The 2016 New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association Show
August 13th, 2016
New Hampshire Antiques Show, Manchester, New Hampshire
Anyone who thinks enthusiasm for Americana has waned was proved wrong at the 59th annual New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association show at the Radisson Hotel Manchester, August 11-13. The first collectors in the long line waiting for the doors to open at 10 a.m. on August 11 said they got there at 2:30 a.m. By 10 a.m., there were 550 in line, and twice that number had shopped the show by the end of the day.
Jack O’Brien was number 26 in line. He got up early to save a place for collector Marjorie McGraw. The night before, McGraw had received a call from Patrick Bell of Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pennsylvania, telling her that he had just bought a very special New England diminutive painted chest, and that she should have it. She was thrilled when she saw it and bought it on the spot.
On Wednesday evening before the dealers’ show opened, Jewett-Berdan Antiques, Newcastle, Maine, put this diminutive (36" x 30" x 17") polychrome New England blanket chest in the center of its stand. The tag on the wall read “Diminutive polychrome one drawer New England blanket chest, ex. Chris Huntington, circa 1835.” The catalog for George Morrill’s auction (on location in Mount Vernon, Maine, June 20 and 21, 1974) was nearby. In August 1974, it sold for $2800. Jewett-Berdan bought it from a Maine collection not long ago and saved it for this show. The next morning the chest was on the stand of Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pennsylvania, and within the first few moments of the show collector Marjorie McGraw bought it.
Marjorie McGraw and Pat Bell—happy buyer and happy seller.
“I have never been to the New Hampshire Antiques Show before,” she said, obviously glad she made the trip from her summer house on Cape Cod.
The chest McGraw bought has a special place in auction history. It had appeared on the cover of George Morrill’s catalog of the auction of the collection of Christopher and Ellen Huntington, held on site in Mount Vernon, Maine, June 20 and 21, 1974. Sam Pennington wrote about the 400-lot sale for the August 1974 issue of his year-old magazine Maine Antique Digest (Vol II., No. 8), calling it “a landmark sale for country painted furniture and folk art.”
Amy Finkel of M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia, had a good show—better than last year. She sold eight samplers and three pieces of furniture (the small sofa, a round chair table, and the painted glazed bookcase).
Arthur Liverant of Nathan Liverant & Son, Colchester, Connecticut, asked $22,000 for this Queen Anne walnut veneered high chest with a map drawer in the cornice, scrolled apron, and tall cabriole legs, North Shore, Massachusetts, 1745-80. It has replaced brasses and pendant drops, knee brackets, and waist molding, and a ¼" tip of the cornice has been restored.
Morrill sold the painted chest for $2800. In the last 42 years the chest sold at auction only once again. At Skinner on October 27, 2013, it was lot 31 and sold for $42,000 to a collector in Maine. That collector sold it to Jewett-Berdan Antiques, Newcastle, Maine, shortly before she died, and her estate executor sent the rest of her collection to Skinner. According to the description in Skinner’s 2013 catalog, lot 31 had a James and Nancy Glazer provenance.
“The buyer at the Huntington sale was Herb Ader, a collector and dealer in Bowmansville, Pennsylvania, and the father-in-law of John Carl Thomas, the legendary pewter collector and dealer,” said dealer Jim Glazer of Bailey Island, Maine, when reached by phone. “I bought it from Ader in the early 1980s and sold it to a Cleveland couple in 1984. Their collection was consigned to Skinner in 2013.” Glazer shared the market history of the most talked-about piece of furniture sold at the New Hampshire dealers’ show in Manchester in the summer of 2016.
Its sale proved that an exceptional piece of painted furniture can still sell for a strong price, while a lot of very good material offered at the show was selling for enticing prices that buyers couldn’t resist. For example, one couple who are longtime collectors said they had not come to buy another painted chest; they have plenty of good ones. They had looked over every booth with just one more to go late on Friday afternoon when they found a red-painted early New England chest of drawers in remarkably good condition, good color, and good form on Robert Foley’s stand. The price was right; they had to have it. They’ll find room for it.
“It was active buying all day long,” said Butch Berdan. “It was so exciting for us; we saved up all year to offer our best.”
Jeff and Holly Noordsy of Cornwall, Vermont, asked $7850 for this group of 12 New England chestnut bottles, 1790 to 1820. They said they had their best show anywhere anytime. “We sold a sign, stoneware, weathervanes, painted boxes, a painted tin document box, and one piece of glass. This show is magical,” said Holly Noordsy.
Cherry Gallery, Damariscotta, Maine, asked $3250 for the tree-form andirons, fire screen, and tools. This set and most of the other camp furnishings on the stand sold.
The reason for the buying frenzy during the first two hours of what is still known as the dealers’ show is because so much of what is offered is fresh. As did Berdan, many other dealers save things all year long, and collectors save up all year long to buy something in New Hampshire. Some dealers make their expenses before the doors open by selling during setup, but most of what is sold preshow remains on the floor for sale on other stands.
Not every dealer has a fabulously successful show. A piece that has been seen at other shows, no matter how great its merits, can be a hard sell, even at a reduced price, even though many who come to New Hampshire do not attend other East Coast shows.
Dealers say the brisk selling during the first two hours on Thursday when the show is very crowded is magical and happens only at this show. Dealers and collectors, most of whom who receive free tickets, come early and move quickly, saying, “I’ll take it and come back to pay.” Others consider purchases all day. Some collectors and dealers come late to avoid the rush, knowing that it is hard to examine things carefully on a crowded stand. Dealers call Friday and Saturday “retail days,” as people buy tickets and shop carefully. Some collectors come every day and see a different show as dealers restock and move things around.
This circa 1790 red wool calamanco quilt was $12,500 from Axtell Antiques, Deposit, New York. The front is glazed a brilliant orange red; the back is unglazed tan wool.
Nancy Fishelson of Orchard Park, New York, was one of four dealers new to the show. The hooked rug with hearts, early 20th century, was $2400, and it sold, as did the running horse vane and the tall basket.
What gives the New Hampshire show so much energy? Manchester is easy to get to by plane, train, bus, or car. New Hampshire’s Antiques Week comes at a time when people can take a summer vacation, and when on vacation they are in a buying mood. Moreover there is a critical mass of other good shows held the two days leading up to the New Hampshire Antiques Show. Competition is good. A sizable group of collectors and dealers have an appetite for Americana, and dealers say there are new faces every year. All who come love the hunt and the camaraderie. Many have made good friends over the years while standing in line waiting for New Hampshire antiques shows to open.
Withington & Co., Portsmouth, New Hampshire, asked $2300 for the comfortable 19th-century log chair; the rag mat on it was $75. The sailor’s shellwork table from mid-19th-century Long Island, New York, was $2650. The circa 1880 cow weathervane with verdigris and a partial gilt surface was $4900. The circa 1880 country store drawers from a general store in Millbrook, New York, sold to Michael Ogle of American Garage, who wanted $6800 for them. They were too big to move during the show.
The New Hampshire Antiques Show has a long tradition. It will celebrate its 60th year in August 2017. Some of the dealers have been showing here for 30 and even 40 years. This year just four dealers were new to this show. As always, the 2016 New Hampshire Antiques Show was a grand treasure hunt. Just a few of the treasures offered by some of the 72 dealers are pictured here.
For more information, see (www.nhada.org).
This group of watercolors was painted by Abigail Page, who was born in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on December 13, 1811, and died there in March 1900. One of the watercolors is a memorial to Caroline Emery of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who died June 8, 1828, when she was 12 years old. Her father, Moses Emery, was a merchant ship captain, and the family residence still stands. The watercolors were $3500 from Steven Still of Manheim, Pennsylvania. They sold.
Dennis & Dad Antiques, Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, offered a lot of creamware, some of it transfer printed. Liverpool jugs were $2150 to $5320. A creamware coffeepot with a double-strap handle was $895.
Originally published in the October 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest
