Burton Antiques Market

June 14th, 2014

Leisa Kirtley of Western Reserve Antique Shop, Canfield, Ohio, consistently presents a great mix in her dealer display. A dough board with breadboard ends was $68. An early baker’s cupboard in red paint (back left side) with flour and sugar bins, wide cut dovetailing, and a pie safe top was $1495. An early tavern table (center) with breadboard ends and turned legs was priced at $1395. The pie safe behind it painted a bright blue was $1295.

Jim and Julie (sorry, no last name recorded) of Cleveland, Ohio, had this meat hook from a butcher shop priced at $649.

With a choir boy safely on board, this wooden-ribbed two-seater Old Town canoe was priced at $800 by Josh and Brandon Snyder of Ravenna, Ohio.

Sandra Belko of Syracuse, New York, had a booth filled with smaller items, such as these dolls and accessories. The wooden rabbit cutouts (in the bowl at top right) were a reasonable $15. The dollhouse table in front was $85. Behind the table is a doll ($140) with a gutta-percha head and leather hands dressed in a red gingham dress that Belko said was a prototype. The example seated on the chair with a small china head was $185, while the china-head doll standing on the chair was $200. At far right, the seated doll in a white dress with a papier-mâché head could be had for $120, and the wax-head doll in front of the chair, whose ensemble included a lace-trimmed hat, was $140.

Dick Anderson of Lodi, Ohio, was pleased to show off this 1920s funeral fan priced at $1700. It has a metal flanged front that directed the breeze in various directions. The wicker planter behind the fan used to hold a birdcage. It was available for $350.

Four Friends Antiques, Medina, Ohio, set up within a fairgrounds building and offered this West Virginia pie safe with six tins in its two doors with one large drawer above. It was tagged $895. The “Banana on a stick” sign ($295) was from Chippewa Lake Park in Medina County.

David and Carroll Swope of Canton, Ohio, always have great pieces in their booth. These two Canada geese decoys are great examples. The working decoy (the smaller bird, $1995) was created by Nicholas Englhart of Manito, Illinois. He owned and operated the Cooperas Creek River Ferry near Moline and built boats as well as a few decoys such as this. The larger land decoy ($895) was made by Joseph Lincoln of Accord, Massachusetts. The birds sit atop a late 18th-century blanket chest having a pine dovetailed case, single drawer, and old gray paint over earlier blue. It was tagged $445.

Burton, Ohio

Timing is everything when it comes to unearthing great finds at antiques shows, and obviously I had not mastered this art until June 14, when, as always, I showed up at 8 a.m. to be one of the first to peruse the wares at the Burton Antiques Market at the Geauga County Fairgrounds, Burton, Ohio. Early bird buying goes from 8 to 10 a.m. ($20). General admission begins at 10 a.m. ($6).

The weather was fantastic. The crowd was huge. The dealers were plentiful. The Bloody Marys could be found on the far side of the track at the back of one anonymous dealer’s space right behind a charming chest of drawers.

I am known for uncovering some pretty cool things while digging through any number of dealer displays at Burton, but none was as surprising as rounding the corner at the back of a booth and finding an extensive bar laid out complete with a mixology master hard at work. This is what I love about Burton. You never know what you will find. And no, the bartender would not agree to be photographed, and yes, he offered me a drink, and no, I did not imbibe. I had a show to cover.

Whenever one writes a review of Burton, one is obliged to discuss the weather. It is such a huge factor as to how this show will go. On this second Saturday in June 2014, the weather was sunny and a bit chilly; in a word, perfect. Everyone could have done without the intermittent bursts of wind, but that seemed to abate as the morning wore on. Weather report done.

Dealers lined both sides of the racetrack at this event and spilled over into the infield. Dealers were also set up under the grandstands and in one of the fairgrounds buildings. There was a lot to see.

A great deal goes into putting this event together. I happened to be standing with show promoter Kay Puchstein at 8 a.m. when the gates opened for early shopping. “Well, I can throw up now,” she said with a smile. “From here on out, there’s nothing else I can do. I’ve done everything I know to make this June 2014 edition of Burton a success. I’ve taken numerous phone calls. I’ve answered all kinds of questions, bought lots of advertising, made sure the dealers are happy….There’s nothing more left to do but say thank you for this weather and let’s hope for the best.”

If there seemed to be a theme this year, I would have to go with big: there were big store counters, big architectural objects, big taxidermy. A woman pulling a two-wheeled metal basket shopping cart had an interesting purchase. The mounted bear’s head she was toting received more than one double-take from those walking by. I commented on the novelty of her purchase. Her comment, “It’s my husband’s,” complete with perfunctory eye roll, said it all.

Country Folk Antiques, Ludington, Michigan, and Destin, Florida, offered big pieces, and they were selling. Items already wearing sold tags just an hour into the day included a barrel-size Richardson’s root beer dispenser; a Lion coffee bin; a German coffee/ Toledo Spice Co. bin; a three-board top, approximately 10' long white-painted farm table; a grayish-green-painted pie safe with six diamond-shaped tins on the front of its two doors; and a slant-top counter on tall turned legs with a center door flanked by three drawers on each side.

Then there was the big Canada goose decoy in the dealer space of Carroll and David Swope of Canton, Ohio. The work of Joseph Lincoln (1859-1938) of Accord, Massachusetts, the oversize canvas-covered slat goose featured Lincoln’s trademark full breast and alert high head. The goose, priced at $895, was once in the Peter Brams collection. The Swopes offered another Canada goose decoy that was more true to size. This second waterfowl decoy was the work of Nicholas Englhart (1888-1985) of Manito, Illinois. Having a lath framework nailed to a flat wooden base with canvas stretched over it, this decoy also has a removable head. It was tagged $1995.

Julie and Jim, a couple from Cleveland, Ohio, who specialize in signs, advertising, and country store items had a porcelain “Wayne Feeds” sign that was so big it came in three pieces. It was offered for $1475 even with some damage to one section. An oversize cast-iron meat hook from a butcher shop that featured a cow, a saw, and a cleaver had to be a good 4' long and was priced at $649 by this couple, whose last name and shop I’m sorry not to have recorded.

I came upon dealer Julia Bristol of Cassadaga, New York, as she was helping her booth mate, Andy Woloszyn of Dunkirk, New York, manhandle a large store counter in the back of their booth. Just about everything in their dealer space was huge. There were at least three country store counters and a shirt display case. “Yes, I call him Mr. Big Stuff,” Julia explained. “Andy is fascinated by large counters, and I have been known to cringe when he calls me and says, ‘Hey, you should see what I found,’ followed by, ‘I might need your help moving this.’”

The shirt display case, complete with drawer-like cubbies to hold a variety of shirts, was being offered for $1750. A metal tag on the front of the display said the piece was by “H. Pauk & Sons, Mfg. Co., St. Louis, MO.” A country store counter made of beaded pine that was a whopping 13' long could be purchased for $2300.

An Old Town canoe that had been found in Stow, Ohio, took up the back corner of the booth of Joshua and Brandon Snyder of Ravenna, Ohio. The two-seater retained its Old Town label and was priced at $800.

Saying big items were in abundance does not mean smalls were absent. Smaller items were quite prevalent at Burton and ran the gamut of glass, grenades, and golf clubs to stoneware, steel cabinets, and Shirley Temple. An entire fleet of handmade folky boats were on display in the booth of Laura Townsend of Malvern, Ohio. Townsend laughingly could not remember exactly what estate auction she purchased these at, but it was within the past month. “That’s a bad sign, isn’t it,” she joked, though she did recall it was an auction in Ohio.

Townsend displayed the ships in their acrylic cases just as she had bought them. One boat named Huron was $185. A tugboat named Patricia Jean was $245, as were the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy and the Edgar E. Speer, which I believe is a fishing vessel. One was required to pay $285 for the Sun Seeker cruise ship and $295 for a Coast Guard boat.

Sandra Belko of Syracuse, New York, arranged her booth into small vignettes, one of which featured dolls. Christopher Stephan, a retired science teacher, now operates ClassicalScience by Stephan and offered oodles of vintage microscopes and other antique science equipment.

Western Reserve Antique Shop, Canfield, Ohio, specializes in children’s items such as an early stuffed dog with shoe button eyes for $175. Dale Wilson of Antiques by Wilson, Franklin, Pennsylvania, offered a Buddy “L” cement mixer, 1921-31, for $2950.

When the end of the day rolled around, many dealers who were packing up stated that their vehicles would be returning home with a lighter load. Burton is a buying crowd. What sells is ever-changing and as eclectic as the items presented for purchase. But that is what brings both dealers and shoppers to Burton. Both the variety of items and the price tags on them are so vast and varied that there is usually something for everyone’s tastes and budgets.

The fall edition of the Burton Antiques Market will take place Saturday, September 27.

This small blue cupboard had already found a new owner, but the Diamond Dyes cabinet was still available for $1150 in the dealer space of Country Folk Antiques.

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