Antiques in Vermont Closes Vermont Antiques Week
David Hewett | October 7th, 2012
|
Shown by Bob Jessen and Jim Hohnwald of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, an 1827-dated ink and watercolor bookplate with the motto “Steal not this Book for fear of shame for in it is my name,” 4½" x 6¾", was $975.
Offered by Martin Webster of West Branch Antiques, Delhi, New York, an attractive circa 1940 hooked rug, 44" x 60", priced at $2400.
Bill Quinn of Alna, Maine, offered the small (24" high x 35" long) Adirondack settee for $945. The painted tin creel was $575, and the decoy, $185. |
Manchester Center, Vermont
Antiques in Vermont Closes Vermont Antiques Week
by David Hewett
Tim Stevenson and Phyllis Carlson’s Antiques in Vermont show in Manchester Center on October 7, 2012, brought the five-shows-in-four-days Vermont Antiques Week tour to an end.
Catching early buying at all of the events is a bit of a chore for the less fit. First there is the gala preview at the Weston Playhouse at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 4; then it’s on to the northeast for the 3 p.m. show opening at the Okemo Mountain ski resort in Ludlow on Friday and a wait for the 7 p.m. show opening at a high school gym on the other side of Ludlow that evening; then southwest to Peru for the Bromley Mountain show in a ski lodge at 8 a.m. on Saturday; and then farther southwest to Manchester Center for the mega-show at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
The 77 dealers on the floor of the Riley Rink sports facility at Hunter Park in Manchester Center for the Carlson and Stevenson event had as wide an array of offerings as at any of the other shows. It’s a no-frills show, with most exhibitors putting up a table or two and some pegboard for display purposes. The big, flat floor has room for as many exhibitors who sign up, and exhibitors love it because it’s an easy-in, easy-out space that keeps setup and pack-out time to a minimum.
“We had an increase in the early buyers this year, and the overall numbers were up too,” Carlson reported from somewhere on the road while on the way to yet another show, this time in Illinois at Antiques + Modernism Winnetka, managed by the Antiques Council.
“It’s amazing how popular the [Vermont] show has become,” Carlson continued. “We close at four, and there were people still showing up at the doors at three-thirty. It wasn’t fair to take their money, so we told them to come back, but earlier, next year.”
There were many antiques seekers on the floor during the time we were there, and we got to talk with an English dealer who combined the Vermont hunt for new stock with a vacation.
Terry Sparks of Red Lane Antiques does business in The Cotswolds, an area west-northwest of London. He had hit all the shows, beginning with the one in Weston, and found it was difficult to find the stuff he was seeking this time.
“Two years ago I did very well over here,” he said. “We spent ten days picking and found a lot of treen and smalls, but this year is much tougher. We’re looking for glass and ceramic lots and find the prices here are sometimes higher than they are at home.”
Interestingly enough, when we mentioned his observation to Carlson, she said she’d spoken with several dealers who had made buying trips to Great Britain, and they came back with similar reports.
The big news that Carlson passed on is that the couple will have a new show at the Riley Rink in July 2013, and it will be an outdoor event. We don’t have the official date yet, but stay tuned. If it meets the same response as their October happening, it promises to be a popular venue.
For more information, contact Carlson and Stevenson at (802) 236-2342; Web site (www.carlsonandstevenson.com).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joseph M. Moffitt of Scarsdale, New York, had this interesting array of stoneware bottles for beverages such as ginger beer and California pop beer. The bottles bore dates from 1852 to 1889 and were priced from $140 to $380 each.
David Thompson of South Dennis, Massachusetts, found the circa 1900 wooden swordfish weathervane figure inside, not on, a barn on Cape Cod. It’s 31" from tip to tail and cost $995.
Painted Pony Antiques, Mendham, New Jersey, asked $50 each for the 8" high dark brown glazed Ohio stoneware water fountains for chickens.
Exhibitor Colleen Kinloch of Laurel, Maryland, and Bristol, Maine, said, “There is energy here this year. Everybody is anxious to buy and appears very knowledgeable.” She sold a bucket bench, a small cupboard, the country bench, and the pretty maple table with shaped leaves, which was fresh from a home in Massachusetts.
One doesn’t often see a set of six Maine paint-decorated clothespin-/arrow-back Windsor armchairs, especially with paint decoration this good. Anita Holden of Sherman, Connecticut, pointed out that for a long time they must have been owned by a family of three, because three seats show more wear than the others. She asked $7900 for the six.Originally published in the January 2013 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2013 Maine Antique Digest
