The American Antiques Show 2009

New York City

by Lita Solis-Cohen

The initials TAAS stand for The American Antiques Show, but among old-time collectors it is known as the Folk Art Show, because it benefits the American Folk Art Museum. It grew out of the Folk Art Museum Show launched by museum director Robert Bishop (1938-1991) and show promoter Sanford "Sandy" Smith at the Seventh Regiment Armory in 1979, moving to the Passenger Piers in 1980. It is now at the Metropolitan Pavilion and was held January 22-25.

There still is a lot of folk art, painted furniture, country gear, and a smattering of Outsider art by self-taught artists at TAAS, but this year more formal furniture was sold at the show than country furniture. In fact, more furniture was sold at TAAS than at any of the other of the shows in New York City during Americana Week.

Gary Sullivan of Sharon, Massachusetts, showing at TAAS for the first time, said he hadn't done a show in 15 years. He has been selling quietly for 30 years, increasing capacity and quality over time. He has also been working on a book with Winterthur scholar Brock Jobe and with Jack O'Brien (assisted by others). Released in March by University Press of New England, it's called Harbor & Home: Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710-1850, which is the subject of the furniture exhibition at Winterthur from March 21-May 25 (and then traveling).

At TAAS Sullivan sold two tall-case clocks, a Lancaster musical clock that plays five tunes, two banjo clocks, a Philadelphia bracket clock by Griffith Owen, two 18th-century card tables (one made in Newport), a pair of Federal knife boxes, a tea caddy, and a group of mid-19th-century brass clock-making tools that will be used to decorate a collector's library shelf. All the sales were to private collectors or to agents for collectors.

Peter Eaton of Newbury, Massachusetts, sold seven pieces of 18th-century New England furniture with clean lines and rich old surfaces. His wife, Joan Brownstein, sold 23 items, including a theorem painting, a theorem-decorated family register, miniatures on ivory, and a collection of 15 pieces of 20th-century art pottery by Edwin and Mary Scheier. The pots all went to one person. "I have been collecting the Scheiers' pottery for three years, and it is only the third time I have taken it to a show, but two of the three times I sold it as a collection," said Brownstein.

Jesse Goldberg of Artemis Gallery, North Salem, New York, was showing at TAAS for the second time. He sold three pieces of Federal furniture and said he has interest from decorators in several others.

The fact that the offerings at the auctions were meager this year and that prices at the Winter Antiques Show were high brought collectors to TAAS. Here they found things reasonably priced and decided they might never again get a chance to buy them. While some collectors said they feared that dealers may have held things back, not wanting to expose them in this uncertain economic climate, most of the dealers said they brought the best they could muster.

"Can't sell it if you don't bring it out," said Allan Katz, folk art dealer of Woodbridge, Connecticut. "If it is really terrific, exposure doesn't hurt."

The fact that people came and bought was good news. Katz said he made half a dozen sales. Among them were a child's sled in the form of a boat, a staff with a gold snake from an Odd Fellows lodge, and a large sculptural sand toy that reminded him of the constructions of John Scholl (1827-1916), a Pennsylvania folk artist.

Gemini Antiques, Oldwick, New Jersey, toy and folk art dealers, also sold well. Early at the preview they made two six-figure sales-a paint-decorated corner cupboard from the Machmer sale and a small (15¾" x 14½") folk portrait of a child with a rattle, attributed to William Thompson Bartoll, dated 1838. The painting remained in its original frame and was once owned by the legendary collector Bernard "Barney" Barenholtz. It is pictured in Barenholtz's book American Antique Toys and had been sold at Sotheby's at the Barenholtz estate sale in January 1990 for $26,400.

For some dealers the show was hit or miss, but nearly everyone sold something. Some left happy, and others did not make expenses.

"I did amazingly well. I was pleasantly surprised," said Stella Rubin of Darnestown, Maryland. "I sold a lot of quilts-more than I have in years-in the six-hundred to ten-thousand-dollar price range to collectors and to decorators. This is not the time for bling; it is a time to be cozy, to buy American."

Rubin noted that certain people usually seen at this show were missing this year, but those who came were amenable to buying. "I heard much more talk about Obama and the new administration than I did about financial woes. I think the optimism of the inauguration carried over. People seemed to think, this is as bad as it is going to get, and, realizing they were not going to be on the street selling apples, they decided to live a little and buy something."

Rubin said she had not heard that the Obamas are sleeping in a tiger maple bed. Perhaps they need a king-size American quilt?

Barry Briskin, cochair of the show, said he walked away from the event completely surprised at how successful it was. "The attendance at the preview party was off-we knew it would be-but on our public days attendance was hardly off at all. I went into this show thinking we are going to choke on this, but we did make money, not as much as we usually do, but we have a $175,000 to $200,000 profit to support our educational programming."

Briskin lauded show manager Karen DiSaia for carrying it off so calmly and finding new dealers who were good additions. The early lectures by curators were not well attended, but the explorer's trip on Friday to private collections was deemed a success, and people came to the appraisal day. More gratifying was the large crowd that came on the weekend to shop and the fact that buying continued until closing time on Sunday and into the week that followed.

The pictures and captions tell more and illustrate some things that sold and some that are still available.

For more information about the museum and the show, see (www.folkartmuseum.org) or (www.theamericanantiquesshow.org).

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