Date: Fri 08-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: AMYD

Quick Words:

Ann

Full Text:

Ann Arbor

w/cuts

By Joel Webber

ANN ARBOR, MICH. -- It's intangible, but it's in the air when a show is hot.

There's a buzz, an electrical current of expectation.

That switch was flipped at the April opening of Ann Arbor. Finds were on the

field, and somehow the queue of several thousand waiting for 8 am knew it.

The opening of Margaret Brusher's Ann Arbor Antiques Market is always a big

event in the Midwest. But this, the opening of Brusher's 30th year, seemed

bigger and brighter than usual.

If there was disappointment after the gates were thrown open it was because

someone was beaten to the punch. One dealer thought a little too long about a

pair of naive "bathing beauty" paintings, circa 1940, in the booth of Laura

Townsend of Canton, Ohio. They were sold virtually the moment he walked away.

A Diverse Mix

If Brusher has a personal preference, it's for Eighteenth and Nineteenth

Century furniture, accessories and textiles. Those items, along with serious

paintings and some spectacular folk art, bring collectors and dealers back to

Ann Arbor year after year to show and to buy.

But Brusher also understands that the antiques business consists of a lot more

than Queen Anne highboys and Prior paintings.

She has a canny knack for attracting an extremely broad-base of merchandise.

The key to Ann Arbor's 30-year run is quality and diversity.

Brusher likes to say that there is something for everyone on the field at Ann

Arbor. And there really is. It can be a straight-leg Queen Anne tea table in

the booth of Harold Cole of Woodbury, Conn., or a group of funky old garden

tools (a few bucks each) from an Ohio dealer in one of the colorful tents.

"I've seen the business change so much over the years," she says. "I don't

always understand what's new and why, but I do depend on a cadre of really

good dealers to keep me abreast of what's current in the business, and whether

or not it's something I want at the market."

There were lots of good "somethings" at April's market, and the dealers,

collectors, and just plain curious were finding them.

Columbus, Ohio, dealer Tom Delach bought several nice Navajo weavings

including a fairly sizable Germantown.

"It has been a couple of years since I've been here. The market looks just

wonderful and there's some terrific merchandise," he said, pointing to an

Adirondack two-seat porch swing with A-frame for $800. "That's pretty rare,"

he said. I don't think I've ever seen one complete with its A-frame."

Michigan dealer Tim Hill, who rarely misses a market agreed with Delach's

assessment. "It looks really good and the quality's right up there."

Throughout the day, dealer after dealer echoed similar sentiments as they

trundled treasures to their vehicles.

Rare and Unusual

In recent years a rash of collectibles, some of rather dubious long-term

quality, captured the fancy of a buying public that seemed to have turned its

back on traditional areas of collecting. One had the feeling, wandering

through the buildings and tents at Ann Arbor, that this was more like the kind

of show and merchandise that was regularly available 15 years ago.

Echoes of Americana from Columbus, Ohio, offered a rare, late Eighteenth to

early Nineteenth Century burled bowl that was nothing short of phenomenal.

Eared and incised, it was 17 inches in diameter, and seemed like a bargain at

$1,500.

Dennis Raleigh of Midland, Mich., offered a large and very fine selection of

silhouettes and early watercolor portraits, one of the best collections seen

in a long time.

A fully developed Sheraton sofa in the booth of David Good, Fairhaven, Ohio,

was signed by a Cincinnati furniture maker. The reeding was fabulous and,

although it was probably done 20 of 30 years later than a comparable example

from Salem, it appeared to be of museum quality.

Across the aisle from Good, Lynne and Michael Warden created a spectacular

booth filled with folk art and good country furniture.

"I haven't spoken to everyone," Brusher said, "but I've spoken to four or five

dealers who reported having the best shows they've ever had, anywhere." One of

those was stained glass dealer Norma Barry of Southfield, Mich., who sold

several windows in the thousand dollar range.

Not everything at the market was high end and "super killer." Ann Arbor has

always drawn a strong retail market, and Karen Anderson of Fort Wayne, Ind.,

has a strong constituency for items she calls "cheap and cheerful."

Anderson mostly sold furniture and decorative accessories from the early part

of the Twentieth Century (as well as some earlier items). She said she had a

very profitable opening. "But then again, I always do well at Ann Arbor."

Weather is always a wild card at Ann Arbor in April. But whether it was direct

intervention by Willard Scott (or maybe someone even higher), the Saturday

opening turned out to be a spectacular spring day with temperatures around 60

degrees and bright sunshine. In short, a perfect day for a little antiquing at

a great market.

The crowd was ready to buy and enthusiastic. And that enthusiasm was

contagious. "I feel like I'm back in the antiques business," said Thatcher

Goetz, a Michigan dealer who has been a regular market exhibitor for many

years.

If there were questions about the health and welfare of more traditional areas

of the business, like painted furniture, folk art, architectural items,

porcelains, paintings and early textiles, they were answered at April Ann

Arbor.

And Goetz might have hit the nail on the head. The antiques business is alive

and well and appears to be rolling along with great vigor in the Midwest.