Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

Hartford

Full Text:

What To Do About Hartford

w/cuts

HARTFORD, CONN. -- Is Hartford coming or going?

It is easier to read tea leaves than to divine the fate of this former queen

of fairs, which reappeared as the Fall Hartford Antiques Show on October 3 and

4. Though well advertised and promoted by Linda Turner, attendance and sales

were as they have been in recent years: so-so.

This antiques classic has had three able managers in a decade: Linda Turner,

Sanford Smith, and the Antiques Council. Until this year, the show benefited

the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society, a Hartford-based preservation

organization that has had the firm support of many dealers.

But with attendance and sales less than booming and exhibitor ambivalence

increasing, the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society canceled the fair. As

unenthusiastic as the Antiques Council had collectively been about going back

to Hartford, many individual dealers were dismayed to see the 30-year old show

die. Enthusiasts encouraged Linda Turner, who manages the Spring Connecticut

Antiques Show, to reserve the fall dates and start a new Hartford show from

scratch. To her great credit, the Portland, Me., manager jumped in and did it.

Turner put together a good list of dealers and backed them with aggressive

promotion. The Liverants, Peter Eaton, The Cooley Gallery, Jeffrey Tillou,

Hollis Brodrick, Joan Brownstein, and Stephen Garner agreed to take part in

Hartford, even though they were also doing the first ADA Historic Deerfield

Antiques Show on October 10 and 11.

The Fall Hartford Antiques Show was good looking but, with only 49 exhibitors,

small. Turner had wanted 60 dealers, but budgeted for 50. She dropped booth

rents significantly without cutting back on advertising, much to the

satisfaction of exhibitors. "It proves that you can put on the show for less,"

said one Connecticut dealer, who asked not to be named.

"We had a good show, better than average. But for most it was not great,"

admitted Westbrook, Conn., dealer Lee Hanes. "I think attendance was off

because of the Vermont shows and ADA. But the line up of dealers was good and

the people who came through were serious. I give Linda an A for everything."

"It's a new show. That's the only way to look at it," insisted Turner, who was

reluctant to make comparisons to the Hartfords of years past. "I changed

everything. I didn't want any resemblance to the spring or fall shows. I would

like to have more dealers next time, but I wasn't unhappy."

She continued, "I saw quite a few regular customers. A lot of them said they

loved the floor plan, they loved the cafe. The back wall got a lot of

attention. The dealers who didn't want to lose the show were very

appreciative."

Colchester, Conn., dealers Nathan Liverant and Son occupied the center of the

floor with Eighteenth Century New England furniture. A perfectly proportioned

Chapin tea table with birdcage support and ball-and-claw feet provided Arthur

Liverant a handsome surface for writing out slips and tags. "It still has its

original mahoganized finish," marveled the dealer. "That's so unusual.

Hartford-area conservators were especially zealous in their refinishing

practices."

Table with birdcage supports were one of the show's motifs. Besides

Liverant's, there were tip-top tables at Jeffrey Tillou, Ballyhack Antiques,

and Hanes and Ruskin, where a dishtop Queen Anne candlestand was marked

$1,950.

Litchfield dealer Jeffrey Tillou also brought tiger maple. A Chippendale table

with beaded, molded leg and glowing patina was $6,400 and a set of six carved

Sheraton side chairs with vivid figuring was $6,500. In Harold Cole's front

row stand, a Queen Anne tiger maple table was $14,500. A pair of Queen Anne

New England side chairs were $3,200.

Doug Jenkins of South Natick, Mass., mixed a little mahogany with his tiger

maple. A handsome tiger drop-leaf table and a four-drawer Sheraton chest of

New England origin were each $13,500.

Dominating Brian Cullity's display was a curvaceous serpentine-front chest

with superbly carved ball-and-claw feet. The birch casepiece crafted in Salem,

Mass., circa 1770-80, was $45,000. A Connecticut River Valley box with

characteristic Deerfield-area carving was $3,750. A highly regarded expert in

pottery, the Sagamore, Mass., dealer also offered two rare slip-decorated

redware plates with the names "Sam" and "Caleb" on them. A wonderfully simple

stoneware crock with a lover's inscription was $1,150.

Portsmouth, N.H., dealer Ed Weissman was on hand with a walnut and maple Queen

Anne highboy. The Massachusetts piece dating to circa 1750 was $28,000. New

Haven dealer Edwin Ahlberg made formal entertaining a breeze with ten veneered

saber-leg side chairs. What at first glance appeared to be a set was actually

a subtley varied group.

Two New England stepback dressing tables flanked Hilary and Paulette Nolan's

stand. One, in original white paint from Salem, was marked $2,400. A yellow

Vermont dressing table was $2,200. A Cape Cod blanket chest from a small,

distinctive body of regional cabinetmaking boasted superb grain painting and a

shaped skirt. The blanket chest was $18,000. The Nolans also brought a super

large Crolius jug made in New York.

"Customers respond to simpler displays. It makes buying easier," noted Mary

Sams of Ballyhack Antiques. In her case, simpler was not smaller. The

Cornwall, Conn., dealer included a treen bowl and a blown glass punch bowl,

both of majestic proportions. Rounding out her booth was a pair of William and

Mary side chairs, $4,800; a tilt-top tea table with canted corners, $4,800; a

North Carolinia six-drawer chest, $9,000; and a drop-leaf table with scrubbed

top, $10,500.

Sandy Jacobs of Rindge, N.H., was up to the minute with several pieces of

marquetry furniture, the most striking of which was a games table with inlaid

top, post, and legs, $1,850. Folk marketry is the subject of a pioneering

exhibit at the Museum of American Folk Art through January 10. Folk marquetry

also illustrates the cover of the fall issue of Folk Art Magazine.

Small but perfect, a set of scales topped a chest at Peter Eaton's. The brass

device marked J. Lewis, New York, dated to the mid-Nineteenth Century and was

priced $1,750. A graduated seven-drawer chest, grained with molded top, was

$19,000; a perfect New Hampshire flat-top highboy in red paint was $16,000.

Wayne Pratt devoted his back wall to a Queen Anne cherry bonnet-top highboy

made in Wethersfield or Hartford, circa 1765. It was $165,000. Bookending the

bonnet top was a Connecticut River Valley corner cupboard in blue paint,

$32,500, and a Chippendale blockfront chest of drawers from Boston, $120,000.

Joan Brownstein's classic presentation featured a diminutive cherry

Chippendale secretary of circa 1780, $17,800, and an elegant pair of

watercolor memorials. Dan and Karen Olson of Newburgh, N.Y., displayed an

unusual country Sheraton drop-front secretary desk.

Small and delicate pastels of Philadelphia and its environs drew shoppers into

the booth of Francis Bealey American Arts and Gunn Gallery. The intimate works

by Fred Wagner were $2,000 each.

Needlework specialists Stephen and Carol Huber devoted three walls to samplers

and silk embroideries and a case to fine smalls and more intimate examples of

textile art. One of their most striking items was a large, colorful

Pennsylvania sampler, $35,000. The circa 1830 piece by Elizabeth Goshen had a

ribbonwork border, still in exceptional condition. The Hubers' outside wall

featured a sympathetic display of Currier & Ives memorial prints, $4,500. Some

tiny drawings, perhaps sketches for memorial paintings or embroiders, were in

their case.

Rich color and pattern enlivened Plummer & Philbrick's stand, where a rare

Eighteenth Century palampore, $8,500, covered the black wall. A Queen Anne

mirror with original glass was $8,500; a New England Spanish foot corner

chair, $7,500. Ample setup time allowed John Philbrick the leisure to peruse

the booth of Hollis Brodrick. There he contemplated purchasing three Queen

Anne splatback chairs. On a lighter note, Pat Guthman of Southport, Conn.,

unleashed a huge frog. The cast-iron piece dating to circa 1830 was $1,800.

"Most of the show's new exhibitors were very pleased with sales," Turner

reported. Carol Wojtkun was one of that group. Good buys in the Preston,

Conn., dealer's display included an Eighteenth Century Connecticut candlestand

with snake feet and old surface, $850, and a cherry Hepplewhite slant-top desk

with two secret drawers and valanced cubbyholes, $6,200. Other newcomers happy

with results included James Dickerson, Louis Dianni, and The Barometer Shop.

When Dan Hightower of Ithaca, N.Y., stopped to rest his head on a Queen Anne

table during setup on Thursday, a Hartford Courant photographer snapped him in

his exhausted state. The following day, the headline in the Metro Section

read: "They Are Antiques. They Can Wait A Little Longer."

The antiques can wait a little longer, but can the Hartford show? At the

moment, with more meetings planned among all parties, Fall Hartford is

wait-and-see. "I'm enthusiastically looking forward to next fall," said

Turner. "If the dealers want a show, we'll have one." Responded a prominent

exhibitor, "If she tries to keep it alive, we'll support her."

The more robust Spring Connecticut Antiques Show is planned for March 27-28,

1999.