday when dealers rearranged their stands to fill in the gaps. There was in fact so much for sale, plenty of good things were left to be discovered by those who arrived on Thursday afternoon, and selling continued at a steady pace until the 6 p.m. closing.

Mid-Week was the place to find color: blue, red, yellow, and white cupboards and painted chests, chairs, and tables, most made in New England. There were stacks of colorful boxes: from wooden firkins to small band boxes, some of wood, others of paper. There were plenty of hooked rugs and game boards. There was an amazing selection of looking glasses, ranging from an early 18th-century framed mirror fragment, a boxed courting mirror, and a William and Mary looking glass with warped crest, to country mirrors with carved crests.

Pottery ranged from redware to yellowware and included a selection of Rockingham-glazed wares and salt-glazed stonewares; there was very little delft and some majolica. A broad selection of tin, pewter, and iron lighting devices and woodenware plates and bowls greeted the eye, as well as paintings of all sorts, ranging from folky watercolor portraits to an oil of "Barney" Oldfield and Henry Ford.

Several quilts were sold, samplers are still hot, and lots of furniture was moved out. "In the last ten minutes I sold two Queen Anne chairs, a ten-thousand-dollar table, and a six-thousand-dollar painted cupboard," said Lincoln Sander at 2:45 on Thursday afternoon. He wasn't the only one who had very little to take home.

Mid-Week is a show where business is done, and apparently it is cost-effective. The dealers pay around $1200 booth rent and say they get their money's worth. They might gross more at other shows, but they go home with money in their pockets from this one.