Date: Fri 29-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

NYArmory

Full Text:

New York Armory Antiques Show

(With Cuts)

NEW YORK CITY -- While many stylish antiques shows recreate the look and feel

of the American interior, few have quite the handle on the changing seasons

that the New York Armory Antiques Shows do. Winter, spring and fall, the

events organized by Wendy Westchester Management unfurl the carpet for

affluent shoppers whose moods and agendas follow the mercury.

"The phone suddenly starts ringing in late August with people wanting to buy

clocks. They're tired of summer even though it isn't over," explains McLean,

Va., dealer John Snead.

Back from the beach and their country homes, antiques-hungry shoppers turn out

in droves for the first New York Armory Show of the season in September. The

holidays dictate sales in December. Dealers and decorators hit their stride in

February and March, when they've had several cold months to feather their

nests. By late April, when the last New York Armory Antiques Show of the

season gets underway, consumers are stocking up on the goods they won't get

another chance at until September.

Thus the latest New York Armory Antiques Show saw steady sales in the kinds of

things that seem to sell best here: pedestal dining tables and substantial

sets of dining chairs, scatter rugs and fireplace equipment, and fashionable

Continental fare.

Good & Hutchinson & Associates set the pace early in the show with sales of

dining room furnishings, ceramics, small stands, and occasional furniture. The

dealers were contemplating their own summer plans: trips to Florida and

Alaska, and a busy few months in their seasonal shop in Sheffield, Mass. More

dining furniture sold up the aisle at Deacon's Horse. The Darien, Conn.,

dealers are celebrating their 20th year as exhibitors at the Wendy shows.

"The season has been very good to us," Jim Gallagher of Gallagher & Zager

Associates, North Norwich, N.Y., had earlier told us. "We sell a lot of

fireplace equipment. It's a market we developed. This round, we've sold a

little of everything. If we sell at little more, we'll be happy."

Developing a market is an important consideration for regular exhibitors at

the Armory, who count on clients -- amateur and professional buyers alike --

to keep coming back for more. "Deal in basic stock, keep it up, get exposure,

and you'll sell," instructed Camden, Me., dealer Rufus Foshee, whose inventory

includes creamware, saltglaze, Staffordshire, spongeware and other choice

English and American ceramics.

Known for Steuben, Jeffrey Purtell of Amherst, N.H., brought some of his best

pieces of art glass. A rare tall vase by F. Carder was $1,500 in Purtell's

stand. Art glass and art pottery also filled the booth of Leah Gordon.

Pictured here from the New York dealer's stand are a 1921 Rookwood scenic vase

decorated by Sally Coyne, $3,700; a rare, blue Tiffany salt with its original

label, $625; French mother-of-pearl opera glasses, $2,200; a Georg Jensen

footed bowl from the 1920s, $6,800; and a Newcomb College high-gloss pitcher

decorated by Sara Bloom Levy, $7,500.

Creative display also contributes to sales. D & B Antiques of New York City

added dramatic interest to its presentation of mostly English pieces by

fitting its stand with a wooden library ladder. On its rungs were boxes and

other choice smalls.

One of the most creative displays belonged to Lou Marotta, a New York City

specialist in Continental furniture and decorative arts who skillfully

combines color and texture. Marotta created movement by presenting furniture

on pedestals of different heights. Featured was an Eighteenth Century Italian

painted console with marble top, $9,500; a 1920s plaster panel that was hand

built by N. Katz, $3,800; and an Eighteenth Century Italian chair, which sold

early in the show.

Charles and Rebekah Clark, dealers in American Classical furniture who have

recently opened a shop in Woodbury, Conn., occupied the first booth inside the

door. Their centerpiece was a sumptuous New York breakfast table with richly

figured top, canted corners, and beautifully carved legs ending in dolphin

feet. Dating to 1825 and possibly the work of Deming & Bulkley, it was

$18,000. Pulled up to the table were two bergeres. The dealers speculated that

the pair, $9,500, which has a virtual mate at the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum,

may be Continental.

Fine American and Continental furniture was also for sale at Dagmar's

Antiques, specialists who relocated from Nyack, N.Y., to Monterey, Mass., this

last year. Dealer Dagmar Kubes was justly proud of an English rosewood

tilting-top center table, $9,800, and eight English klismos chairs, $12,000.

"Customers here seem to prefer European furniture," Kubes said. "We've sold

Continental furniture, especially Biedermeier, and an English chest-on-chest.

Straight forms do well. The buyer of the chest-on-chest is mixing it with

Oriental art."

David Lindquist and Chris Allen of Whitehall At The Villa made the trip up to

the Armory from Chapel Hill, N.C. They gave their display a clubby English

feeling by mixing paneling, portraiture, and a fashionable card table and

chairs. Whitehall At The Villa is still dispersing the estate of Frances

Marion, an early Hollywood screenwriter recently commemorated in a book by

Cari Beauchamp and by a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. In a glass

showcase, Whitehall arrayed Marion's toy soldier collection, including a

German army set bought in Berlin in the summer of 1938.

The most recent New York Armory Antiques Show featured several overseas

exhibitors. Among them were Scottish Art Heritage, billing itself as Glasgow's

leading gallery of British and Continental paintings from the Eighteenth to

the early Twentieth Century. A Nineteenth Century Roman pietra dura cabinet

was $18,500 at Elleke Claassen van Steen of Ontario.

Didier Lorence made a splash with four stone and terra cotta urns, $24,000.

The Limoge, France dealer and his companion, Annie Laplaud, stood only a few

inches taller than the massive ornaments, which are illustrated here. Another

French dealer, Lhomand of New York and Paris, papered a wall with original

Aubusson tapestry designs, or "Carton de Paisserie."

"In our spring show, we combine garden ornaments with stained glass and

fireplace mantels," said Francis Purcell. "We've had good trade sales," added

the Philadelphia dealer.

For some, the changing seasons are another reason to return to a favorite

seaside haunt. John and Patricia Snead of McLean, Va., travel time and again

to England, often retreating to little known villages along the Cornwall

coast. A recent trip abroad left them flush with stock, including four Regency

salon chairs, $7,500; a French bureau plat discovered in a house in Hampshire;

colorful Shelley pottery; and tall clocks. Among the latter was a circa 1760

Page of Bristol timepiece with a brass dial and early moonphase mechanism,

$15,500. A Scottish clock by Gil of Aberdeen, circa 1800, was $12,000.