Country Antiques and Americana
June 1st, 2019
Heartland Antiques Show, Richmond, Indiana
The Heartland Antiques Show held its 30th annual summer gathering on June 1 in Richmond, Indiana. The event featured 80 dealers from 17 states, according to Jennifer Sabin, who manages the event.
Although the show has remained at the Wayne County Fairgrounds since its inception, there have been considerable changes over the years. Size is the most noticeable. When the show debuted on June 2, 1990, it featured 150 exhibitors from 15 states. An article in the Richmond Palladium-Item that day noted some of those sellers and what they carried: Evan Sommerfeld, American and European smalls; Helen Swan, early American furniture and accessories; Jack Pritchard, paintings; Tom Moser, nautical art and watercolors; Karen Graves, southern pieces; the Shaffers and R.M. Spiecker, 18th-century furnishings; Marge and Bob Piper, folk art, fine art, and early Indian jewelry; Dee Wilhelm, lighting; and Susie and Rich Burmann (no specialty listed). Other dealers were said to offer toys, sporting memorabilia, advertising, vintage clothing, iron, decoys, baskets, and stoneware.
Milk bottle in painted wood, from a dairy in Litchfield, Connecticut, made to look as if it’s pouring, $395; two metal corbels, Illinois origin, $385 the pair; sun made of metal, overall rust, $395, sold early in the show; painted pantry boxes in a variety of colors, $100 each from Tim and Charline Chambers of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Missouri.
The first show used a large tent, two livestock buildings, and outdoor spaces.
Despite challenges the first year, including Sabin’s concerns that the new venture was going to be more than she and her family could handle, Heartland worked. At one point the show grew to 200 dealers. Livestock buildings were abandoned, as were the tent and outdoor booths. Dealers were moved into one modern building, then into a second, before the shrinking number of participants led Sabin to consolidate everyone under one roof.
Several dealers have set up at all 30 summer shows, including Fred and Helen Henderson of Sharpsville, Indiana. This year’s event also marked another milestone, the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary.
Also selling at every June Heartland have been Tim and Charline Chambers of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Missouri. Tim credits Sabin and the show for giving him his start in the antiques business. Although he had previously displayed at a small show in Missouri, the June 1990 Heartland show was a different matter.
“It was a perfect show for us to learn the business,” he said. “There were major dealers. It was a very formative thing. Now shows are so homogenized.”
Missouri Plain Folk has always specialized in country antiques and Americana, which is the lifeblood of Heartland. “It was always country. I’ve never veered off the path,” Tim said. “Country is an art form. And it’s art that sells now.”
Tramp art: birdcage, circa 1900, 25" x 27" x 11½", offered for the first time, $850; small box (left), $90; small box on pedestal, white paint, $40 from Patricia Somers of Upper Maumee Valley Antiques, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Somers said that years ago she had a different birdcage in her inventory, and a man brought a canary to her shop because he wanted to make sure the bird liked the cage. Apparently the canary found it acceptable, as the customer made the purchase.
The demand for Americana still resonates at Heartland. “The market is strong. The problem is just finding the stuff,” Tim added.
“It’s been a fun ride. I’m slowing down and don’t want to quit. As long as it’s fun, I’m going to be here,” he said.
Although the number of dealers at Heartland has declined, the show remains true to its mission, offering quality country antiques from highly regarded dealers from across the United States. Sabin is pleased with the product, saying that the show is stable.
She spoke highly of the show’s customers. “We have a dedicated crowd. The attendees are motivated, educated. They understand what they are looking at and have specific interests. The customers have an appreciation for 
the show.”
The June event has spawned a number of other Heartland shows over the years. Shows in Maryland and more recently in Hilliard, Ohio, have fallen by the wayside, but a November show in Richmond remains.
The latter will move in a new direction this year, as Sabin is partnering with promoter Doug Supinger for the first time.
However, even after three decades, it’s the June show that still gives Heartland its identity.
For more information, phone (843) 812-0282 or visit (www.heartlandantiqueshow.com).
“Red Cross Stoves & Ranges / F.C. Bowen, Ellicottville, N.Y.” sign, painted wood, late 19th century, $395; Calumet half-size regulator clock, $895; Coca-Cola clock, Keystone Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc., Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, $895; Old Coon Cigars advertising clock, Huntoon & Gorham Co., Providence, Rhode Island, $850 from Sharon Kempfer of Apple Blossom Antiques, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Cabinet card showing “Hazel, The World Famous Mind Reader,” $290 from Scott and Beth Brasseur of Prospect, Pennsylvania. The Brasseurs offered a variety of historical Americana, from broadsides to stereoviews, that isn’t typical for Heartland but fit in well at the show.
Butler’s desk in walnut and maple, 63¾" x 59¼", $4975 from Rick and Becky Coffin of Country Folks Antiques, Ludington, Michigan, and Dave Albert of Richmond, Indiana. The piece features a carved fish with a glass eye, a variety of inlaid shapes, and carved half columns in two different styles.
Painting of the steamer Jefferson by Antonio Jacobsen (1850-1921), with an affixed plate noting that the ship was part of the “Old Dominion Line / New York & Virginia,” oil on canvas, signed and dated 1914, 19" x 35", $7950 from Thomas M. Rawson Antiques, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Cobalt-decorated stoneware crock and lid, impressed with the name “Mrs S A Eddy” and having birds and stars, $16,500 from Greg K. Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Pennsylvania.
Horse painting signed “F. Durham,” oil on canvas, 29" x 39½", said to have come from Indiana, with a repair by the tail, $1550 from Doug Supinger of Troy, Ohio.
Tall-case clock, unusual skinny form, blue paint, wooden works, from Wisconsin, 7'10" high, replaced hands, $1395 from Fred Henderson of Sharpsville, Indiana.
Ladder-back rocking chair in blue paint with red striping, circa 1850, $410; Pennsylvania meal bin in original mustard paint decoration, from their home and offered for the first time, $750 from David and Cheryl Craig of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Blue and white Indiana coverlet by Gabriel, Joseph, or William Gilmore, the sailboat corner block dated 1839, $495 from Marie Miller Antique Quilts, Dorset, Vermont.
Sampler, Portage County, Ohio, $950; bird tree, $220; paint-decorated box, $295; blown glass pan, New Geneva, Pennsylvania, $950; swirl bottle, possibly New Geneva, $290; demijohn, $195; paint-decorated chest of drawers, believed to be of Pennsylvania origin, $1250 from Judson and Karen Fults of Signature Antiques N Art, Lakeview, Ohio.
Cupboard in a folky paint decoration, $495; wire basket, $45; redware crock, $95 from Shane Hawkins of Log House Antiques, Cambridge City, Indiana.
Painted wood signs: “Reasonable Rates,” $475; “Boarding & Lodging,” $98; “Keep Off Flying Field,” $450; and “Blueberries,” $175 from Carol Workman of Workman Antiques, Murray, Kentucky.
Two paintings of rat terriers by Edward Armfield (English, 1817-1896), oil on canvas, 15" x 23" each, $3595 the pair from Inez Allen and Nan Donovan of City Mouse Country Mouse Antiques, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Diorama of the North American, a passenger ship that ran between Duluth, Minnesota, and Chicago, 1910-15, in a case measuring 16½" x 24", $1695 from Scott Lippert of Dexter, Michigan.
“A Map of the United States,” needlework on silk, 1810-20, 16¾" x 16", $5200 from Bruce Rigsby of Lancaster, Kentucky.
“Cigars” metal sign, $350; two toucans, painted wood, $125 the pair; small game wheel, $175; large game wheel, $395 from Nancy and Craig Cheney of Mansfield, Ohio.
Large knockdown doll, 22½" high, $365; salesman’s sample stepladder from Bauer Mfg. Co., Wooster, Ohio, 11½" high, $350; game board, $345 from Daryl and Colleen Alpers of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Originally published in the September 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2019 Maine Antique Digest
