Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAM

Quick Words:

Southampton-Summer-Antiq-Show

Full Text:

Sun Shines On Southampton Antiques Show

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- The Ninth Annual Southampton Summer Antiques Show was

sponsored this year by The League Of Women Voters Of The Hamptons at the

Recreation Center of Southampton High School.

Presented by Jerry Oliver and Michael Gannon of Oliver & Gannon Associates,

Inc, on July 10-12, the show was made up of 36 dealers, many of whom displayed

their objects in cozy room-like settings.

"I really appreciate when dealers put special touches in their displays, like

using fresh flowers," Jerry Oliver said.

Most of the dealers carried formal, high-end furniture and smalls. One dealer,

Tout le Monde, offered bamboo furniture and accessories. The bamboo pieces

were divided between expensive faux bamboo, which is wood carved to look like

bamboo, and real bamboo, which is by nature not as sturdy. The focus of the

display, though, was a large chinoiserie secretary bookcase dating to the late

Nineteenth Century. It was $65,000.

The show featured many unique pieces. Twelve-foot-tall velvet black curtains

were displayed by The Merchant Princess from Macon, Ga. The curtains were

purchased from an aging dancer of the Ziegfeld Follies and were decorated with

patterns of glitter. In excellent condition, the curtains were just part of

the display filled with tapestries, pillows and furniture made from antique

textiles. Dean Tallant of The Merchant Princess explained that his company

designed furniture according to textile pieces that were no longer usable. The

focus piece was a settee with a high back, which was built just to use a

particular tapestry. The furniture is built solidly, and certainly strong

enough to use daily.

Travis Antiques from Massachusetts displayed an Italian Taj Mahal style

birdcage for $2,350 and draped a velvet parlor screen over a day bed to

highlight items underneath. Travis said that whatever he displays underneath

the parlor screen, which was actually once a funeral screen, usually sells.

The classical furniture displayed, like a Boston pier table and a needlepoint

parlor set, including couch and chairs, was complemented by the landscape

backdrop, which was handpainted and once a store prop.

Along more traditional lines was the display of Nicholas and Regina

DiBenedetto, who displayed paintings, mostly American from the Nineteenth and

Twentieth Centuries. One lovely painting was a mid-Nineteenth century still

life of a watermelon and knife by John Williamson.

Artifacts, the antiques display run by two generations of the Crockett family

from Belle Terre, L.I., N.Y., did extremely well at the show, selling their

focal piece, an American secretary with marquetry, circa 1790s, in excellent

condition. Their display was filled with lots of smalls as well, and included

a Tiffany lamp. The Crocketts, who will soon count the third generation among

their staff, said about the show, "We do have great time here ... friends are

easily made here."

The show, which took a few days to physically put together, drew 250 people to

the preview, where a set of Chinese warriors sold for $23,000 and a large

secretary went for $32,000 at Augusta House Antiques. The rest of the weekend

was busy, drawing a crowd of 1,300 people, despite that the weather was

gorgeous. The show actually occurred earlier this year than usual, but this

seemed not to dissuade buyers, especially from New York City.