The Elverson Show Celebrates 50 Years
October 27th, 2019
Elverson Antique Show & Sale, Elverson, Pennsylvania
Forty-one dealers set up in the Twin Valley High School in Elverson, Pennsylvania, on October 26 and 27, 2019, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Elverson Antique Show & Sale. From its beginnings in a firehouse in 1969, the Elverson show became known for its home-cooked turkey dinners that brought a loyal group of buyers to the show. The turkey dinner is no longer part of the show, but the Twin Valley High School’s girls’ lacrosse team, the beneficiary of the show, got good reviews for the lunches they provided at very reasonable prices.
This show was given new life when Gene Bertolet from Oley and Wayne Wilhide from Shippensburg took over the management in 2016. Each show has gotten better. Dealers came this time from New England, New York state, Maryland, Alabama, Ohio, and all parts of Pennsylvania. A booth costs $275, and there is a waiting list.
Gene Bertolet of Oley, Pennsylvania, always offers a variety of baskets. The small basket on the stepstool in good condition was $475, the half basket was $115, and the painted footstool was $145.
Wayne Wilhide of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, lined up four similar lanterns priced from $165 to $195. The seven-sided one, second from left, is the rarest.
The 2019 show was dedicated to the memory of the late William “Bill” Kurau, a much-loved dealer in English ceramics made for the American market who shared his knowledge freely. Bill’s wife, Teresa, and his son David are carrying on the business. They ran the Kurau stand at the show and brought along with them Bill’s youngest grandson, David Kurau Jr., five months old.
The dealers set up quickly on Friday after school was out and early on Saturday morning for the 11 a.m. opening. They offered a large variety of baskets, small painted chests and boxes, woodenware, lanterns, painted tin and punched-tin coffeepots, quilts, coverlets, holiday decorations, yellowware, stoneware, redware, spatterware, spongeware, hooked rugs, lighting, kitchen gear, and stone fruit, some of it oversized and some miniature. Greg Kramer of Robesonia, Pennsylvania, filled the entire foyer with redware, stoneware, metalware, carvings, and one of the largest wallpapered wooden hatboxes. It was lined with an 1841 Philadelphia newspaper!
Many shoppers left with bags of all sizes on Saturday. Sunday was a bit slower, with a rainstorm in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon, but 
those who had been to auctions on Saturday came and bought. A few pieces of furniture sold, but most sales were decorations at this tabletop show. Collectors on a treasure hunt found things they could not leave behind. “This show is lot of fun,” said one shopper after another. “It’s quality country antiques.”
Most of the dealers will be back in March for the spring edition of the Elverson show, to be held on March 28 and 29. For more information, visit the website (www.elversonantiqueshow.com).
John and Peggy Bartley of Old Farm Antiques, Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, asked $495 for this yellow and red quilt on a green calico ground. The child’s Boston rocker was $295; the pig cookie cutter, $85; the vintage Donkey Party game, $140; and the wire egg basket, $145.
Here is good design from the 19th century. This cast-iron broiler with a fylfot design in the center was $295 from Wayne Wilhide.
Daniel and Karen Olson of Newburgh, New York, asked $1250 for this large 19th-century wooden tub, well designed and with a rich patina. The large turned covered sugar bowl with a swing handle was $1750.
Ralph Ridolfino of Hammondsport, New York, asked $2650 for this Amish quilt with grape quilting and in good condition.
This four-gallon crock painted with a cobalt chicken was $675 from Steve Sherhag of Early American Antiques, Canfield, Ohio.
This celluloid fellow is Snowflake, a comic character created by cartoonist Oscar Hitt in the 1920s. It was $135 from Guthrie & Larason, Chalfant, Pennsylvania, who are specialists in celluloid toys.
Double-sided game board, $795 from The Norwoods’ Spirit of America, Timonium, Maryland. A checkerboard is on the other side.
A rare redware form, this covered butter crock was $895 from Kris Johnson of Adamstown, Pennsylvania.
Diane Farr of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, asked $350 for this 10" high green-painted firkin with the maker’s name impressed on the lid, “C & A Wilder, So. Hingham, MA.” She said the Wilder bucket factory was in business from 1830 to 1891.
David Tuttle of Oley, Pennsylvania, asked $250 for the chipmunk cage and $225 for the mousetrap, the smaller of the two. “I have had squirrel cages, but I have never had them this small. Perhaps the larger one was for a chipmunk. The small one is a mousetrap. Catch a mouse and watch him play,” he said.
This curly maple dry sink was $2500 from JK Nevin Antiques, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. JK Nevin sold a blanket chest decorated with fat green hearts and green-sponged drawers at setup.
“Wm E Warner / West Troy” is impressed on this jug decorated with an eagle with bunting, a shield, and a star. It was $3800 from Bradford Craig White of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. White says the middle market is far from dead. “I had my best August in forty years in business,” he said. “And I don’t do New Hampshire and I don’t do York; they are too expensive. I just find good items in original condition.”
Steiff made black cats for Halloween. This one was $185 from Alice & Art Booth Antiques, Wayne, New Jersey.
John Rogers of New London, New Hampshire, sells more than just butter prints. He offered a collection of slip-decorated redware as well. The plate decorated with a bird was $2450, and the one with the name “Leonore” was $550; it was restored. The plate with three waves was $850, and the last one on the right, probably made in New Jersey, was $2500. The elliptical butter stamp is Welsh and was priced at $595.
John Hartman of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, shared a stand with Barry Shenk of Marietta, Pennsylvania. Hartman offered the punched-tin coffeepot on the left decorated with a basket of flowers for $1400 and the painted one (center) for $1900; and the one decorated with wrigglework, on the right, was offered by Shenk for $1450.
This pink transferware platter showing the residence of Richard Jordan, a Quaker farmer in Camden, was $950 from the Kuraus of Lampeter, Pennsylvania.
Newsom & Berdan Antiques, Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, and Hallowell, Maine, asked $3800 for this hooked rug from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, last quarter of the 19th century.
David Kurau and his mother, Teresa, are carrying on dealing antiques after the death of Bill Kurau in September 2019. David had been dealing on his own account. Here he talks with a customer.
Margaret Schenck of Ulysses, Pennsylvania, had three sieves made of wood and horsehair; the largest was $72, the small one was $42, and the middle-size one was $50. “They look like abstract sculpture on the wall,” she said.
A collector who vowed not to buy anything succumbed to a green and blue bull’s-eye spatterware plate that has the power of an abstract painting. The seller was Barry Shenk of Marietta, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Smith of York, Pennsylvania, asked $195 each for these Lancaster County late 19th-century blankets.
This painted tin bread tray or bread pan attributed to Harvey Filley’s shop in Philadelphia has a border pattern similar to that pictured on the cover of the book American Painted Tinware: A Guide to Its Identification, volume 3, by Gina Martin and Lois Tucker. The tray was $1200 from Bob Conrad of Yeagertown, Pennsylvania.
William and Phyllis Giunta of Honey Brook, Pennsylvania, asked $325 for the quilt that gave the color scheme for their stand filled with cobalt-decorated salt-glazed stoneware.
Greg K. Kramer of Robesonia, Pennsylvania, asked $1850 for this large wallpaper-covered wooden hatbox lined with an 1841 Philadelphia newspaper.
Burl bowl and spoon, $550 from the Passes of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
Originally published in the January 2020 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2020 Maine Antique Digest
