Date: Fri 16-Apr-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: MELISS

Quick Words:

Nashville

Full Text:

Fantasy & Follies

with 22 cuts

By Karla Klein Albertson

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- Now in its ninth year, the Antiques & Garden Show of

Nashville, which benefits the Cheekwood Museum and Botanical Gardens and the

Exchange Club charities, remains a unique event. Looking over the 73

first-rate antique dealers in room settings, 76 garden dealers, and landscape

creations that outdo many revered East Coast horticultural shows, the

visitor's attention is almost equally divided between the objects and living

plants that constitute the dual themes of the spring Convention Center

exhibition.

In fact, planting, flowers, and aisle garden spots have become quite the

fashion at all better antiques shows because the fragrance and color of

something growing breaks the thing-after-thing hardness of trotting out the

merch. No wonder that exhibitors love the environment in Nashville, where you

have whole parks rather than just a few pots between the booths.

Debbie Spiecker of Fine Americana, North Hampton, N.H., explains how the

scheme draws more visitors: "The combination of antiques and garden is

wonderful because one partner can go antiquing while the other goes over to

the garden booth side. Or they can come with friends who don't really like one

or another. The gardens were absolutely beautiful this year. I think that

front entry way was the prettiest it's ever been." Arrow Rock, Mo., dealer

Blaine Murrell McBurney, who was helping out in Peter Patout's booth,

commented: "This is one of the best looking shows I've ever seen. Certainly

none of the New York shows I attend have elaborate flower installations like

that."

While beautiful gardens are always a part of this show, the timing of the

event depends on the whim's of the convention center booking agency. This

year, the Antique & Garden show fell on the same February weekend in Nashville

as the Heart of Country Show at the Opryland Hotel. Sigourney Cheek, who

co-chairs Antiques Committee along with Connie Cigarran, explains that this

occurs more by accident than design: "These convention centers are booked 4

and 5 years ahead of time. We request the second weekend in February, but in

our contract with them says they can put us two weeks behind or forward." The

1999 Antiques & Garden show of Nashville opened with a preview party on

Wednesday, February 10, and the show took place on February 11 through 14.

Cheek continues, "When it just happened this year that the two shows fell on

the same dates, we were almost not sure whether it was going to work, because

how many things can a person see in a weekend? And we were also concerned

about dealers who could not do both shows. The crowds are certainly strong,

but they're strong every year. We spend a lot of money on publicity, and we

bring in thousands of people to the show whether the other show is going on or

not. Having both shows at the same time has certainly helped the American

dealers on the floor. We'd like to have more American dealers, but at the

present time we have more Continental and specialty dealers, so the people who

come to Heart of Country are not really shopping for the things we have at

this show. The shows have two entirely different characters."

Informally polling on the floor, George Spiecker agreed it benefited them: "I

think the gate for both shows is probably up significantly because of it. We

say loads of people from all over that we haven't seen for ages." Debbie

added, "We sold everything from paintings to books to chests, chairs, tall

chests -- a wide variety of stuff, furniture and accessories. The two shows

were on the same weekend one other time, and we had a really good show. We're

thrilled when it happens because that just means it brings more people in --

it's a win-win situation.

Sallie Tucker Anderson and her husband Wesley from Calvert, Texas also liked

being across town from Heart, "We've done this show since the second year.

It's a wonderful show -- we love the being surrounded by the gardens. I think

it's fun for people to have all the shows the same week." Jeff Hankel, a

garden exhibitor from HKH, Pennington, N.J., helped a friend set up at

Opryland, then had a good show himself downtown: "It was the first time for me

there, and I had a good time in Nashville. Nashville is a city with a town

attitude. And it was a successful show which was nice, so it made the whole

experience fun. They do a great job, and the committee is exceptional. The

gardens are exquisite. I'm very happy that I was invited to do it. I'm hoping

to go back and enjoy myself again."

Another new dealer, David Weiss of Weiss Gallery, Birmingham, Mich., was also

enthusiastic: "Being a first-time exhibitor, you sort of throw yourself out

there, and people get a look at you. I think Nashville is a real lively buying

town with a lot of sophisticated people there who know what they're looking

at. My sales were pretty good for the first time, particularly in my niche of

art glass and painting. Boy, they get a gate here, and it's very important for

a dealer to have the opportunity to talk to people." Weiss specializes in

Frederick Carder Steuben glass made pre-1932 and wanted to remind collectors

that the centennial of Steuben glass is coming up in 2003.

After five years in the event, Charles Jay Conover, Los Gatos, Calif., has the

market figured out: "I mainly just do shows, about 12 a year. And I have a

warehouse in Campbell with a showroom set up there, so I'm open when I'm home.

I usually have a good show here. I take the best of what I have -- I

specialize in English Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, and I carry items for

the sports-minded. It's a good combination for me -- it's what I enjoy, and it

seems to work. It's also a way of not looking the same." Conover also did

shows in Memphis and Dallas while he was out on a long road trip.

New Orleans dealer Peter Patout did well with local Tennessee hero Andrew

Jackson, selling a portrait of Jackson he had found in the Crescent City as

well as a print of the President's death: "I think it's a good idea to have

both shows the same weekend. The more antique dealers you have in one area,

the more people come. Those garden displays are overwhelming, especially this

year; follies was such an appropriate topic."

After the show, Barbara Bako of Akron, Ohio, reported, "A lot of activity

happened very late Sunday afternoon. I think the people who shopped at Heart

made their decisions faster than the people [who] shopped at the garden show.

I probably did as much in the last hour and a half of the show as I'd done all

weekend. By Sunday, quite a few people had had a decent show." Bako sold an

English bow front chest, some Biedermeier chairs, porcelain jewelry, textiles,

and paintings off the wall. She shared the opinion that country French had

done very well as usual. Jeff Littrell, a stylish Atlanta dealer also sold

European: "Nashville is a very Continental furniture town, so my things do

very well there." Littrell had a fine pair of Italian bergeres for $27,500,

flanking a painted credenza with faux marble surface for $28,500.