Brimfield Bound

The Madison, CT, Historical Society Show last Saturday turned out to be a good one, and at that point I thought it might be my last show for a while, before my "real job" takes me out of the country for a few weeks (right at the height of the Fall show season, grumble, grumble...) but the schedule got shifted at least until the middle of next week, so here I am running around to get ready for Brimfield. I'll be set up on Tuesday afternoon at Brimfield Acres North, space # 51, in the middle of the field. Tuesday is the first day at Brimfield, and the show opens at 1 PM. This is a one-day show, so don't dilly-dally.

Whether or not I'll be able to set up at May's on Thursday, as usual, remains to be seen.

I don't have time to post a lot of pix of the things I've come across this past week, but this Silver Gilt and Lemon Gold frame, beat up though it may be, is good grist for Brimfield, and that's were it will be on Tuesday afternoon, for the first few minutes of the show... Oh, and the engraving is by Herbert Bourne (b. 1825) and titled The Family of Charles I, but for me it's about the frame.

See you at the show.

So What Have I Found

So what have I found in the last couple of weeks? Well, I was able to buy several Finnish-American Hand Loomed Rag Rugs, of which the best of the lot is an 11'-6" runner. It was made by the grandmother of the woman selling the rugs, who is my age (shall we say politely, over full retirement age...). She estimated that the rug was at least 80-100 years old, and I concur.

It's strong enough to go on the floor, but bright enough to be hung on the wall as textile art, especially in a room with a cathedral ceiling.

On a much smaller scale is an ironstone platter, c.1870, bearing the seal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Apparently these were used to display fresh cut flowers and produce and fairs and displays sponsored by the Society. Like most ironstone, this piece will need to be cleaned to be presentable, but that's an easy enough task. By the time I offer it for sale it will look a lot better.

And here's another nice little thing, a spinner from one of the many woolen mills that could be found all over New England prior to the Civil War. At one time you could find these by the thousands, probably by the tens of thousands. They're not that common any more, but normally I still wouldn't bother with one, but this one was turned from figured wood, either Curly Birch or Curly Maple, I can't be sure which. It's highest and best use now, probably a candle holder.

Last week I found a c. 1949 serigraph by Harry Reeks, a New Orleans born man who became a combat artist during WWII, then spent a couple of years in San Francisco after the war ended. His work was, frankly, tourist art, lively, colorful, and intended to be a souvenir, an inexpensive reminder of one's visit. I have a number of similar pieces, in both intention and period, by Vermont artists. They've become very collectible, and I'm willing to bet that Reek's views of postwar San Francisco will prove similarly popular. This one has never been out of its original frame. It really should be rematted in acid-free materials, but that's another day.

Only a few weeks before I had found a watercolorist's field easel to display it on. Easels like this one were built to lie flat, if you were painting washes, or at angles, usually in 15° increments, all the way up to 90°. I've owned several, and they seem to be popular both with painters and displayers.

But I think the prize of what I've come upon in the last few weeks is an Herb Dryer. I almost missed seeing it, folded up flat. It hangs on the wall, flat when not in use, but lifts and folds when used to dry bunches of herbs.

It's very well designed, the rods nearest the front are offset, upper and lower, so that herbs can be hung from every rod. To put the frame into use, the pieces unfold and the ends are slipped into hand chiseled channels. It's ingenious and simple, and, of course, the question everyone asks is, "Is it Shaker?" Well, it might be, I don't know.  I do know that many auction houses, even the ones that specialize in Shaker sales, would be likely to attribute it to them, but that doesn't make it so. I guess it will just have to be left to others to decide.

And finally, one last thing...

Remember these?

They were featured in my May 30th post. I didn't sell them that next weekend at the Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association as I expected, but they did sell a few weeks later, and they did sell down on the Cape. I made my money-- I was happy.

Imagine my surprise when I spotted them again in a Kaminsky Auction catalog for the August 28, 2010 sale featuring Nautical Antiques. They've got an estimate between three and four times what I sold them for down on the Cape... Am I upset? No. I don't know yet what they will sell for, but Kaminsky's is a quality auction house here on the North Shore of Massachusetts and I'd like to hope that they're right, and that their current owner meets his or her expectations, just as mine were met.  No, my message is to you, and what I want to tell you is that you shouldn't assume that the things offered at antiques shows are too expensive for you to buy, and even make money on!

Next outing is in Madison, CT, on the Village Green, Saturday, August 28, for the Madison Historical Society. Under tents, rain or shine, it'll be a good show.

So don't be shy, there's money to be made at antiques shows, for sellers and buyers both! See you at the shows.

Come and Gone

Early Sunday morning at a nearby flea market I spotted a pair of handwrought andirons. The seller said they had come from the Malden, MA, estate of an ironworker.

Both, of course, are right handed, and one is smaller than the other. I have no way to know if they were made as a pair or not. Nor, apparently, does it matter. This is Antiques Week in New Hampshire, and some of the best dealers in the country have gathered for the several shows in and near Manchester this week. The andirons visited Manchester yesterday and sold immediately. Come and gone.

From a different seller at the same market I got a cast iron stove door with a floral decoration that strikes me as quite unusual.

I know nothing of the maker, and can only estimate that it dates to c. 1875, but I like it, and it will find a place on my wall as a painting or drawing might, a cast iron drawing, as it were.

And from a third seller (still at the same market) a pair of Lomax Oil Guard lamps. These are the smaller size of the upright model, nicely scaled for use in the bedroom. Since the original Lomax burners are gone, I'll have sockets and wiring added, find a couple of nice shades, and take them out on the show circuit.

I turned out to be a good day at the flea market.

See you at the shows!

Another Spider

I've managed to come up with a few interesting things in the last week or so...

Totally unlike what I usually find, or even notice, this drying rack and its pair of waders caught my eye, more as sculpture than anything else.

I've never done the show, never even been to it, but I'll see if maybe I can arrange for them to hitch a ride over to the Adirondack show next week. The crowd might like them over there, or maybe some of the "object" sellers in Manchester, NH... I'm going to sit out Antiques Week in Manchester, too, although I might have to go over to see the NHADA show, grab a glimpse of the really good stuff before it flies out the door.

I picked up a nice little Tiger Maple Masher, one with distinct tiger stripes on the handle that, when you get down to the wider diameter of the masher itself turns into a quilted pattern, quite unusual.

A pair of hand wrought scissors was a nice find in a New Hampshire shed. I don't run into these nearly as often as I did when I was younger. Of course, that was quite a while ago...

From over in New York state I uncovered the base (just the base, I'm sorry to say) of a child-size chair table.

It hasn't very sophisticated construction, and of course there's a lot missing altogether... believe me, I wish it wasn't... but what's there I love, and I think it will turn out to be a great starter piece for a collector of children's furniture.

And, saving favorites for last, I chanced upon another spider, this one originally found near Canterbury, NH. There's nothing to suggest a connection with the Shaker community there, although there's nothing to argue against it either. This is something that I bought from a collector, so I have no knowledge of its original context, save that it was originally found in the area.

This is another nice early example (see the last post), late 18th century or perhaps very early 19th century, and although it will be offered for sale from time to time, it will spend the rest of the time on my kitchen hearth.

My next scheduled show is still on the last Saturday before Labor Day, on the Village Green in Madison, CT, for the Madison Historical Society. Of course, until then I'll still be poking around to see what else I can find.

See you at the shows!

Guilford, CT ~ July 24, 2010

Guilford was hot yesterday, hot and humid. One of the show organizers admitted that when prospective dealers ask her what the show is like, she always says it's hot. It was, and with a date near the end of July, it usually will be, even though Guilford sits right there on the Connecticut coast.


It's not usually this humid, though, and it seemed to me that the crowd, understandably, was down some... Most of them certainly came before noon, though I admit I was surprised that there were still some new faces even as late as half past three in the afternoon, by which time a thermometer that I had for sale was reading 97° in the shade. However, no one really wanted to know just exactly how hot it was, least of all me.

I plan to take most of August off, just relax with the family at the Vermont house. Maybe I'll run over to Manchester, NH, to see friends at the shows there, but I'm determined not to join them this year. For once I want simply to sit around in August.

That said, I'll make a liar out of myself, because I do plan to show in Madison, CT, at the end of August, Saturday the 28th, from 9 to 4 on the Madison Town Green. Rain or shine, we'll hope for shine, but with a little less heat than we've had in the July outings. If forecast is a good one, I'll bring some tiger maple furniture that I don't normally bring to outdoor shows, and a 10' diameter braided rug. Rain or shine, I'll bring some cast iron cookware, not the Griswold or Wagner stuff that you can find every day, but early and mid-19th century examples like this griddle, called a "spider" because of

its legs. These spider pots, pans, and griddles were made at a time when most of the cooking was done on an open hearth; the legs held the pans above hot coals piled beneath. Spider frying pans, hard enough to find, are much more common than a griddle like this one above, or the pot seen below, used to heat water.

Pieces from the period of this pot, just a little bit later, still have the spider legs (as well as the handle which allows the pot to be suspended on a trammel) for use on the hearth, but the base of the pot was sized to fit on the stove top (inside the holes found on all kitchen stoves) in order to gain maximum heat.

I'll also bring a couple of unusually large pieces that I bought from the estate of a man who worked as lumber camp cook.


A 14 inch pancake or stew for 24 anyone?

See you at the show!

Bridgehampton Bound

Vintage Cut-out Wood Fence Decorations

On Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27, I'll be set up in Bridgehampton, Long Island, on the grounds of the Corwith House for the Bridgehampton Historical Society Antiques Show. Early Buying begins Saturday at 8AM, and if you're serious about it, that's when you'll be there. The show runs until 5PM on Saturday, and on Sunday from 10AM until 5PM. Right now, the weather forecast for Sunday doesn't look all that good, but I'll be there on Saturday, under my own tent, rain or shine. There's plenty of time to go to the beach some other day.

Among other things, I'll bring along a couple of good garden pieces like this c.1900 Conservatory Stand. It rotates freely and was intended to hold potted plants in the sunroom.

I'll also bring a great Cast Iron Garden Bench with an oak top, interesting because it's tall enough to be used as a bench, but low enough to serve as a table next to or in front of chairs. I had it soda blasted to remove many, many coats of paint from the iron without dulling the edge of the casting itself, and I had to simply replace the top altogether. As a result what we have is a piece ready to go into your yard, on your deck, or in your sunroom-- for another lifetime of use.

Finally... a vintage Hat and Scarf Display Stand, Bamboo, a 20th century piece that is simply "outa' sight". It stands some 75 inches tall, 58 inches wide, and given its size was probably originally a store display piece. If you need a pair, you're just "outa' luck!

See you at the show!

Despite a threatening weather forecast on Sunday we made it through the entire CCADA Spring Antiques Show in Sandwich, MA, with no more than a drop or two of rain, but placid as it looks in this picture, taken just before the gates opened, the wind did blow as the day progressed.

By early afternoon small tents like mine were taking a terrific beating. One of my immediate neighbors had to literally stand by the corners of their pop-up tent to constantly reset the pegs holding it down. With the help of other dealers I finally removed the top sheet of my tent, packed away the most breakable pieces and the small, light weight pieces that were being dumped on the ground by every gust, and made it through the rest of the show with no major problems, having sustained only minimal damage to two or three items. Others were not as fortunate. Whole tents were lifted off the ground, tables blown over, and too many sounds of breaking glass to make anyone comfortable. Dealers were given permission an hour before the show ended to start packing, since the wind gusts were strong enough to have pretty well emptied the field of buyers.

So it goes with outdoors antiques shows. My next scheduled outing is not until the end of the month, June 26 and 27, in Bridgehampton, Long Island, for the Bridgehampton Historical Society. We'll all hope for better weather.

See you at the shows.