The Okemo Antique Show
September 28th, 2018
Ludlow, Vermont
The calendar was no friend to this year’s Okemo Antique Show, held at the Mountain Lodge of the Okemo ski resort in Ludlow, Vermont.
The slate of five Vermont shows traditionally occurs just before and during the first weekend in October, with the last event occurring on the first Sunday in October. Every six years, that weekend conflicts with Columbus Day, as was the case this year.
The polychrome zinc countertop figure of a black gambler, 30¾" high, was once a cigar dispenser. Harold Cole and Bettina Krainin of Woodbury, Connecticut, and Wiscasset, Maine, asked $12,000 for it.
Longtime M.A.D. reporter David Hewett and his wife, Janna, attended the Okemo show.
The 19th-century candlestand with a painted game board top was $950 from Erik D. Wohl of Jupiter, Florida.
Steve Sherhag (left) and Kris Johnson before the Okemo Antique Show opened. They now run three of the five Vermont Antiques Week shows.
Columbus Day presented a thorny problem. Barn Star Productions’ Antiques at Rhinebeck in Rhinebeck, New York, was being held on Columbus Day, setting up a conflict for dealers and collectors. Steve Sherhag and Kris Johnson, promoters of three of the five Vermont Antiques Week shows, didn’t want to move their shows a week earlier but did so in order to avoid the conflict and keep all the Vermont shows together. The Weston show (see p. 14-B) also moved forward a week.
It turned out to be a bad move. Johnson said that although Okemo’s 2 p.m. opening on September 28 exceeded last year’s event, the second day of the show was “a little softer.” Johnson figured overall attendance was off about 10%. “We might have left 150 to 200 people on the table with the move,” Johnson said.
The knuckle-arm Windsor is full height, according to Thomas R. Longacre of Marlborough, New Hampshire. There’s no restoration, and it’s in original black paint. The 18th-century chair, probably Rhode Island, was $2300. “It’s very clean. The best I’ve had in two years. There’s nothing to apologize about,” he said.
The child’s Windsor in original paint decoration, 1820-40, was $1250 from Jeff Pudlinski of County Seat Antiques, Litchfield, Connecticut. It was found in West Hartford, Connecticut.
The hatbox in four colors was $850 from Thomas and Beverly Longacre. The kicker is the lid lining—the April 8, 1843, Saturday Courier from Philadelphia, “A Family Newspaper: Neutral in Politics and Religion,” which includes the fantastic graphic with the “Sketch of the Life of General Pike.”
Daniel and Karen Olson of Newburgh, New York, attributed this portrait to Joseph Whiting Stock (1815-1855) and asked $14,000 for the 1845 oil on canvas. It sold. The dog is great.
The opening crowd was ready.
Sherhag said he heard from several retail buyers after the shows had closed, upset that the shows had moved up a week. Many had made plans and hotel reservations, sometimes months in advance, only to find that there was no show. According to Sherhag, the date change will not happen again. “Regardless of what happens, we are always going to be in the first weekend in October,” he said.
There is a history of the shows moving but in the other direction. In 2012, the last time that Columbus Day was a conflict, the Vermont shows ran on their traditional dates and conflicted directly with the ADA/Historic Deerfield show in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The ADA show is no longer a competing event; it has moved to later in October. The 2012 Rhinebeck show, under different management, occurred one weekend later, on October 13 and 14. The year before, 2011, the Rhinebeck show was held during the Columbus Day weekend.
“We did see new people, ones that have never attended Vermont Week,” said Johnson. “But some of the old groups that used to come—the move alienated them.”
Johnson also said, “People were buying. I don’t consider this year a failure at all. We had a lot of satisfied dealers.”
The “Paul R. Schmeiske / Custom Tailor” trade sign, 1860-70, was $1400 from Nancy Fishelson of Orchard Park, New York. The late 19th-century peafowl carving was $700. The tilt-top French wine tasting table (center) was $1800, and the wing chairs were $3200 the pair.
The Okemo show featured almost the same lineup as last year, with only a couple of changes due to illness. “We don’t have a lot of turnover,” said Johnson. The dealers brought a variety of goods—mostly in the country genre—and Johnson and Sherhag had nothing to apologize for as far as their show production skills.
Dealer Sheila Robbins of Framingham, Massachusetts, said, “These guys couldn’t be more accommodating. They are ready to help at any time. I can’t say enough good about them.”
For more information, check the website (www.okemoantiqueshow.com) or call Johnson at (610) 207-9505 or Sherhag at (330) 207-2196.
The portraits on paper by Rufus Porter (1792-1884) were $5500 from Martha Boynton of Groton, Massachusetts. The frame is original, but the glass has been replaced. They are identified on the back as Mr. and Mrs. Clark.
The braided and hooked rug, early 20th century, mounted on board, was $1075 from Jane Wargo.
The early primitive carved wooden horse on a platform with iron wheels, in original paint, last quarter of the 19th century, was $875 from Pewter & Wood Antiques, Enfield, New Hampshire, and Cave Creek, Arizona.
Red-painted nautical box with the name “Albert Briggs,” $875 from Latcham House Antiques, Waterville, Ohio.
Originally published in the December 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2018 Maine Antique Digest
