New Show in Saratoga Springs Sparkles
Betty Flood | October 10th, 2012
Tramp art specialist Clifford Wallach of Manalapan, New Jersey, featured a tramp art desk, $7500; a large mirror, $2400; a small mirror, $550; a lighthouse, $1295; and a gilded dressing table with a regal stand, $5800.
Charles Washburne Antiques, Solebury, Pennsylvania, had two large Minton majolica shells for $7885; two round majolica platters on the wall, $14,875; a reindeer; bird vases; a large swan with cattails; and a majolica covered dish.
Bill Shaeffer of Glyndon, Maryland, and Elinor Penna of Old Westbury, New York, shared a booth filled with Staffordshire of the highest quality in all shapes and sizes.
Katherine Stevens of Huntington, New York, offered a collection of boxes, including a tortoiseshell oval box, $180; a hexagon quill box, $3000; a mahogany tea caddy with mother-of-pearl inlay, $600; another tea caddy, $695; a larger brass box, $750; a mahogany tea caddy with inlay, circa 1799, $1250; a Coromandel wood tea caddy with brass key inlay and satinwood interior, $1250; an unusual tea caddy with brass trim, $1050; and a mahogany tea caddy with shell inlay, $845 (not all shown). |
Saratoga Springs, New York
by Betty Flood
At the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, promoter Frank Gaglio produced his first-ever antiques show in the Spa City. The July 27-29 show was a rainbow of colors with a combination of antiques, art, and jewelry. Eyes sparkled when they saw the quality of the antiques on display and the equestrian exhibit located at the center of the show.
There were not as many patrons gracing the inaugural show as many would have liked. Gaglio said his estimate was about 900 people over three days, but the majority of dealers did well, some extremely well; they thanked him and said they would definitely come back.
"We tried to create an entrance that was going to be appealing. We had the flowers on the pedestals, and the minute you walked in, you saw the variety of material. You saw a jewelry dealer; you saw a furniture dealer; you saw a paintings dealer. We wanted people, the minute they walked in the door, to be entranced with the variety of material. That is why we had those booths facing the front. We deliberately created an entranceway that would suck people in," Gaglio said.
Minnie Bolster, who has promoted shows in Saratoga Springs for the past 30 years, said she sent a note to Gaglio saying that she had been to antiques shows from Maine to Florida and many places in between, and "I have never seen a more beautiful show-everything was A-1, and the dealers were all very friendly, which is important. I hope it went well and that you will want to come back."
Elinor Penna of Old Westbury, Long Island, New York, who specializes in Staffordshire, said she sold four small (6") horses but not a horse with jockey. "I also sold some circus animals and a fox head stirrup cup." Unfortunately for Penna, her van was robbed Saturday night, and thieves made off with about $2300 in stolen property, including five circa 1850 Staffordshire dogs worth roughly $1300, as well as other antiques, two Chanel bags, and even her swimsuit.
"Interestingly, Sunday was one of our best days," said Gaglio. "There was a buzz, and you could barely hear the music over the conversations people were having with the dealers, and the dealers will verify that. Sunday, people came back-they made up their minds. A museum bought a painting for twenty-five hundred dollars. The representative came on Friday and came back on Sunday because he got the funds approved. He bought the painting from R and S [Ruth and Stephen] Dube. If Friday and Saturday were like Sunday, we would have been golden."
One change Gaglio said he might make is to cut back on some of the smaller print advertising and focus on putting that money into cable advertising such as Your News Now (YNN), a 24-hour cable news station. "I have already spoken with the hotel [at the City Center] about a new date for next year. When people were packing up, they were coming up and thanking me for the hard work and for the facility. Some dealers said, 'We did not do as well as we had hoped, but if you do this show again, we will be back.' And that is very encouraging.
"First of all, it is a brand-new show in a city that has a well-established calendar of events. That calendar of events basically revolves around the racetrack and the other ancillary events-parties, the naming events, and the backstretch committees. Given that, we ran an enormous amount of advertising from Syracuse to the Berkshires, and not just print, we did Internet advertising.
"We also have partners that work with us on the advertising. For instance, there was an auction on Saturday with North Peak Auctions. I called the auctioneer, and we aligned him as one of our show sponsors. He put a link on his Web site to my show, and I did the same. I gave him a link to his auction from my Web site. We had signage throughout the community, all the way up Lake Street and the road coming into Saratoga Springs. There were really no gaps in what we were doing. We were doing anything and everything to get the word out.
"One of the tasks that we have ahead of us is to collate the ads that came in because each ad that each person ripped and brought in for a discount, each one of the ads had the name of the paper on it. We are going to collate the comp tickets and find out where they came from."
A promoter who spent 35 years in a booth selling antiques, Gaglio said that if a manager did not show concern for the dealers, then he "never went back. I pride myself on being a promoter that is on the floor of that show from the minute that show opens to the minute it closes. What people are saying is, the appeal is there, and it is worth trying again."
For more information, contact Barn Star Productions at (845) 876-0616 or visit the Web site (www.barnstar.com).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Woody Straub is all smiles, as he should be, with his carousel horse made by Charles Dare, circa 1875, with its trademark marble eyes and in original finish. It was $4200. |
Home Farm Antiques, Bolton Landing, New York, had a lovely painting on linen, Pointer on the Job by Kirron, 1904, for $380; a 19th-century sawbuck table, $955; a 19th-century sled in original paint, $975; and a salesman's sample of a riding boot, $175.
Thomas G. Degnan of Antiques at Pompey Hollow LLC, Ashford, Connecticut, showed a joint stool with a drawer for $5750. The stool was accented with an elmwood burl bowl for $5800.
Pat Frazer of Vintage Couture Jewelry, Easton, Connecticut, had a wonderful variety of vintage jewelry ranging in price from $125 to $1500.
Thirteenth Colony Arts, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, and Michael Tuccori Antiques, Harrisonburg, Virginia, offered a pond yacht at $550 and a walnut miniature Virginia blanket chest at $4800.
The Frylings offered a sign, "Hoffa Lumber Yard" from Reading, Pennsylvania, for $2200; a horse weathervane, $750; and a fall-front desk, $2800.
Howard Price II of Howard Price Fine Art, Panama City, Panama, and New York City, had a wonderful collection of Panamanian baskets ranging in price from $200 to $3500. Most were $650 to $1125.
Find Weatherly offered a painted dower chest with a painting on the underside of the lid, 1800-10, from Kennebunk, Maine, for $5400.
Tom Baker of Baker & Co. Antiques, Soquel, California, featured a New Hampshire hooked rug with horse, $2500; a small hooked rug of a house, $295; a Pennsylvania quilt and pattern block, $225; a sampler, circa 1818, $495; a handled Taconic splint basket in red, $685; an 18th-century trivet, $325; a late 19th-century penny rug, $650; and a grain-painted blanket chest, circa 1820, $2150. Originally published in the October 2012 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2012 Maine Antique Digest
