Date: Fri 08-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Mid-Atlantic

Full Text:

Mid-Atlantic Spring Show

w/cuts

By Anne Alvarez

& Lou Santucci

WEST FRIENDSHIP, MD. -- Sims Rogers is able to keep the crowds coming back to

her Mid-Atlantic Antiques Show for one simple reason: Her dealers continue to

bring pieces that are unique and fun to be around.

The event always makes us smile at the surprises that await us when we take

our tour of the floor. The dealers who return year after year are familiar to

us by now, but they never disappoint. We always have a bet with one another to

note the item that we think will be sold before we return on the second pass.

While the show usually features country, primitives and folk art, there is

always a nice array of other antiques to round it out. And it is always a

delight to see what clever way a dealer will display an item to enhance its

otherwise plain look. An arrangement of wooden molds used in steamship parts

manufacturing was displayed on a mantel by Stouts Antiques. These large, dark

wooden objects were transformed into wonderful art objects merely by their

juxtaposition. Other cleverly displayed items included an alabaster eagle

priced at $95 and an apple ladder for $195.

Arts and Antiques down the row had piles of pewter artfully arranged. Most

were American, except for a few chargers, which were English.

Brooks Antiques had a wonderful folk doll house, which could be had for a mere

$575. One of our favorite stops is always the booth of Robert Zollinhofer, who

always manages to have the one item that makes everyone stop and smile. This

time it was a nearly lifesize figure in a carnival stand. Zollinhofer

demonstrated how it would have been used as a barker at the circus or

carnival. The real barker would be behind a curtain and the dummy would be out

front apparently calling in the crowds. At $3,500, it was the kind of thing

that would give a buyer lots of entertainment value.

Zollinhofer is eclectic in his presentations. A few feet away from the dummy

was an 1800s table harp in mint condition. While there was no maker's mark,

the feet were a sign of New York origin. He priced it at $2,200. He was

especially proud of his Seventeenth Century treasure chest, which featured 12

locks and one hidden key hole. The main lock mechanism was decorated with

cherubs.

Bob and Carol of Lewis and Clark had some wonderful quilts. Of local interest

was a small, Frederick County, Md., example priced at $6,000. They also had a

most unusual and dramatic Mexican-scene painted screen, one of the few such

screens at the show. It was priced at $1,600.

Linda Howard Stein, who always has a flair for decoration, also displayed one

of the other screens. Hers was from the 1930s and made a nice complement to a

set of six slat bottom chairs with rattan backs. Probably from the 1940s or

1950s, they were quite unusual and were priced at $1,200. She said she got

them right before the show.

Many dealers do early spring shows that follow on the heels of Mid-Atlantic,

but they still tend to bring some of their best items to the latter and do not

hold them in reserve.

A correspondence-course illustrator's work was for sale in J.M.J. Silene's

outsider art collection. Silene had on display one example that said "Oranges

12c etc." and had the name of the designer incorporated in the sign as well.

The student's example was as lopsided as could be. Silene said he had all the

correspondence, and the teachers were certainly cruel in their remarks to this

fellow. The sign by J. Jones was $100.

Kathleen Vance and Mark Amis were first-time dealers at the show.

Nevertheless, the things they brought indicated that they could meet the

standards set by the other dealers: the unusual and the fun were all there.

The first item that caught the eyes was a small working model of an NRA

logger's camp house, with lumberjacks on the porch sawing wood. Well-carved

and quite accurate, the $575 price for this northern Georgia origin piece

seemed very reasonable. At the very top of one of their display cases was a

large, homemade pull toy rabbit covered in chenille. A very funny piece was a

plaque from the Amen Club, which commemorated a dinner at the Waldorf in 1913

and featured a donkey, an elephant and a moose at a table playing cards -- the

"Bull Moose" making one of its appearances on a piece of political

memorabilia.

Every year one piece is guaranteed to make you laugh heartily. This year, the

prize went to the ball and chain decorated with the words "Society For The

Protection of the Groom," shown by Greystone Cottage. Obviously a gift for a

groom, it was signed by all of his groomsmen and dated to the 1920s.

Dan Lazeski brought some fun pieces from an old amusement park, and three

wooden skeletons sold within five minutes of the shows opening. We especially

were drawn to a guillotine, which must have been used in a magic act.

J. Rak had two pieces of art from opposite ends of the spectrum: on the wall

was purportedly to be the largest work done by American marine painter George

Essig, offered for $17,000, and skipping several decades forward to the

present, a 60s eye dazzler was spinning away at $350.

There are always lots of hooked rugs at this show. However, the ones here are

among the more unusual. For example, a jumping collie was a form that we have

not seen in a hooked rug; normally dogs are just seen standing. This exuberant

example (priced at $715) was just one of many in the booth of Gisela Gruss

from Asbury, N.J.

Jon and Carla Magoun from Maine had a fabulous Old Town wood and canvas

tender. At $1,200 this boat was ready for the water. Their 1930s totem was fun

to scrutinize. Jon even had an original newspaper clipping of the artist and

his totem. Embedded in the piece were deer hooves that formed a nose and

boars' tusks as teeth. We could have studied this great folk piece for hours.

Deborah Rhod had a fun temperance sign that had its original label from

Marshall Field's in Chicago, and had been originally sold to a Laurence Goulet

in Evanston, Ill. We have seen our share of matchstick items over the years,

but a full-size match stick guitar displayed by Shapiro and Stanbaugh was a

more unusual example. They also had the guitar case and a banjo case made from

match sticks. These three items were done by an invalid in Baltimore,

according to Shapiro.

Sims was a little concerned that attendance at the show would be hurt by the

good weather, the first break in several weeks, and by competition from a new

show the same day in York. Her fears were quickly allayed as soon as the show

opened with the rush of early buyers. The show's reputation has ensured that

it will take a lot more than nice weather or another show to knock it from its

premier place.