Date: Mon 01-Feb-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: SS

Quick Words:

Stella-Armory

Full Text:

Antiques At The Other Armory

(with cuts)

NEW YORK CITY -- "It really looks like the measles show," Stephen Score noted,

referring to the many red sold tags which popped up all over the floor of

Antiques At The Other Armory shortly after it opened. In fact, to better

define "shortly," we might have said immediately after this popular antiques

show opened its door at 11 am on Friday, January 15.

This January marked the fifth season for this show, one of the events which

has sprouted up to reap the benefits of Antiques Week in New York City and

take advantage of the shoppers who come to the Big Apple for the Winter

Antiques Show and the auctions. This show, under Stella Management, has made

it mark as evidenced by both dealer sales and eager buyers.

Leanne Stella, who manages this event while her mother, Irene, oversees

Americana at the Piers, said that "we have not had a single dealer come up to

us and mention a bad show. I think we had 100 percent satisfaction at the

armory event." She added that "this is the first time we have had to open the

show a bit early, but it was necessary for safety reasons. We just had too

many people in the lobby waiting to get in, and more out towards the street."

Over 700 people came through the gate prior to noon.

The weather in New York was not favorable to the dealers moving into the show

on Thursday, but "we still had a smooth move in with few hitches," Leanne

said. The staff and those erecting the booths stayed an extra four hours on

Wednesday, anticipating trouble from the weather, and aside from a few late

truckers, all went well. One dealer noted that some of the trucks came into

the armory covered with snow and ice, and by the time all was unloaded there

were puddles all over the floor. "We had water running into our booth," Jolie

Kelter said, "but the staff was right there to take care of the problem."

Bruce Emond of the Village Braider, Plymouth, Mass., had a problem which every

exhibitor would love to have. He sold out his booth, with the exception of a

few small things in his case. All of his furniture, including a counter with

drawers in yellow paint, tables including one with a metal top and one

painted, three large mirrors, several pairs of lamps, a number of single

chairs and a set of six, and large cast iron urns all sold within the first

three hours of the show. "I had nothing left, only deliveries," he said

happily.

A few booths away from the Braider, John and Nancy Wilson of West Palm Beach,

Fla. sold a pair of cast iron garden urns, a large paint decorated tea

canister, and an iron chandelier with two arms. Not sold by noon was a good

looking water pump with green surface.

A large banner weathervane by Poorlocke & Co., Boston, was sold from the booth

of John Sideli/Melissa Greene, Sheffield, Mass., as well as a nice red painted

cupboard with green interior, smuggle horse weathervane with good surface, a

Windsor armchair, several pieces of redware pottery, and a few wood carved and

paint decorated carvings. One of the nicest vanes in the show, although it did

not sell, was their horse and sulky, circa 1880, which came from a barn in

Levittown, Pa.

A large painting of Madonna and Child, unsigned oil on canvas in period frame,

hung against the back wall in the booth of Deborah Witherspoon, Darien, Conn.,

and among the furniture offered was a pair of painted cabinets, Italian,

dating from the late Nineteenth Century.

More large paintings were offered by R.T. Facts, Kent, Conn. The pair shown,

oil on canvas, depicted a father and son in one, mother and daughter in the

other. They were copies by Chas Schreyvogel after Ralph Earl. Of special note

in this booth was a large cast zinc figure of a Newfoundland, American,

Nineteenth Century, which came from the estate of A.J. Downing, the famous

American architect.

In addition to a gallery of paintings, Frederick Thaler of Cornwall bridge,

Conn. showed a cast iron hitching post figure of a black boy in good paint.

"This figure was bought many years ago in New Orleans and then taken to Keene,

N.H." Fred said. The piece dated 1870. A painting called "A Quiet Afternoon"

by Hugh Bolton Jones hung against the back wall. This very pleasing work was

signed lower right, measured 22‹ by 35‹ inches, and was exhibited at the

National Academy of Design in 1887.

Marine artist W.H. Yorke was represented in the booth of Port 'N Starboard,

Falmouth, Mass., with a portrait of the bark Palestine , oil on canvas, 20 by

30 inches. It was dated Liverpool, 1883. Three dimensional objects, in

addition to several ship models, included a diorama of the sloop Annie W. ,

wood sails, plaster sea, with an oil on canvas background. Dating from the

late Nineteenth Century, it measured 20 by 30 by 6 inches.

"They were found in Florida but originally came out of a men's club in New

York City," Judy Milne said of the four large sportings paintings which were

hung, two at each end, of her booth. The games of baseball, basketball,

football and boxing were represented in these oil on canvas works by John

Coffey, 1946. And in addition to a large selection of hooked rugs, for which

she is known, folk art included a sheet metal train weathervane with smoke

pouring from its stack.

It was impossible to miss the large Victorian purple martin birdhouse at the

corner of the booth of Thurston Nichols, Breingsville, Pa. It was a copy of a

sea captain's house on Martha's Vineyard, complete with much gingerbread and

dating circa 1850. In size it measured 37 inches wide, 28 inches deep, and 34

inches tall. An Indian weathervane, raised tomahawk, bow and quiver, was 46

inches tall, sheet metal, with traces of the original paint. It was

southeastern Pennsylvania, circa 1920. From the same area of the state came a

child's settee, green surface and paint decorated, circa 1860, and only 17

inches tall and 27« inches wide.

A rope bed, old green paint and cannonball posts, filled the center of the

booth of Susan Parrish, New York City. Known for her quilts, two impressive

examples were hung on the back wall, one in the basket design and the other a

very bold alphabet example. Celia Bowers of Ithaca, N.Y., who commented that

"I had a blockbuster of a show," offered a wall of paintings by Black Joe

Jackson, an outsider artist from Atlanta, Ga., who was born in 1920. Fourteen

works were displayed, including those showing wash day, Adam and Eve, and

couples dancing. Four of the canvases sold within the first hour of the show.

Marianne Stikas of New York City displayed a good number of those red tags

before noon on Friday and sales included a marble garden figure, a large sofa,

and a terra cotta statue of children. A chandelier and a lemon lamp had also

been sold.

A large painted sheet metal figure of a chef welcomed people in the booth of

Potomac Gardens, a Washington D.C. firm. Furniture included a large French

armoire dating from the late Eighteenth Century, green painted surface, with

six drawers on either side of a central cabinet. A set of Fornasetti plates,

decorated with faces, circa 1960, hung in the booth of Marion Harris of

Simsbury, Conn. A number of circus related photographs, ex Bradford

Collection, 1920-90, were shown.

Janet and Tobin Townsend of Callicoon Center, N.Y. said that "we sold sixty

percent of our booth on opening day, resulting in the best single day we have

ever had." The show was also their best ever and they noted that at one point

they could not handle all of the people in the booth. "One lady gave up and

left without the items she wanted," Janet said. Early into the show the

Townsends had sold a Nineteenth Century country store counter, six drawers

with interesting dog figured pulls, old green paint, and a table with a

gameboard on the top, Nineteenth Century, black and gold squares with floral

decoration around the edge.

A large lithograph of a ram took up a good portion of the back wall in the

booth of Praiseworthy, Guilford, N.Y. It sold as the show opened, as did a

large framed question mark, 46 by 68 inches, which was formed with small

domestic bird's eggs. It was done about 1970 by a bird breeder. An interesting

pair of dummy boards in the form of soldiers were offered, English examples,

Nineteenth Century, which came from a London theatre.

"This is a great show for us and we bring a real mix of things, not as much

country as we normally have," said Cheryl Scott of Hillsborough, N.H. An

interesting collection of photographs by Edward J. Kelty, circus photographer

of the Ringling Bros. Circus, was attracting a good deal of attention as the

show opened. "We have several people looking them over," Paul Scott said, "and

we don't know if they will go as a collection or by the piece." Early sales

for them included a large pair of Staffordshire dogs, a cast iron lantern, a

New York work stand with two leaves, and a couple of folky turtles constructed

of shell and fabric.

"We think the portrait of the two children was done by Deacon Robert Peckham,

circa 1825-40, and it comes from north central Massachusetts," Don Heller said

of the portrait hanging in the booth. He had a folder indicating extensive

research on the oil on canvas, and "we have had lots of interest in the

picture." A large cast iron eagle, once a logo for an oil company, sold within

the first hour of the show, and among the furniture in the booth was a nice

Connecticut Queen Anne flat-top highboy, figured maple with cabriole legs,

circa 1760.

Painted furniture filled the booth of New York City dealers Kelter-Malce,

including a Vermont grained four drawer chest, 1840, and a cupboard of the

same vintage with eight light doors on the top, raised panel doors on the

bottom. The Lord's Prayer was spelled out on an appliqued quilt, Vermont

origin, circa 1860.

"We are a go for next year," Leanne Stella said, adding that "so far all of

our exhibitors have indicated a desire to return. We have not had any negative

reports." At this point, the armory 26th Street and Lexington Avenue, is

filled to capacity and can accommodate 90 exhibitors. One of them, David

Drummond of Lititz, Pa., asked Leanne on Friday, as sales were mounting, "if I

sell out do I have to stay to the end of the show?" While suggested with a

smile, it was indeed indicative of the success of this Stella event, Antiques

At The Other Armory.