Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

VADA

Full Text:

Vermont Dealers Show

w/cuts

MANCHESTER CENTER, VT. -- Now, in addition to fall foliage, classic New

England architecture and deluxe outlet shopping, the pristine village of

Manchester Center has something else to offer on the last weekend of

September: the Vermont Antiques Dealers Association Show.

VADA did the unthinkable this year. It changed its dates and the location of

its annual showcase of Green Mountains' antiques talent. Instead of exhibiting

at the Stratton Mountain base camp in August as they have for the past several

years, association members set up at Hunter Park, a sparkling new sports

complex on the outskirts of Manchester. It was a felicitous move all the way

around.

"For a first-time show in this facility it was just overwhelming," said

Townshend, Vt., dealer Howard Graff, who managed the fair with James Harley of

Reading. "It was the best attendance ever for a VADA show. Saturday's gate

alone was twice what we've had in a day. And the response we got! People were

overwhelmed. They said they'd never seen anything like it in Vermont."

Brick with teal trim and just a hint of the English Arts and Crafts Movement

in its design, Hunter Center is both fashionable and comfortable. The floor is

spacious, the ceiling is high, parking is ample, and load in and pack out are

a breeze.

VADA used the facility to advantage, adding 16 exhibitors for a total of 76.

"High country" describes the elegant presentation, which managed to be both

substantial and affordable. At Stratton, the charmingly quirky VADA show

rambled around three floors. In Manchester, it was flat out impressive.

Timing has been a controversial element for VADA. In recent years, its fair

was scheduled just before or after the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers

Association Show in early August. "It was beginning to look like we were

tailgating New Hampshire, which was never our intent," said Graff. Now

however, some participants in Vermont's other important fall fairs are crying

foul.

"If we can all work together in the future, it will be good for everyone,"

argued the manager, who hopes the area's other show managers will see safety,

not threat, in numbers. "These were the dates that were available. We needed

to take them or we wouldn't have a place to go. Our exhibitors are

professionals. They can participate in multiple shows in the area and still

have fresh displays."

The 24th Annual Vermont Antiques Dealers Association opened with a benefit

preview on September 25 and continued through Sunday. Well before its Friday

evening opening, however, many participants were already pleased with results.

"Anybody new and fresh to the show couldn't get stuff off his truck," said

Graff, describing the flurry of pre-show selling. Among new and returning

exhibitors were Brickwood Antiques, Fiske & Freeman, Fitch House Antiques,

John and Lynn Gallo, Norman Gronning, Hall & Winter, Allan Katz, Warren

Kimble, Judith and James Milne, Old Dog Antiques, Red Wheel Antiques, Cheryl

and Paul Scott, and Thomas M. Thompson.

"Great pre-show," agreed Richard Costa and David Currier of Antiques and

A.R.T.. The Portsmouth, N.H., dealers quickly sold a gilded architectural

eagle and elliptical window. A pair of Sandwich glass lamps, $2,100, displayed

on a Federal mantel, $900, attracted considerable interest. The secret to

their success: good quality, fair prices, and outstanding presentation.

Occupying the show's opening booth was Mark Richard Reinfurt of Equinox

Antiques in Manchester. A hometown dealer with big city panache, Reinfurt

offered formal furniture, weathervanes, paintings, and miniatures. A Boston

dropfront desk with reverse serpentine front was $35,000.

Dorset, Vt., dealers Peg and Judd Gregory mingled country and formal furniture

with folk art and accessories. Attributed to Anthony Quervelle was a card

table with robustly carved pedestal and paw feet. In untouched original

condition, it was $3,600.

Woodbridge, Conn., dealer Allan Katz and his wife, Penny, moved recently,

providing with them the opportunity to rethink their collections. Instead of

their signature gallery-style display, they created a cozy antiques shop full

of interesting Americana. A vividly painted spool table was $26,500; a

Patton's Sun Proof Paints tin sign, $2,700; and a rare pair of totem pole

style andirons, $2,750.

"She was my grandmother," said Trish Alley, explaining how Mabel Wilson

Antiques got its name. The family's love of lumber -- her grandfather was a

mahogany trader -- was demonstrated in Alley's display, which included an

eyecatching Federal archway and a Connecticut River Valley chest of drawers of

unusual construction.

In addition to Shaker fare, James and Elizabeth Hurley of Reading, Vt.,

featured a pair of early Windsors. The fan-backed, saddle-seated side chairs,

$3,000, were made in Connecticut and retain their original Spanish brown

paint.

One distinctive item at Howard Graff's was among the first to sell. There, a

dealer snapped up a primitive tall chest. Its open back revealed drawers made

of packing crates.

Collecting and dealing in antiques are natural pastimes for Lisa Freeman,

editor of Sloan's Green Guide to Antiquing In New England and the forthcoming

Antiquing In The Midwest. Lisa and her partner, John Fiske, showed a country

Hepplewhite stand of birch, $995; a Queen Anne blanket chest of circa 1740,

$6,500; and cherry Hepplewhite secretary found in Vermont, $6,500.

Despite considerable success as a painter of primitives, Warren Kimble of

Brandon, Vt., enjoys buying and selling antiques. He returned to the show he

once managed with an album quilt appliqued with American flags and a train.

Small in size but charming, it was $1,500. A spectacular, full-sized Baltimore

album quilt was $27,500 at William and Susan Gault, Thetford, Vt.

Weathervanes flew in dozens of booths. New Hampshire dealers Cheryl and Paul

Scott prominently displayed a fine horse and sulky, $27,500. A more common

Ethan Allen horse cost a tenth of that. Nancy and John Stahura of Millbrook

Antiques in Reading offered Black Hawk and Ethan Allen horses for $2,150 each.

The VADA show is a treasure chest of country furniture in maple, birch, and

cherry. At Tiley's Antiques of Middlebury, a Portsmouth, N.H. drop-leaf stand

with well turned legs and original paint was $1,895. Ellington, Conn., dealers

Paul and Karen Wendhiser turned up a chair table, $3,950. A flattop highboy

was $13,500 and a Chippendale oxbow desk from Salem, Mass., was $10,750 at

Grafton Gathering Place, Grafton, Vt.

East Berlin, Conn., dealers Clint and Pat Bigelow marketed a striking Sheraton

cherry and tiger maple secretary of circa 1820, $1,650. Near it hung a large

green louver, $475. Phyllis Carlson and Timothy Stevenson of Manchester, Vt.,

featured an unusual "half sideboard" of butternut and tiger mahogany. It was

$6,500. Four Delaware ladderback chairs were $4,000 in the stand of Dick and

Heila Everard, Peru, Vt.

An unsigned primitive portrait attributed to Vermont itinerant Horace Bundy

took center stage at The Farm Antiques of Arlington, Vt. New York City dealers

Jim and Judy Milne returned to its home state a double portrait of a father

son, $6,800. The painting was deaccessioned from the Bennington Museum, which

had its own display at the show.

Bittersweet Antiques of Springfield, Vt., set its tables with Staffordshire

transferware, including 30 polychrome pieces of "Venus," circa 1840, $3,150. A

pair of Mary Gregory Cranberry glass vases was $450 at Cynthia Antiques. A

sign in the booth announced that the Tinmouth, Vt., dealer was selling her

stock and closing shop after 18 years in the business.

Though certainly not unheard of, the Vermont Antiques Dealers Association Show

deserves to be better known. It is the sophisticated prelude to a great month

of shopping in Vermont.