Bath Antique Show, Bath, Maine
Three years ago, the brother-and-sister duo of Rachel and Joshua Gurley planted a seed by launching the new Summer Bath Antique Show. Now, the summer show has blossomed into a must-visit on the Maine antiques show calendar.
The one-day show has grown every year, and this year exhibitors spilled into the school’s lobby because both the main gym and practice gym were filled with dealers.
Held this year on Sunday, July 26, the venue Morse High School in Bath, Maine, offers distinct advantages for the show. It’s air conditioned, roomy, has plenty of free parking, and affordable on-site food service. For a summer Sunday, it offers both the locals and summer residents an opportunity to shop in comfort for a wide variety of merchandise.
“This show is fabulous,” said Rachel Gurley. “The attendance was great, the dealers love it, and the facility is awesome. It’s a fun show.”
Gurley added, “We’re going to keep growing. I think we had ten to fifteen extra exhibitors this year. It was standing room only…we had some fresh dealers, we expanded, and we had a great attendance of both young and old.”
The show is an extension of their successful winter shows in Bath, the Bath Antique Sale, which has a 40-year history with several different owners. “We’re continuing a tradition, and making it our own,” she said.
Veteran Maine dealer Dennis Raleigh, who exhibits with his wife, Phyllis Sommer, said, “We are very loyal to Rachel and Josh and feel strongly that they provide convenient venues throughout the year for dealers and collectors to connect. Their shows are very low-keyed, easy on the pocketbook, easy to do, and most of all, fun and enjoyable. Their mother would be proud knowing they have followed so well in her footprints. Their ‘Short and Sweet’ events are making a mark, being noticed, and well supported. They’re doing a yeoman’s job in promoting their shows through social media, and the number of folks supporting their shows is impressive.”
For more information, call (207) 396-4255 or check the website (www.gurleyantiqueshows.com).
This wooden Great Seal of the United States, surrounded by stars, circa 1920, probably came from a government building, according to Tom Jewett of Jewett-Berdan Antiques, Newcastle, Maine. It was priced at $4500.
This 17th-century Belgian needlework cope, a long cloak worn by religious clergy, measures 43" x 106". Owen and Leslee Shugard of Union, Maine, asked $950 for it.
Ross Levett of Ross Levett Antiques, Thomaston, Maine, offered a rare Dutch implement (left) with engraved scenes of a bird and a bird in a cage. Levett said the 18th-century tool was used to raise and lower bird cages, and he asked $2500. The 17th-century clamp, right, was once gilded and was priced at $1600.
A 18th-century Irish platter, 20½" long, circa 1750, was $1650 from Brian Cullity of Sagamore, Massachusetts.
This folky polychrome double-sided sheet metal rooster, marked “Moxcey,” was $350 from Josh Farrin of Randolph, Maine.
The redware lidded jar is in mint condition, said dealer Tom Goddard of Tom Goddard Antiques, Acton, Maine, who attributed it to the James Chase pottery of Merrimacport, Massachusetts. It came from a 40-year Maine collection, and was tagged $1795.
These two carved folky figures (left), probably from the 1950s, were once in the collection of Beverly Archer (b. 1948), a writer and actress who appeared on television’s Mama’s Family and Major Dad. The figures were tagged $525 from Christopher Stanley of Christopher Stanley Antiques, Bremen, Maine, who joked that it was appropriate that the figures were archers. Stanley also had an 1890s painted whirligig with glass eyes. From a collection in Harrington, Maine, it was priced at $825.
The framed linen bus destination sign—which would have been rolled to change destinations—was from the 1930s to ’40s, and was tagged $350 from Deirdre O’Callaghan of Partridge Hill Antiques, Georgetown, Maine.
This painting of a ship flying the American flag is approximately 26" x 33" (sight size) and was executed by William P. Stubbs (1842-1909). Dennis Raleigh and Phyllis Sommer of Pumpkin Patch Antiques, Searsport, Maine,
asked $3250 for it.
This 9¼" tall face jug by Reggie Meaders (1919-2009) was $495 from Brett Cabral of Salem, New Hampshire. Meaders was a member of a famous Georgia family of potters. He was the second son of Arie and Cheever Meaders, and Lanier (1917-1998) was his brother.
A walnut table, 1810-20, was tagged $3200 from James and Nancy Glazer of Bailey Island, Maine. The 28" high table with a 22" diameter top once belonged to Pennsylvania collector William I. Koch. The arched stretchers are unusual. Nancy shared a booth with Maureen Fenton of Topsham, Maine, who offered the teacher’s school bell for $175.
A cherry and tiger maple two-drawer drop-leaf stand was offered at $875 by Maureen Fenton of Topsham, Maine.
This large 1917 photograph of the Harvard Crimson hockey team was $275 from David Thompson Antiques and Art, South Dennis, Massachusetts. The photographer was Tupper of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The team included Captain J.E.P. Morgan and goalie J.J. Wylde, who held the Harvard record of ten career shutouts until that record was broken in 2005. Less than a month after the season ended, the United States entered World War I, and Harvard’s team didn’t play again until the Armistice was signed in 1918. The image is approximately 13" x 17".
Elizabeth Yates Turner of Bremen, Maine, offered this Spratling dragonfly from the 1940s for $275. She has just opened a new shop, Bremen Meadow Antiques, in Bremen that’s open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and by appointment. Five local dealers have inventory in the new shop.
This folk-art carved bird with glass eyes had repairs to both wings and was $450 from Joel White of Curiosity Antiques, Waldoboro, Maine.
Large bench table, $595 from Robert Foley of Gray, Maine.
This black-and-white silk-on-silk needlework mourning picture, often called printwork because it mimics prints,1790-1820, was $1200 from Thomas R. Field Antiques, Northfield, Maine. The name on the memorial depicted is Werter.
This one is a mystery. This inlaid one-drawer smoking table dates to the first half of the 20th century, and all the objects on the table are attached to it. What they were used for is unknown. The top appears to include an inlaid depiction of a burned match and cigar. Scott Smith of Biddeford, Maine, asked $750 for it. He had a jewelry box by the same hand.
Both the gymnasium and the practice gym were filled with dealers.
This Boston mahogany serpentine-front ball-and-claw foot chest, circa 1780, with graduated drawers and original brasses was $2100 from Martin Ferrick of Lincolnville, Maine. The contemporary painting on top is Fishing by Maine artist Mary Bourke. Ferrick asked $950 for the acrylic on paper.
“It’s a Peaceable Kingdom,” joked Rachel Gurley of the three-tiered wire basket filled with small Steiff animals, priced from $55 to $125. The lobster was $95, and the basket was $165.
This 1740-60 maple double-socket adjustable light stand with a cross base and original surface stands 36" high. It was priced at $2500 from Rona Andrews Antiques, Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Modernist Cubist lighthouse painting, signed “Jansson,” was $650 from Gurley Antiques, Scarborough, Maine.
A painting by Francis Orville Libby (1883-1961), probably a western Maine scene, was $6800 from John Woytowicz of Gardiner, Maine.
Squish by Maine artist John Otterbein was $475 from Roger Williams of Boat House Antiques, Bath, Maine. An image of a crushed mosquito—after its bite—certainly speaks to summer in Maine.
The family record for Ira S. Ricker of Dover, New Hampshire, born August 23, 1824, and his bride, Miss Mary E. Hall, born October 19, 1826, in Barrington, New Hampshire, was $165 from David McLean of North Monmouth, Maine. According to Biographical Review, Volume XXI, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Strafford and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire (1897), Ira Ricker was employed by the Boston & Maine Railroad for 35 years. For 29 of those years he was the station agent in New Durham, New Hampshire. He served on the board of selectmen and the state legislature, was a tax collector for six years, and postmaster. He died September 18, 1896.
This oil on board interior scene by German artist August Böcher (or Bucher, 1873-1961) was $1700 from P.D. Murphy Antiques, Bath, Maine.
John Marsili of Full Moon Antiques, New Harbor, Maine, asked $295 for the duck andirons, 1925-50, marked by the maker, Richard F.H. Clancey, of Needham, Massachusetts.
This oil on canvas by Conrad Freitag (1843-1894),10½" x 14½", depicting a New York City pilot boat used to bring ships into the harbor from the sea, was $4250 from White’s Nautical Antiques, North Yarmouth, Maine. According to A.J. Peluso Jr.’s “Conrad Freitag and Caldwell H. Colt: Their Brief Life and Times” in the November 1999 M.A.D. (p. 39-D), Freitag, a 17-year-old German immigrant, joined the 14th (Brooklyn) Regiment in 1862, and he survived Gettysburg and the Wilderness Campaign. During the war, he received gunshot wounds to both thighs but survived and was mustered out in 1865.
This pair of prints is not exactly theorems; rather they are cutouts of watercolors depicting baskets of fruit. One is dated 1844. John Sideli Antiques & Fine Art, Bristol, Rhode Island, asked $1200 for the pair.
This antique French market basket was used in the Wiscasset, Maine, shop Treats for years; it still has traces of flour in it. S.B. Adams Antiques, Westport Island, Maine, asked $650 for the sturdy basket.
This vintage 1980 wicker and bamboo adult tricycle was $750 from Dovetales, Cherryfield, Maine.
This small diorama was $125 from Brian Shea of Saugus, Massachusetts.
Autogiro, “The New Fascinating Pocket Game,” with original box and instructions, 1920s-30s, was $100 from Mike Gallant of Hometown Antiques, Glenburn, Maine. Potter Auctions, Chicago, Illinois, described it in a 2023 catalog listing: “Hold the device with two fingers and press the lever with your thumb to spin the wheel.”
This six-tile ceramic plaque by Harris Strong (1920-2006) was $595 in the booth of From Away Vintage, Brunswick, Maine. It was in Strong’s personal collection.
A trade sign in the form of a sword, marked “A. Carrington Military Equipments, ‘The Union Forever,’” was $1500 from Todd Dean of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The sign once belonged to Massachusetts dealer Rex Stark (1947-2023). It hung near the stove in his house.
Originally published in the November 2026 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2026 Maine Antique Digest
