Williamsburg Show Signals the Opening of the Holiday Season
November 25th, 2018
Holiday Antiques Show, Williamsburg, Virginia
The 37th annual Holiday Antiques Show was held November 23-25, 2018, at the Doubletree by Hilton in Williamsburg, Virginia. Known to most antiques followers as simply the Williamsburg Holiday Show, the event long ago solidified its place as a post-Thanksgiving destination for many in the mid-Atlantic. Although the ownership of the show’s venue has changed several times over the years, and the hotel has been branded by various hostelry chains, the Williamsburg show has been held in the same location on the same weekend for all of its 37 years.
This 1815-25 late Federal Virginia candlestand from a Rappahannock County, Virginia, estate is constructed entirely of walnut. The octagonal tilt top is supported by a heavy ring-turned pedestal raised on a simple tripod variation of cyma-curved legs. Scott Cilley of Northumberland Antiques, Richmond, Virginia, priced the table at $635. Cilley believes that the table is a vernacular interpretation of a more formal form of the day.
Michael Tuccori of Harrisonburg, Virginia, is a regular exhibitor at the Williamsburg show. The wall of artillery included, top to bottom, an 1830s East Tennessee long rifle with silver mounts, $7800; a flintlock made by John Sheetz of Staunton, Virginia, $16,500; and a Revolutionary War-era flintlock fowler, $2200. The powder horn and pouch resting on top of the blanket chest were tagged $650. The 1800-10 blanket chest from southwestern Virginia or eastern Tennessee is constructed of yellow pine and poplar. The distinctive decoration is a combination of compass-drawn pinwheels and freehand images of what appear to be sunflowers and cornstalks on a red-painted ground. The inward-turned feet are also unusual. Tuccori stated that he would be happy to discuss the price with interested parties as he continues to research the chest.
Bettianne Sweeney, the show’s tireless promoter, again gathered together a strong group of dealers offering fine selections of antiques, fine art, collectibles, and related items. The total number of stalls was slightly down from 2017, but the quality of material was in no way diluted.
Folk art and Americana smalls are consistently strong at the Williamsburg show. Many patrons use the sale as a one-stop Christmas shopping location, electing to forgo the hassle and frustrations associated with traditional Black Friday weekend crowds and parking.
Ken Farmer, a well-known Antiques Roadshow appraiser and personality, has become a regular at the show, scheduling appraisal appointments on the show floor on Saturday. His schedule remained packed the entire afternoon.
No overriding conclusions regarding the state of the antiques business can be drawn from this edition of the Williamsburg show. Fine, well-priced examples within all categories of antiques were readily available from knowledgeable dealers. The one takeaway is that there is no substitute for the first-person examination and interaction that is at the base of the antiques trade and a collector’s passion. The Williamsburg show continues to have the feel of a congenial family gathering. Old friends meet and discuss old crusty stuff. What better way to launch the holiday season?
For additional information, contact Bettianne Sweeney at (757) 220-1299.
Don and Tammy Strop of Hamlet House, Hamlet, North Carolina, organize and sponsor antiques shopping tours to Europe. Their offerings reflect their antique and garden finds from the Continent. Here are various examples of mortars and pestles, ranging in price from $170 to $220. The small glass milk-bottle shape containers are hummingbird feeders, tagged $40 each.
These two 18th-century Bavarian portraits were found in the booth of Mel Madsen of Antiques of London, Williamsburg, Virginia. Madsen stated that the oil on canvas portraits are identified on the reverse as Count and Countess Anton Von Schlegenberg. Both paintings are dated 1789, and each displays an indecipherable signature. The portraits were offered as a pair for $1950.
It is no surprise that at a show during the Thanksgiving weekend there would be something having to do with a turkey. Bill and Joyce Subjack of Neverbird Antiques, Surry, Virginia, offered the circa 1865 three-gallon stoneware churn from the area of Zanesville, Ohio, that displays a very nice brushed cobalt gobbler decoration. This turkey crock was priced at $3300. The bank note resting against the churn is an example of Colonial Virginia currency. It is a preprinted blank note that had been ordered in anticipation of the formation of the James River Bank in Williamsburg; however, the James River Bank was never formed. This note is dated September 1, 1775, and the blank form was liberally written on to articulate the terms of payment of the £5 note. The price of the rare piece of currency was $1650.
Steve and Lorraine German of Mad River Antiques, LLC, North Granby, Connecticut, are known for their fine selection of pottery. This display is representative of their offerings. The top shelf displays (left to right) a Goodwin & Webster one-gallon stoneware jug priced at $450; a manganese-decorated redware jar that sold early in the day; a large mid-19th-century stoneware bottle by Jones & Co., marked $424; a stoneware flask incised with a bird, $1950; an inkwell with a coggled rim, $450; and a redware flask, $325. The lower shelf displays additional examples: a circa 1800 one-gallon stoneware crock with brushed cobalt-blue decoration, $1500; a New York City stoneware crock, also circa 1800, with open loop handles and brushed swag decoration, $1950; and a small jar with incised floral decoration. The large jug is by Peter Cross and features an incised and brush-painted bird.
There was a lot to see in this corner of the booth of Jim and Toni Stoma of Latcham House Antiques, Waterville, Ohio. The nautical painting by Frederick Tordoff (British, b. 1939) was priced at $950. The framed student calligraphic notebook below the shelf was tagged $850. The watercolor silhouette-style portraits on the right were marked $475, $295, and $695, top to bottom. The ivory dominos in a slide-top box on the top shelf were priced at $265; the carved bone clothespin was $240; and the large tooth with the initials “C T. C.,” $375.
This highly figured tiger maple chest of drawers was offered by Marc Witus of Gladstone, New Jersey. The case features five graduated drawers below a rectangular top with an applied cornice-style molding. The chest is raised on bracket feet with complex shaped spurs. The chest was tagged $950. The circa 1800 large convex mirror in an ornately carved gilt frame is surmounted with a large spread-wing eagle. It was marked $3950. The circa 1890 gold-painted arrow and eagle directional on stand was $1650; and the 1890s Santa with sleigh and reindeer, $4500.
Joan Parker of Inglenook Antiques, Reedville, Virginia, arranged this corner of her booth with an interesting array of merchandise. The adz heads were likely used for timber framing or in the boat-building trade. They were priced at $35 and $65. The circa 1860 painted child’s Windsor chair was marked $195. The three framed images on the left are not cut silhouettes; they are 19th-century reverse-painted scenes on glass. The top left was $595; ship captain with ship below, $895; and parlor scene, $495. The circa 1880 oil on canvas of a dog was marked $595, and the watercolor English hunting party scene was $695.
Jerry and Judy Brill of Brill’s Antiques, Newport News, Virginia, who are longtime participants in the Williamsburg Holiday Show, offered this large mahogany Queen Anne swing-leg dining table from the first half of the 18th century. The tabletop features a simple molded edge, and the face of the cockbeaded drawer is burled elm. The table was marked $2500.
This large (80" x 44" x 14¼") southwestern Virginia apothecary dominated one wall of the booth of Joseph E. A. Wilkinson of Wilkinson Estate Services, LLC, Spring Hope, North Carolina. The piece is constructed of walnut and dates to 1818. The upper section features a pair of six-light doors and encloses three fixed shelves. The lower section is configured with three stacks of four graduated drawers, and the case is raised on tall bracket feet. An interesting aspect of the piece is that it appears that the case was originally supported by turned feet. For some unknown reason, those feet were enclosed during or shortly after construction. Wilkinson speculates that at the time of construction, the popularity of turned feet had not yet reached southwestern Virginia. The original turned feet were not removed but were simply enclosed by the bracket feet. The apothecary was marked $8500.
Hunt boards always attract attention. This example is noteworthy because of its diminutive size and drawer configuration. The piece is from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is constructed of yellow pine. With tapering square-section legs and three small drawers above a single long drawer, this hunt board could be used easily in a number of settings. It was tagged $4250. The late 18th-century portrait of a gentleman is from New York state and was marked $3000. The blue-and-white transferware coffeepot dates circa 1820 and was priced at $1450. The platter was $295, and the brass candlestick, $110. This nice grouping was found in the booth of Williamsburg, Virginia, dealer Carolyn Brown, who trades as Sparrow’s Nest Antiques.
This 82" tall walnut linen press was found with Peyton E. Collie of Collecting the Past, Whitakers, North Carolina. The two-piece press dates circa 1800, and Collie believes that it is from the Maryland/Delaware area. The case is dovetailed, and the forward corners of the upper and lower sections feature reeded quarter columns. The upper case door panels and the faces of the graduated drawers of the lower section exhibit finely inlaid perimeter frames. The cornice displays fine dentil detail, and the press rests on ogee bracket feet. Collie believes that the waist molding may have been replaced. The press was tagged $7500.
Lisa S. McAllister of Clear Spring, Maryland, offered a framed needlework displaying the stitched signature of Mary Jane Bangs of George Town [Georgetown, Washington, D.C.] and dated 1833. The piece appears to be stitched on linen and features a floral wreath surrounding a single stanza “Extract” of a Society of Friends poem, “The Flower of Youth Never Appears More Beautiful Than When It Bends Toward the ‘Son of Righteousness.’” The entire poem appears in an 1893 printing of Friends’ Religious & Moral Almanac. The embroidery was priced at $3400. The small portrait of Abraham Lincoln in oil on a smooth natural stone was presented within a carved wooden mat and housed in a deep dovetailed walnut frame. The unidentified artist’s monogram is boldly painted in red, bottom center. The price of the Lincoln portrait was $3200.
Originally published in the February 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2019 Maine Antique Digest
