Date: Fri 08-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SS

Quick Words:

Philadelphia

Full Text:

PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- There was talk last year of a second tailgate show to

take advantage of the popular Philadelphia Antiques Show at the 33rd Street

Armory. Rumor had it that the show might be across the bridge in New Jersey,

but that turned out to be a bad idea.

This year the show did materialize within blocks of the big Philadelphia show

and just behind the Frank Gaglio show at the 23rd Street Armory.

Center City Antiques Show, the second tailgate event (A fall York tailgate was

started several years ago), under the management of Barry Cohen of Alexandria,

Va., was the first to open, filling the lower exhibition area of the

Marketplace Design Center at 2400 Market Street.

"We did very well for the first time out," Cohen said. "We will definitely be

back again next year." He indicated that probably all of the exhibitors will

be returning, but "it is really too early to know. They will evaluate the show

and let me know."

Cohen took notice of the opening times for the other shows and set an 8 am

start for his show on Friday. The show continued until 8 pm the first day, and

ran 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday. "We are planning to be open for three days next

year," Cohen said, "to allow those who come for the shows more time for return

visits."

There was a good line of people waiting to get into the show on Friday,

including many of the exhibitors at the other two events in town. "We had a

better gate than we had expected, and it was even higher than the number we

draw in York," Cohen said.

The exhibition area was a large open-aisle center hall, with four rooms

opening into the space. Thus the show was divided into five separate halls,

making for a setup unlike the conventional layout of a show. More than half of

the visitors questioned about the show favored the setup, noting that it was

"very interesting" and "we liked the flow." We agree.

Praiseworthy Antiques of Guilford, N.Y., filled a large circular area at the

foot of the entrance stairs with items including a cast-iron stove figure of

George Washington, a large clock sign advertising J.A. Nadeau, and a solid

aluminum Wurlitzer student butterfly piano, 1939. Praiseworthy also had a

booth nearby filled with collections of small shoes and hats, signs, bronzes

and advertising items.

Peg and Judd Gregory of Dorset, Vt., appeared ready to set up drinks from

behind a counter/bar that came from an establishment in western New York

State. It had the original cabinets and cupboards behind it, and from the

looks of the two-board top, it appeared that much business had been conducted

on it. It retained the original crusty mustard surface and was one of the

first things sold as the doors to the show opened.

Forager House of Nantucket, Mass., is a great believer in having more than

one. Proving this point was a collection of painted clock faces, some quite

plain but others with bird, flower and house designs. Book boxes, about 15 in

total, were of various sizes and painted surfaces. Architectural Antiques, the

Boston firm that shared space in Hall A, offered a Nineteenth Century

cast-iron fountainhead in the form of a swan with extended neck. It was

painted white many years ago and had a nice rough surface. A female head

carved of sandstone, circa 1840, was mounted on the wall, along with a male

version of the same period. Both were of English origin.

Marc Witus of Gladstone, N.J., and Mimi Gunn, Chatham, N.J., had a

six-foot-long rhino in leather, an early "whim" from Abercrombie and Fitch. A

collection of coverlets were in various shades of red, blue, and white, most

dated, and a spotted horse pull-toy, jointed for extra movement, was shown.

Six casepieces filled the booth of David Weiss of Sheffield, Mass. A tall

chest with six drawers, circa 1780-1800, was from southeastern Massachusetts.

A Midwestern pie safe with six punched tin panels under two drawers,

green-blue painted surface, circa 1850-70, was shown next to a half sideboard,

Rutland County, Vt., birch with maple and mahogany veneer, circa 1820.

Red, white and blue flags and related items made for a colorful booth setup by

With All Dye Ceremony, Elkins Park, Pa. Signs filled the walls advertising

fire alarm boxes, hotel supplies, race horses, hardware, radios, bicycles and

wheel goods, and dentistry.

"I just got the large horse weathervane mounted on the arrow," Susan Stella of

Manchester, Mass., said, "and when I got here my booth was all white and it

did not show to advantage." She remedied the situation by cutting a large

piece of black paper to hang it against. In addition, she had a grouping of

Nantucket baskets, right down to the one-egg size, and a slantfront

Massachusetts desk in walnut and maple, bracket base, circa 1780.

"That large oil on canvas of `The Walled Town' was on the cover of the

February 1940 issue of Travel Magazine, " David Colby said of the large work

that hung in the middle of his booth. It was signed lower right by the artist,

Eloise Egan. Among the other works of art hung by the Sarasota, Fla., dealers

was "Still Life With Fruit," European, S. de Nevers, dated 1912 and signed

lower right.

Two slantfront desks were shown by Hanes and Ruskin of Westbrook, Conn. One

was from Rhode Island, Chippendale, tiger maple, 1780 with two-level interior.

The other Chippendale example was in cherrywood, 1770, 39 inches wide, with

fluted columns flanking the center compartment.

In addition to a New York Classical sideboard, circa 1825, Morgan MacWhinnie

of Southampton, N.Y., offered two highboys. A Rhode Island example was of

curly maple, Queen Anne, circa 1760, while the other was a Wethersfield,

Conn., piece, Queen Anne, cherrywood, dating circa 1760.

Fiske and Freeman were right in the middle of the center hall with a good

collection of case furniture. A Queen Anne highboy, New Jersey or Delaware,

was in walnut with Spanish feet, circa 1735, while the New England

chest-on-chest, probably western Massachusetts or Connecticut, was in

cherrywood, circa 1760-80. Hoping to find a customer looking for a

Philadelphia piece, these Belmont, Vt., dealers showed a Federal breakfast or

library table, circa 1800, in cherrywood with old finish.

"I just got these two Walkers out of a house and they have never been shown

before," Ed Weissman of Portland, Maine, said of the pictures showing an

African-American woman with a pipe and an African-American man with a bale of

hay. Each was signed William Aiken Walker lower left. A Chippendale slantfront

desk in mahogany, Massachusetts origin, had a blocked center section with

shell carving, and on top of the desk was a Stevens bell toy of a monkey with

red hat riding a tricycle.

A large booth of formal furniture was in the center hall, set up by James

William Lowery of Baldwinsville, N.Y. Offered were a Federal library table

attributed to Duncan Phyfe, circa 1815-20, New York; a rare cylinder top desk

attributed to Samuel Field McIntire, Salem, Mass., circa 1800-10; and a

mahogany sofa, possibly Joseph Meeks & Sons, New York City, circa 1829-35. A

silk and embroidered work, "The Parting of Hector From Andromache," hung over

the sofa. It is probably by a student of the Ann Elizabeth Folwell School,

Philadelphia, dating from the early Nineteenth Century.

A pair of Pilgrim century side chairs were displayed at the front of the booth

of Joan Brownstein, Ithaca, N.Y., circa 1690-1710, one with a splint seat, the

other covered in leather. Furniture included a grain-painted one-drawer chest,

probably New Hampshire, circa 1820, all original except for the pulls, and a

late Eighteenth Century corner cupboard with gallery and raised panel doors,

white painted surface.

A North Carolina bed, painted white over the original salmon, circa 1820-40,

was covered with an Amish quilt, circa 1940, in the display of Lisa Meyer of

Atlanta, Ga. Hooked rugs included one dated 1927 with two large stars in the

center of the field, and one with a large red rooster.

The Grim House in Allentown, Pa., was the source of the grain-painted door,

salmon over yellow, which was shown by John and Robin Sittig Antiques,

Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pa.

This door has a remarkable resemblance in paint to a mantel offered by Francis

Purcell at the Frank Gaglio show.

David C. Morey, American Antiques, of Thomaston, Maine, had a booth in Hall A

that was open to the center hall creating a real store-front look. Inside he

had a number of pieces of furniture including a bun foot chest-on-chest, circa

1690-1710, in pine and from New England, along with a bowfront chest from New

Hampshire, circa 1810, with bird's-eye maple drawers.

A pair of Philadelphia portraits attributed to Edmund Brewster were in the

booth of Thomas and Julia Barringer of Stockton, N.J. The sitters, Jane and

James Hutchinson, were Quakers, married in 1827, and the portraits date to

1830. A Sheraton post and panel blanket chest was from Bucks County, Pa.,

grain painted and dating circa 1830-40.

A farm table with a three-board scrub top, circa 1830, red salmon painted

base, Montgomery County, Pa., was shown by Michael May Antiques of

Carversville, Pa. It dated circa 1830 and went well with a set of four

thumb-back Windsor side chairs, New England, circa 1830, in yellow over the

original red and blue.

In addition to a collection of miniature furniture, including tables, a

slantfront desk, chests and chairs, Kendall Chew and John Formicola, Sugartown

and Malvern, Pa., showed works of art such as Edward Dufner's "Summer

Afternoon," an oil on canvas on board, 20 by 30 inches, signed lower left.

Also hung was a view of the Susquehanna River Valley, Gottlieb Daniel Paul

Weber, signed lower left and measuring 32 by 42 inches.

Hall D, on two levels, was filled with furniture and accessories from a number

of exhibitors who blended inventories so that the space ran together as one

continuous booth. Here the Susquehanna Antiques Co from Washington, D.C.,

offered a Federal sideboard in mahogany, Baltimore, circa 1800, D-shaped with

extensive inlay. A Pennsylvania Chippendale highboy, circa 1770-80, was in

walnut with a pitched pediment. Bruce Sikora of Hudson, N.Y. had a

Pennsylvania dish and tilt-top candlestand in walnut, 19 inches in diameter,

circa 1760-1800, along with a New York breakfast table in mahogany, circa

1810, on casters.

Other dealers adding to the items in Hall D were R.H. Blackburn & Associates

of Kinderhook, N.Y.; Elizabeth Jones of Sudlersville, Md.; R & M Leed

Antiques, Hopewell Junction, N.Y.; and Benjamin Wilson of Hudson, N.Y.

According to Cohen, "Many of the dealers did very well and we expect that most

of them will be with us again next year." While he was kept busy with his

duties of managing the show, he was aware of a number of good sales including

six pieces of painted furniture from one booth. Two highboys left the floor,

and the tavern counter/cupboards in the Gregory booth sold twice.