The 2025 Lebanon Antique Show | Maine Antique Digest

Lebanon, Tennessee

The guy behind me is tapping his fingers impatiently. Seriously. He’s drumming away like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Except I’m oblivious to his exasperation—focused instead on photographing a small wool-covered ram. Anyway, sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to raise your blood pressure.

It was Friday morning, shortly after the doors had opened for the Lebanon Antique Show, held February 14 and 15 at the Made in Tennessee Building on the Wilson County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Tennessee. Thirty-seven dealers were eyeball-deep in customers as the initial surge pressed across the room. Fifteen minutes into the show, two women were overheard talking.

“Have you been around?” the first one asked.

“Heck, yeah!” her companion replied. “I flew around this joint like a Tasmanian devil.”

It was that kind of show, where people got excited about what was offered and didn’t want to be slowed down in the process of seeing it all.

In only its second year, the Lebanon Antique Show has clearly established itself as a player during Nashville’s antiques week, which this year featured five distinct antiques shows in Lebanon and Nashville, Tennessee.

What set the Lebanon Antique Show apart was the preponderance of country antiques and, for the most part, prices the average Joe could afford. Promoter Katherine Bovard established the show last year as a sister event for her Heart of Tennessee Antique Show in a nearby building on the fairgrounds. That event, just slightly smaller but with a who’s who of dealers, offered merchandise that, caliber-wise, was in a different zip code. Not that the Lebanon Antique Show had anything to apologize for.

And that was the point. Because of their differences, the shows complemented each other.

“That was the purpose of starting the second show,” said Bovard. “I wanted something completely different to draw the crowd to the other show.” It worked both ways, regardless of which level a buyer preferred.
The success of the Lebanon Antique Show was obvious from the start. Dealers wanted in. “It filled up very quickly,” said Bovard. “I had people on the waiting list for last year.”

The overall theme of country antiques and primitives remains strong. “Most of the dealers do the primitive shows. If you go to their shows, they draw huge crowds,” Bovard noted.

Randy Riedel of Hoosier Boy Antiques, Madison, Indiana, was among the dealers who participated the first two years at Lebanon. He is one of those “country antiques” guys, and he had no complaints. “For a first-time show last year, I did really well,” he said before the doors opened for the 2025 edition. “I heard people say they’ve been saving things for this.”

Mammy automaton made of carved wood, $795 from Karen Jack. When the device is cranked, the woman moves the handle of the butter churn and taps her foot to rock the cradle, while the dog wags its tail. “Lyle Shelton” is written on the back of the crate. The mammy stands 10" high on a crate that is 5½" high x 13" wide (without the crank) x 8¼" deep.

“Buy antiques, will you.” Yoda store display, $1900; Odd Fellows mask, $300 from Todd Oliver of Lebanon, Tennessee.

Of course, the show offered more than just country antiques. Todd Oliver, one of two dealers from Tennessee and the only local participant, mixed things up with a variety that included a Columbia Expert high-wheel bicycle at $4000 and a Yoda store display tagged $1900.

Handmade single-person boat, the exterior in green paint, 89" long x 36" wide, $750 from Jim Wheeler of Franklin, Indiana.

Two figures from a flying-horse carousel having 16 horses and two chariots, being sold as a complete unit for $26,000 by Seth Bixel of Bluffton, Ohio. The amusement ride was made by the United States Merry-Go-Round Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The photograph shows the carousel, which was fully operational when last disassembled.

Among the oddities was a carved wood mold in the form of a bovine skull, 5½" high x 18" long, priced at $100 by Jim Wheeler of Franklin, Indiana. However, it was another animal-related find that was perhaps the most spectacular of the show. Seth Bixel of Bluffton, Ohio, displayed two carved wood horses off an early carousel. But it wasn’t just a pair of ponies for sale. Bixel was offering the entire flying-horse carousel, nearly complete and practically untouched, consisting of 16 horses and two chariots, plus the working components. The only thing missing was the original canopy. The price was $26,000.

Legendary dealer Clark Garrett bought the carousel for $3000 in the 1980s, according to Bixel. For a short period of time it was assembled and operational, measuring 26' in diameter and having the horses and carriages suspended from a rotating framework that revolved around a central shaft. Over the last 40 years the entire unit had been in storage, Bixel added. He acquired it from Garrett’s widow in 2023.

Documentation showed the carousel was made by the United States Merry-Go-Round Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, between 1892 and 1916. A copy of a catalog listed the original price as $550. It was hand-powered but could possibly be adapted for use with a gas engine.

The carousel was one of the gems of Nashville’s antiques week. And it was a perfect indicator that the Lebanon Antique Show had some spectacular items to offer.

Bovard is pleased with the Lebanon show’s having established itself so quickly. The location gets some of the credit. While no one will take away the shine of the Nashville shows, which have a long history that allows them to be identified simply by the name of the city where they are located, Lebanon offers the appeal of a smaller town. There’s no comparison in population, with Nashville having 2.1 million residents compared to Lebanon’s 48,112. But Lebanon offers less congestion while still providing visitors with essentials such as restaurants and lodging. “Location wise, it’s very easy,” Bovard said. Plus, the facilities at the Wilson County Fairgrounds are first-rate.

Bovard is glad to have the Lebanon Antique Show be a part of Nashville’s antiques week. “The more shows, the better,” she said. “That’s what makes the show industry survive. If you look at Nashville Week, it’s surviving. New Hampshire Week, surviving.”

Not that she’s looking to add another show at Lebanon. “This is plenty for me. If someone else wants to come down, God bless them. I’ll be happy to have them around.”

Despite thunderstorms on the second day of the show and floods and freezing rain that dealers and customers faced when heading home, the second Lebanon Antique Show was an unqualified success, even if the John Bonham types did get stuck behind a clueless photographer.

For more information on the Lebanon Antique Show, phone Bovard at (330) 631-1604 or visit the website (www.thelebanonantiqueshow.com).

Bradley & Hubbard rabbit doorstop, cast iron, 15 3/8" high, $1200; “Women Locker Room” metal sign, 12" x 24", $80; boiler cover, lettered “Eggs For Sale,” 12" x 22", $450 from Randy Riedel of Hoosier Boy Antiques, Madison, Indiana.

Heart-shaped redware mold, 3" high x 10¼" wide x 11" long, $465 from David and Diane Miller of Spotted Dog Antiques, St. Albans, West Virginia.

Tumbling Blocks quilt, $575; unidentified basket or strainer, $55; tiger maple single-drawer stand on turned legs, 30½" high x 20" wide x 18¼" deep, $375; tiger maple chest of drawers, 44" high x 39½" wide, $795; slide-lid spice box, $875; miniature chest with cockbeaded drawers, 17" high x 16" wide, $795 from Jeff Walton Antiques, Sun City Center, Florida.

“Ravens” chair with three birds on the back and a tree, the back carved “R. Mueller” and titled “Roostin’ Ravens,” $375 from Karen Jack of Waddy, Kentucky. Jack said the chair came from the estate of Howard “Tom” Clark, an expert on Kentucky folk art. Carvings include a bird in flight on the seat rail and raven heads on both sides. The chair is 33" high with a seat height of 17½".

Columbia Expert bicycle, late 19th century, 56" front wheel, $4000 from Todd Oliver.

Blackman’s Medicated Salt Brick display, wood, with mustard paint and a tin panel, 28" high x 16½" wide, $950 from Dale Frese Antiques, Watkins, Iowa.

Curved-back settle with grain paint, 62½" high x 77" wide, $3295; sawbuck table, scrub top, the base in red paint, 31" high x 42" wide x 26½" deep, $895; wooden tray, $295; pieces of treen, $195 to $369; green bottles, $65 to $269; brass candlesticks, $295 the pair; horn cup, $115; wooden carrier, $229 from Jamie Brunt of Cornfield Primitives, Millbury, Ohio.

Tin eagle sconce with a mirror back, 12" high x 9¾" wide, $298 from Steve and Kaye Weis of Country Love Antiques, Metamora, Illinois.

White-painted fiberglass tree thought to have been a theater prop, 96" high, priced at $250 and sold during the show; corn-shock broom, $595; hobby horse with saddle, $595; early youth chair in dark blue-green paint, $250 from Alicia Lawson of Halderman House, West Alexandria, Ohio. “It was on my neighbor’s porch for like forty years,” she said of the tree. The folky piece quickly made its way into the apartment of the new owner.

Grain-painted counter, with wear to the eagle decal, 31½" high x 41" wide x 22" deep, $650; handled basket, 27½" wide x 15" deep, $225 from Ray Lassen of Studio 817, Wilmette, Illinois.

Pewter cupboard, red paint with a blue interior to the open top, with scalloped sides and cornice, sold during the show by Kent and Cheryl Williams Antiques, Pickerington, Ohio. Smalls included a Canada goose decoy, carved wood, $395; mortars and pestles, $125 to $275; a miniature chest of drawers with bootjack feet, the early hardware on the back suggesting it could have been hung or set on a tabletop, $395; two carved wood molds in the form of floral baskets, $495 the pair; a wooden scoop, $110; an apple tray, Amana Colonies, $395; a redware plate, $165; and a quart jug in Albany slip glaze, $135.

Carved wood mold in the form of a bovine skull, 5½" high x 18" long, $100; barrel-form stand, with a single door (with a working key) and shelved interior, 27½" high x 21¼" diameter, sold during the show by Jim Wheeler.

Folky carved catfish with a smaller fish in its mouth, thought to have been made in southern Illinois by a “river rat,” 14" high x 45½" long, $700 from Gary and Gail Andrews of Kirkwood, Missouri.

Crazy quilt, $650; painted basket, $345; carved wood doll with stuffed fabric arms (partially visible), $850; small tramp art frame with hearts at the corners, $175; wooden horse with leather seat/saddle, 31

Dough table from Virginia, the single drop leaf with a gate leg, the suspended dough box (seen at the right end of the table) designed to slide out on rails, Spanish brown paint on the base, square legs, H-stretcher, 29½" high x 41¼" wide x 24½" deep (plus leaf), $1395; wooden bowls, $85 to $255; butter stamps, $95 to $125; cobalt-decorated stoneware jar with freehand cobalt flourishes and two stripes, $575 from Margie Krieg of Gleaner Antiques, Ashland, Ohio. It was her first time at Lebanon.