The Pickers Market

October 4th, 2012

Alan R. Pereske Antiques, Lake Placid, New York, had this double-sided "White Birches" camp sign, made from birch bark, for $1095.

Doris Marks of Doris Marks Antiques, New Hampshire, is shown with some hand-hooked mittens she said were made in Maine or the Maritimes, probably in the late 1880's or a bit later. Marks had the mittens priced at $355.

Christopher Porte of New York City is shown with a 19th-century oil on canvas folk art painting with figures. Porte said it was found in New Hampshire, dates to 1860-80, and was $3900.

Sherryl Cohen of Up Your Attic Antiques, Framingham, Massachusetts, is shown with a crib quilt she had priced at $1650.

Edward Miller (right) of Pioneer Folk Antiques, Ellsworth, Maine, was getting a lot of interest for this whirligig of an officer with a tin cap and nail eyes. It was $975.

This is a closeup of a 1900's farm table offered by Home Farm Antiques for $1200. Dealer Bob Martin said he bought it from the Alsop estate in New York, and the etched names and dates are from when the table was in a Saratoga Springs compound for music students. Home Farm Antiques shows at the Antiques Market Place in Queensbury, New York.

Concord, New Hampshire

by Elizabeth Dinan

The Pickers Market Antiques Show got off to such a brisk start that dealer Pat Martin of Home Farm Antiques, Bolton Landing, New York, said, "It was like fifteen years ago. Smalls were zipping out the door. For the first hour, I couldn't sit down."

The Pickers Market, held in Concord, New Hampshire, on August 10, had a parking lot filled with cars from as far away as Nevada and with lots of New Yorkers. Hosted by Frank Gaglio's Barn Star Productions, the 17th annual show was advertised as introducing "real pickers" and featuring established dealers at the Douglas N. Everett Arena. Barn Star's assistant manager, Lynn Webb, said a line of people waited to get in at the opening. By late afternoon, Webb said, she was almost out of programs.

Martin offered a 20th-century farm table that she had bought at a farmhouse outside Saratoga Springs, New York, that was later converted to a performing arts compound. The names of dozens of former students were carved across the top of the pine table, and it was priced at $1200. "Most of our customers up here are dealers, and that's OK with us," Martin said, with her husband, Bob, by her side.

Barbara Peter of Sayville, New York, described the show as "very good." "It's like the old days," said Peter, who added that baskets, smalls, and Native American items were early sellers. She was hoping to sell an early 1800's pine cupboard with original H-hinges for $1200.

Nick Richey of Hunter Richey Antiques, Selden, New York, was one of the youngest dealers at age 32. "When it comes to early American folk art, I'm really passionate," he said. "When you find a great piece, your heart starts racing." Richey had an 1868 butter churn with side windows from Michigan priced at $2400. He also brought an 1800's Kennebunk, Maine, jeweler's trade sign for $595 and a papier-mâché bait shop sign in two pieces-one a large biting fish and the other a large lure hanging above it. Richey had a primitive squirrel cage with a running wheel and small water bottle for $2200.

Ian Berke came from San Francisco for the show and bought a newel post carved in the likeness of an owl. He was told it had come from a Lake George, New York, house, and he was bringing it back to California to display as sculpture. "I come every year," said Berke, who explained that there aren't a lot of American antiques on the West Coast. Berke wore a T-shirt announcing that he buys carved stone books, and while he didn't find any of those at the Pickers Market, he showed off an alabaster book dated 1898 that he had bought at the Deerfield show.

Barely two hours into the Pickers Market, New Hampshire dealer Doris Marks announced that "a lot is gone." She sold a Boston sled with a horse painted on it to a dealer, so she wouldn't disclose the selling price. One of her favorite items, a gold-on-black trade sign reading "Winona" and signed by John Herbert of Rumney, New Hampshire, remained available for $385. Marks also had some hand-hooked mittens from Maine or Canada, which she guessed were late 1800's, priced at $355. A 19th-century reflector oven that she said she's used to cook chickens was $425.

Mary Elliott of Pepperell, Massachusetts, quickly sold two of three primitive hollowed-log barrels to other dealers for undisclosed prices. A remaining one was marked $750. She said that they had been at a farm in western Massachusetts and that she bought them just three weeks before the Pickers Market. "Each one reflects the tree it once was," she said. Elliott's large carved wood Native American mortar and pestle was getting a lot of attention; it was $545.

Alan R. Pereske Antiques, Lake Placid, New York, had a two-sided "White Birches" camp sign made from birch wood and bark for $1095.

Jeffrey Kenneth Kohn of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, said he was "very busy" early in the show. He brought a collection of folk art violins, 1820-1959, with carved animal and human head caricatures in place of scrolls. A lot came from the South, he said about the violins, which were for sale individually at varied prices. "People pay me not to play," he joked.

Kohn also had a collection of seven dies used to cut leather for baseball gloves from Denkert and Co. of Johns­town, New York, from the 1940's and 1950's. He said the collection had been in a box at home. He priced the collection at $13,500. Kohn said he "chased" the previous owner "for a couple of years until he agreed to sell."

A customer who said he'd just returned from a baseball collectors' show remarked that he'd "never" seen anything like them on the market.

Richard Schneider of the Rathbun Gallery, Wakefield, Rhode Island, was selling a rare pine bench he'd had at home for many years. He described it as featuring old ocher paint of Pennsylvania German origin and with a rectangular crest rail and tapered legs. "It's the only one I've ever seen like this," Schneider said. He had priced it at $2800.

Sandy Klempner of Canaan, New York, had a piece of nail art by Jim Timmons for $800. She relaxed on a 1950's Montgomery Ward couch with an equestrian theme that included yokes on the sides and horses on the upholstery. That vintage find was $1295. A 7' long oil on canvas "Poultry and Dairy Feeds" trade sign from Albany, New York, sold during setup to another dealer, she said.

There was serious interest in an early 20th-century whirligig offered by Edward Miller of Pioneer Folk Antiques, Ellsworth, Maine. Made in the likeness of an officer with a tin hat and nail eyes, the whirligig had an original surface and was $975. Miller also had a fine trade sign for J. Ramsey Watch Repair of Union Street, with no city or town designated, and said he sold "a lot" of signs to other dealers. Miller had a hooked rug featuring a beaver for $825, which he said was found in Manhattan "of all places." He offered a 2' carved wood owl for $675 and a wicker, leather, and seashell purse from Miami for $195.

A red-and-white crib quilt, dated 1903, was priced at $1650 in the booth of Sherryl Cohen of Up Your Attic Antiques, Framingham, Massachusetts. Cohen said she brought items to sell that she's had for a while but had not previously thought of selling. One of those items was a 19th-century oil on board painting of George Washington kneeling in prayer. The unsigned primitive was $1850.

Pastor Michael Koepfer of Tilton, New Hampshire, was selling Civil War items to raise funds for the Lakes Region Youth & Family Foundation. The items included a 1930's Paramount banjo that was owned by his wife's grandfather ($1250) and a Belgian musket with bayonet from the mid-1800's ($725).

Christopher Porte of New York City said his items were "priced to sell." Porte brought a 19th-century oil on canvas "pure folk art" painting with farm animals and "a wonderful Federal building." He said it was found in New Hampshire and has the original gold frame. Dating to the late 1800's, the painting was $3900.

Janet Sherwood of Antiques at 30B brought a 1930's dog show sign with columns for "dogs" and "bitches" on a chalkboard background for keeping scores. With spaces to rate the dogs from first through fourth places, the sign was $1900. Sherwood also brought a 1930's airplane whirligig her husband found in New York. It was $325. Also found by her husband, whom she described as "a pretty good picker," was a 1920's weather-worn flying goose weathervane with traces of gray paint and a copper patch for $1795.

Bill Powell of American Arts, Franklin, Tennessee, brought a host of picked Americana and reported early that he'd sold two weathervanes, a trade sign, and a folk art painting of a fisherman. Still available late in the show was a metal trade sign shaped like a giant pair of scissors for $850, a carnival ball-throwing target for $2600, and a large cast plaster sphinx with women's breasts from the Egyptian Theater in Indianapolis.

For more information, contact Barn Star Productions at (845) 876-0616 or see the Web site (www.barnstar.com).

Nick Richey of Hunter Richey Antiques, Selden, New York, is shown with a papier-mâché fish chasing a wood lure, which served as a sign for a Maine tackle shop in the 1920's or 1930's, he said. The sign was $2750.

Mary Elliott of Pepperell, Massachusetts, sold two of these three log barrels soon after the Pickers Market opened. They sold to dealers, so she declined to disclose the sale prices, but the one to the far right was still available for $750.


Originally published in the October 2012 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2012 Maine Antique Digest
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