Date: Tue 28-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Friz

Full Text:

Hildene Show

w/cuts

By Dick Friz

MANCHESTER CENTER, VT. -- The hills of Vermont were alive with the sound of

the sweetest kind of music for purveyors of antiquity: not the yodeling of the

Von Trapps, but the rustle of long green changing hands.

And change hands it did, as thousands of customers -- a mix of bluebloods,

museum people and corporate masters of the universe -- converged on the Robert

Todd Lincoln estate, Hildene, for a cross-cultural shopping spree on Saturday,

July 11.

Linda Turner of Forbes & Turner, promoters of the ninth biennial Hildene

Outdoor Antiques Show, pronounced it the best-attended event ever. Joan Brown,

from Ithaca, N.Y., glowingly reported that she had sold six major pieces, her

best show ever. Dale Hoffman of Starksville, Vt., in his third time exhibiting

at Hildene, called it a real sporting event -- especially the lively, early

day action.

The results were encouraging, as despite a raging-bull economic climate, a

number of outdoor shows have struggled and the ravages of monsoon-like weather

have recently devastated such signature shows as Farmington and Shelbourne.

Many recalled that two years ago at Hildene, it poured incessantly throughout

the show, yet a number of dealers who weathered the storm reported doing brisk

business.

This year, fortunately, Hildene was blessed with almost perfect weather. A

mild, cooling breeze wafted across the meadowlands and a few sprinkles toward

the end of the day only reminded one of the vagaries of New England weather.

More than 150 dealers from all the New England states as well as New York

offered their wares. Decorative architectural pieces and household furnishings

abounded: wrought-iron gates and fences, fireplace mantels, garden ornaments,

large urns, weathervanes and windmill weights, good funky folk art, country

furniture, quilts, coverlets, samplers, and stoneware were featured.

There was enough here for imaginative, deep-pocketed visitors with second

homes in the nearby Stratton, Bromley and Magic ski areas to decorate and

furnish from stem to stern, from lawn and garden to interiors.

In addition to a few of the highlights pictured on these pages (There was so

much to see, we know we missed plenty) a number of other significant entries

merit mention. Windsor Antiques of Stamford, Conn., showed a viscerally

stunning English sailor's bit of stitchery on wool. Known in the trade as

"woolies," this particular specimen pictured a clipper ship displaying the

royal flag. An unusual feature -- an elaborate crown -- was done in beadwork.

This beauty was priced at $3,450.

Jack and Ray Von Gelder of Conway House, Conway, Mass., are well-known for

their decorative "smalls." This time their focus was a number of American

Plains Indian beaded accessories, in vibrant hues. A Huron purse was priced at

$495, and a pair of child's moccasins was tagged $375. Especially fascinating,

a four-cornered Iroquois cap was offered at $495.

In addition to New Yorker Ernie Graf's imposing array of stoneware, a pair of

Mason redhead decoys, at $1,450 for the pair, attracted a lot of interest.

Massachusetts dealer Paul DeCoste had a number of intriguing world globes, of

which a few, as he pointed out, were incomplete. One smaller globe, with brass

accoutrements and signed by Elizabeth Fitts of St Johnsbury, Nova Scotia, was

intact and bore a $3,500 price tag. DeCoste offered an ocean liner folding

deck chair in need of restoration of $350. All it lacked was a brass plaque

reading SS Titanic.