Vermont Antiques Week: Weston Antiques Show
October 2nd, 2016
Weston, Vermont
Fall in Vermont has its own allure—foliage, food, festivals—but in-the-know antiquers time their visits with one four-day “weekend” at the end of September/beginning of October when Vermont Antiques Week is held in five different venues: a theater, a ski lodge, another ski lodge, a community center gym, and an ice rink. You may not know exactly where the towns are—Weston, Ludlow, Bondville, and Manchester—but you get out the Vermont map (much more fun than a GPS), get in the car, and drive to southern Vermont.
Vermont features no litter and no billboards. Even the show signs were small and discreet—maybe there were one or two banners. It’s just hills and rolling roads, trees that were beginning to show color this year, cows, church steeples, country stores, maple syrup stands, very few traffic lights, and rivers, creeks, and streams filled with granite chunks, some with water levels so low you could walk from one side to the other atop the rocks and not even get your feet wet.
Held this year from September 29 to October 2, the one-, two-, and three-day shows offered a harvest of knowledgeable dealers, colorful, eclectic merchandise, and food for thought and for consumption.
The first show, as always, is the Weston Antiques Show, held in the Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont, across from the village green and the famous Vermont Country Store, where samples of cheese and crackers, cookies and candy, and dips and spreads are plentiful. (Dig in; no one is counting.)
The Weston Playhouse two hours before the preview.
The view of the stage and playhouse seats from the second floor. Note that no space goes to waste.
The playhouse is above and adjacent to a stream and waterfall where in 2011 a hurricane’s torrential rains reached far north and west from the coast. Since there are many rivers and streams in Vermont along roads, and roads lead to towns and villages in valleys between the hills, the water damage was significant. About five weeks before the Weston show that year, the Weston Playhouse had water up to the ceiling on the lower floor, and volunteers tried as best they could to salvage some interior rooms and objects. Would the show even go on? Thanks to the locals, it continued uninterrupted for its 58th season.
This year the preview was on Thursday night, September 29, and the crowd was mainly social and hungry. The huge shrimp and other goodies were quickly consumed, and some sales were made as well. The 33 dealers, many of them longtime repeaters—this is one of those shows where if you get in, you usually stay in—came from New England, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Illinois, and South Carolina. One was actually from Vermont.
Dealers Danny and Carrie Klebe of Colebrook, New Hampshire, in front of their $1450 Pennsylvania decorated blanket chest. They began collecting about ten years ago, and they were new to the show.
Setting up for his 16th year was Robert Perry of Orchard Park, New York, with his mother.
The flavor is formal, but some folk art and country could be found on one of the three levels of the building. The layouts are a bit challenging, as some have small rooms and others have a stage, and yet others have wide open central areas, with one including a porch. Dealers adapt and shine. Sales did not seem to be strong overall, but some exhibitors sold well. An interesting comment from one of them: “We used to sell to speculators; now we sell to just users.” What this means is that often dealers would buy on spec as they thought they could get more for an object than the current owner/dealer was asking, so they bought. Today, buyers are users—they need to find a table, chair, bench, or bed because they are in need of one for themselves or for someone else.
A glossy show program reminds all of the efforts made to make the show a success and benefit the historic preservation of the playhouse itself. The show ran for two days, September 30 and October 1.
For more information, check the website (www.WestonAntiquesShow.org).
New England Home Antiques, Wethersfield, Massachusetts, featured this nicely upholstered 1700s Continental chair for $850.
White & White Antiques, Skaneateles, New York, always sets up an attractive and colorful booth. The English Chippendale mahogany chest-on-chest was $3850; the Queen Anne birdcage tilt-top table, $895; and the four-piece English silver tea set, $2850.
Wilmont Schwind of Yarmouth, Maine, sat in his armchair before the preview began. He reminisced about the 2011 flood that was right outside the window and what a great job the locals did to clean up the playhouse in time for the antiques show held four weeks later that year. The English sideboard, 1790-1810, was $6800 and made of mahogany satinwood; the New England portrait, 29" x 25", was $2500; the Sheraton stand, $575; and a four-panel Japanese screen, 24" x 48", $2200.
James Gallagher of North Norwich, New York, without his lifetime partner, Ruth Zager, who passed away recently, carried on with the usual quality and tasteful display they are known for.
Witt’s End Antiques, Wallkill, New York, showed more formal furniture, including a Rhode Island tall chest for $4575 and a New Hampshire Queen Anne tiger maple flat-top highboy, a marriage, for $2800.
Originally published in the December 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest
