Date: Fri 24-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

York-Arion-Melvin

Full Text:

York Antiques Show

(with 32 cuts)

YORK, PENN. -- Some of the best shows in New York can't boast a continuous run

of 133 stellar performances. However, the York Antiques Show and Sale can and

did when it held its 133rd bi-annual three-day run September 3-5.

Manager Melvin Arion placed all 91 selected exhibitors in room settings in the

new Memorial Hall East building. The building is perfect for an antiques show

(even one of this size) with its wide aisles, air-conditioning, and cafeteria

-- all the creature comforts antiques show buffs have come to demand. The show

opened Saturday morning at 11 am to a very, very long crowd of patrons eager

to enter.

The majority of the exhibitors featured Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century

American, English and country furniture and accessories, coin silver tea sets,

flatware, good china, and ancestral paintings. The quality of the antiques

displayed was such that it took an inordinant amount of time to visit all 91

booths.

Within the first half-hour, first-time exhibitor Jeff R. Bridgman of Bridgman

Antiques, Mansfield, Penn., had already made a substantial sale. Sold was a

fine seldom-seen Chester County circa 1770 chair-rail Windsor. This chair type

is a real rarity.

When asked how he replaced the sold inventory, Bridgman said, "It's not as

tough as some people think. You just have to go up and down the road a lot."

Bridgman also offered a group of textiles plus a good variety of late

Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century furniture and a selection of redware

and yellowware.

Long-time exhibitor (20-plus years) at the York Antiques Show, Effie Sheppard

of Sheppard's Antiques, Bedford, Penn., featured a large array of country

store and painted furniture items. Also shown was a selection of children's

toys and a grouping of stoneware. Asked if the children's toys sold, Sheppard

replied, "They sure do. And if they don't I get to enjoy them."

Brill's Antiques, Newport News, Va., brought a fine R&W Wilson four-piece tea

set in coin silver.

About three years ago, Melvin "Butch" Arion purchased the York Antiques Show

from owner Paul L. Ettline. During the afternoon on Saturday Ettline visited

the show. In discussing his time managing the show, Ettline said, "I took over

this show [as manager] from Mabel Renner. She was the original owner. She

started this show [in 1934]. When she started the show, admission was 35

cents. I started working for her carrying in dishes for $10 a week."

About three years ago Ettline was involved in an accident which caused him to

retire. As Ettline said, "I had to give up the show business. So I said to

Butch [Melvin L. Arion], `Why don't you take over the show?'" At that time

Ettline was 77 years young.

Eleanor Wallace of Wood 'n Things, Lititz, Penn., mentioned she had done the

show since, "before it moved over here. I would say five years." Wallace

specializes in "country furniture, early woodworking tools and accessories.

That covers a lot."

Carol Meekins of Country Treasures, Preston, Md., featured a New York State

cupboard in old gray paint with scalloped top. Meekins said, "We specialize in

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century painted furniture. This [see photo] is a

wonderful piece, a York County, Pennsylvania, decorated chest."

Bunny Nolt of Worthington, Ohio, brought a cherry corner cupboard circa 1850

that originally came from Kentucky. Also shown was a tiger maple chest with a

one-board cherry top.

Betty Apt, from Pittsburgh, Penn., was one of a few show exhibitors

specializing in china. Staffordshire is Apt's specialty. "Anywhere from the

late Eighteenth Century up to today really," Apt said.

New England South Antiques, Roswell, Ga., specializes in Eighteenth and

Nineteenth Century paintings plus formal and country furniture. Offered was a

good oxbow diminutive chest in birch, circa 1780. Irvin and Delores Boyd, Fort

Washington, Penn., displayed a mid-Nineteenth Century country Chippendale

apothecary chest made of poplar and pine. Also shown was a Hepplewhite

Pembroke table in cherrywood, circa 1780; a Federal period corner cupboard,

also in cherry; and a Chippendale chest of drawers, circa 1770, from

Pennsylvania.

Barbara Walker of Antiques and Images, Avondale, Penn., brought a large

collection of highly collectible Quimper.

Prior to the show's opening on Saturday morning, Melvin "Butch" Arion took

time to offer more background.

"Paul Ettline had been running this show since 1958. Mabel Renner started the

show in 1934. It's one of the oldest shows in the country. He sold it to me

three years ago. He had it in the Old Main Building. And I had one show in

there when he sold it to me.

"Mr Rutter, the CEO of the fairgrounds, asked me if I would like to have the

antiques show in the new [Memorial Hall East] building that they had just

completed. And we have grown ever since."

"I bought the name of the show and a few of his walls [used for exhibitor room

settings]. We have had 1,100 to 1,200 walls built to accommodate the show.

When he ran it, there were about 50 dealers. And he never had a completely

walled show. There are 91 booths [at this show] and 93 exhibitors."

When asked about his background, Arion said, "I was an antiques dealer since I

was 18 years old in Maryland and Virginia, specializing in Eighteenth and

Nineteenth Century furniture and accessories. I was an exhibitor in Jim Burk's

show for over 20 years, until I bought this one. I did 38 shows a year.

"It was the fall of 1996 that I organized this. [Paul Ettline] just turned to

me and said, `Butch, I want you to take this show.' He was 77 then. It has

been on Labor Day weekend since 1934, and the 28th to 30th of January."

Sally Good, of Lahaska, Penn., displayed in booth number one. Good brought a

general selection of toleware and Gaudy Dutch in the strawberry pattern. Good

was another of the many dealers that reported sales early in the day. She sold

a green painted drysink (paint old but not original) that featured a scalloped

skirt.

Marilyn Kemble of Norwich, Ohio, showed an early American diminutive Queen

Anne highboy in maple, circa 1750; a good demilune card table with string

inlays, circa 1790; and a fine circa 1800 Mid-Atlantic Hepplewhite period

tall-case clock, one of the few seen on the floor.

Joseph Beardin from Rising Sun, Md., had a southern jelly cupboard in original

finish with an unusual gallery on the top, probably circa 1820. It was found

in Dacusville, Pickens County, S.C. Other southern items included a stand and

a farm table. Beardin is still considered an "outlander," having only done the

show six to seven times.

To continue the continuous run, Arion has scheduled the 134th York Antiques

Show in January.