Nobody Complained on the Way Out

David Hewett | October 6th, 2012

Jan Whitlock of Jan Whitlock Textiles, West Chester, Pennsylvania, has recently written a book with Tracy Jamar, American Sewn Rugs: Their History with Exceptional Examples, in which she explains that sewn rugs should not be considered synonymous with the homier and utilitarian hooked rugs of the 19th and 20th centuries. Like the samplers and needlework pictures sometimes made in female academies, sewn rugs were made as an expression of skill and artistry. This 9" x 14½" example is atop a four-legged stool or cricket and is held in place by a thin flat metal band neatly nailed around the perimeter. It was priced at $12,500.

Stephen and Carol Huber of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, offer excellent fabric pictures, samplers, memorial pictures, and other similar items, but they also carry first-rate reference material, some of which is shown below the framed piece. The 20¾" x 16½" English needlework picture, circa 1750, depicts a lady reclining in a setting featuring trees and flowers, birds and butterflies, a little dog, and a boy offering a plate of fruit. It was $12,000.

Deerfield, Massachusetts

Nobody Complained on the Way Out

by David Hewett

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: the annual ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show in Deerfield, Massachusetts, is the best antiques show north of New York City. It may have been pure serendipity that landed the show in the sports building on the grounds of Historic Deerfield, but it was a marriage made in heaven.

This show puts a carefully chosen group of dealers and their vetted wares into an atmosphere reeking with everything visitors associate with autumn and New England—apples and corn stalks, cider and farmers' stands, neatly dressed Deerfield Academy prep-school students in white shirts, ties, and blazers, aged oaks and maples with leaves falling—all on the Columbus Day weekend.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, made their way into the tiny town of Deerfield over the weekend of October 6 and 7, 2012, to pay their way into antiques heaven. Karen DiSaia manages the show and, with her husband, Ralph, runs their Oriental Rugs Ltd. booth and keeps all under control. The only complaint heard on the floor was that it was too darn hot inside on Saturday, but that's something DiSaia could not control.

Exhibitors, all 47 of them members of the ADA (Antiques Dealers' Association of America), filled the spacious room with material that had been scrutinized by the vetting groups. One exhibitor, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke about their visit to his booth.

"I've got lots of years of experience in this business," he said, "but I learned something I didn't know about what I sell from their vetting. They took their time and were very thorough. What you put on your tag has to be absolutely accurate. They check it out thoroughly. I have to say that I benefited from their examination."

What's the ADA? Its Web site answers that question: "Membership is composed of professional antiques dealers who are dedicated to integrity, honesty and ethical conduct in the antiques trade. To be accepted, dealers must have a minimum of four years' experience in the trade, be recommended by a committee of peers and must sign a certification agreeing to abide by the bylaws of ADA."

Karen DiSaia said the attendance was really good this year "especially on Saturday. There was a lot of noise on the floor all day." That is a very telling comment. Anyone who has visited a show where there is no selling going on can relate to that. There's the silence of a funeral at those kinds of events.

The Historic Deerfield organization has five corporate sponsors, and complimentary tickets were given to all of them. That probably introduced some new customers to antiques.

While we were there on Saturday morning, we saw at least two way-above-average chairs sell, one just under $15,000, the other a bit under $20,000, and there was more. A last walk-through in the early afternoon revealed that Axtell Antiques sold a red-painted hanging country cupboard; Van Tassel/Baumann American Antiques sold a sampler; and Stephen-Douglas Antiques sold a Chelmsford, Massachusetts, banister-back armchair and a sampler.

Joan Brownstein sold a circa 1820 portrait of Jane Dodge, in a blue dress, with a tortoiseshell comb in her hair, by the Wilkinson Limner. Peter Eaton sold a New Hampshire 18th-century maple and birch oval-top stretcher-base tavern table that had been in a private collection since 1957. Don Olson sold a multi-drawer painted apothecary. The Snyders sold a Queen Anne North Shore Massachusetts stretcher-base table in red. Arthur Liverant sold an early chair and a 1770-95 Connecticut cherry candlestand attributed to the Chapin school of cabinetmakers.

A few days after the show closed, we asked Karen DiSaia for an overall assessment of the show's success. She replied, "Some great stuff sold on Saturday, but as for overall, I can only note that nobody complained on the way out. Sometimes that is very telling."

It's the one show a serious collector cannot afford to miss. By the way, dealers say the ADA guarantee really does help sell antiques.

For more information, call (203) 364-9913 or visit the Web site (www.adadealers.com).

Pam Boynton and Martha Boynton of Groton, Massachusetts, brought a lithographed toy stable with horses, cows, chickens, and a figure of a man. Made by the Bliss Company of Germany around 1880, it was tagged $1400.

Daniel and Karen Olson of Newburgh, New York, showed the Pennsylvania walnut tea table with birdcage mechanism below its 33" x 34" top, priced at $1250. The black-painted Windsors were $595 the pair.

Lewis W. Scranton of Killingworth, Connecticut, brought a uniquely New England rarity, an early 19th-century chair spinning wheel (a spinning wheel built on a chair frame), 49" tall. Scranton told us, "This has been in my barn for ages and descended in my mother's family. The form is known locally as a Connecticut chair wheel, also a Guilford chair wheel, and that's where this one came from." It sold to a Maine collector two days after the show closed.

Jesse Goldberg of Artemis Gallery, North Salem, New York, said porcelain from Philadelphia's Tucker factory perfectly complements Federal furniture. Beginning in 1826, it was the only porcelain made in America until the middle of that century. Prices for these examples run from $3500 to $5000, and if this interests you, Goldberg said he has more of them in his inventory.

Ron and Joyce Bassin of A Bird In Hand Antiques, Florham Park, New Jersey, offered this remnant of a carved and painted wooden red fox, late 19th century, 29" long, for $4500.

No, not inlaid, the graining is all paint-applied. Shown by Stephen-Douglas Antiques, Rockingham, Vermont, the New England secretary, ex-Stewart Gregory collection, was made around 1830. The simulated wood graining is very strong, especially around the door panels. The overall condition is excellent, and the 77½" x 31" secretary was priced at $17,500.

John Keith Russell Antiques, Inc., South Salem, New York, showed Shaker rarities in superb condition. The rare circa 1830 iron stove with hand-wrought detail, the legs attached by sliding dovetails, attributed to the Hancock Bishopric, was $4500. The circa 1840 chrome yellow wood box, 20" high x 30" wide with handles made by basket makers, was $7500. The circa 1830 Watervliet hand-wrought fire tools were $1850.

Fiske + Freeman: Fine and Early Antiques, Ipswich, Massachusetts, specialize in fine English furniture. They showed some lovely examples here. The oak Bible box at top, 25" long, dates from around 1675 and was $1350. The circa 1585 English oak coffer, 48" long, featuring scrollwork-filled lime, a soft and easily carved material used by turners and carvers, a rarely found element, was $4250.