Pure Country Antique Show | Maine Antique Digest

Chrisman, Illinois

The story goes something like this. In 2021 Jill Mattingly decided to use her event venue, Bloomfield Barn near Chrisman, Illinois, to host a weekend sale of antiques. Simple concept. Minimal dealers. “It would just be us and a couple of friends,” she said. And then, well, it wasn’t. “We sold out the barn,” she continued, yet more dealers wanted to participate. “Could we set up, too?” they wanted to know. Jill gave the nod. “We realized it would be more like our other show [the semiannual Country Spirit Antique Show in Arcola, Illinois] and started to say ‘yes,’ and the word got out.” The Pure Country Antique Show was born.

Pure Country Antique Show is truly a country show. Viewed across a soybean field are dealer tents set up in a side yard, with Bloomfield Barn at the far left.

Fast forward three years. Jill and her husband, Mark, are still eyeball deep with Pure Country. The barn was full, and four large tents housed additional sellers across the grounds for the 2024 edition on July 13. The show featured 56 dealers from 15 states. Among those new to the show were four dealers from the Fiddlers Antique Show in Nashville, Tennessee, an event the Mattinglys acquired last year.

Oh, and the crowd was there too. In a big way. That says something, because Bloomfield Barn is tucked between soybean and corn fields smack dab in the middle of nowhere. People have to seriously want to be there just to find the place.

As Jill noted about the show’s customers, “You need a critical mass to get people to get in their cars and drive a distance.” Two things have encouraged buyers. First, there’s the merchandise, a strong mix of quality country furniture and accessories, plus a healthy helping of Americana. There’s also the word of mouth about those goods and the atmosphere surrounding the event. One person tells another. “That’s what makes the show work,” said Jill. “She brings her followers, and he brings his, and she brings hers....” Those customers came from as far away as Arizona and Florida, she added.

Keep telling yourself: cornfields.

And those customers were buying once again this year. “Quality smalls were snapped up quickly by our discerning crowd, while we did see furniture selling as well,” Jill noted in a text after the event. “We had a very small space for ourselves but sold three pieces of furniture. We opened the barn’s double doors full width repeatedly throughout the morning so porters could wheel out furniture. Ray Lassen sold three pieces of furniture in the last hour, and the Steinmans [Tim and Michele] sold a very nice pie safe late in the day as well.”

Pure Country Antique Show returns to Bloomfield Barn on Saturday, July 12, 2025. For more information, phone Jill at (312) 957-1065 or visit (www.purecountryantiqueshow.com).

“Good Day” hooked rug, the text surrounded by concentric rectangles in varied colors, Maine, 1920-40, mounted, 18" x 37", $650 from Tim and Charline Chambers of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Missouri. “That’s just a happy rug,” said Tim. “I love a good message.”

Oil on canvas portrait attributed to Zedekiah Belknap (1781-1858), the female sitter wearing a red dress, 25" x 20½" (sight size), $1850 from Kris and Paul Casucci of Walker Homestead, Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Kay Puchstein of American Heritage Antiques, Frankfort, Ohio, stands in her booth behind a farm table in blue paint, with a rectangular top with cut corners, on square tapered legs, purchased 20 years ago at the Nashville shows, 28¾" high x 61¼" wide x 34½" deep, priced at $1450. The one-piece tabletop cupboard with an apothecary or spice base and molded top, in salmon paint, 34¾" high x 23¾" wide, was $2650; the platform sheep, $1650; the doll with a painted wooden face, $295; the dovetailed box with a chamfered top, in dark blue over light blue-gray paint, 11¼" high x 19½" wide, $950; the pewter plate, 13¼" diameter, $125; and the needlework table runner with scripture citations illustrated by peacocks, flowers, and people holding grapes, $95.

Wall box with a scalloped back and divided interior, bittersweet paint, 9" high x 14¾" wide, $395 from Eric D. Nichols of Tavern Creek Antiques, Portland, Missouri.

Large one-piece what-is-it weighing about 200 pounds, several corncobs used as plugs for the holes, 36" high x 22" diameter (at the top), said to possibly be a cheese strainer, sold during the show by Sheryl Brock of Greenfield, Indiana. The handsewn dress in brown and green homespun, its bodice lined with coarse linen, the skirt with a bow at the waist and pleats and gathers in the back, with detailing at the sleeves, wool binding, and the hem reinforced with linen, in excellent condition with no holes or wear, was $225.

Folk-art painting signed by F. R. Engle, with images including a coal mine, painter’s tools, babies playing in paint, and an eagle with a shield, also with text reading “Keystone Enamel No 100” and “Carter White Lead Co.,” the work believed to be of Pennsylvania origin and dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, 21½" square, conserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts, relined, $3200 from Derrick Garman of Garmantiques, Davenport, Florida. It was Garman’s first time at Pure Country.

Eclipse windmill tail in worn paint, Beloit, Wisconsin, found at a flea market in Pecatonica, Illinois, 41½" high x 101" wide (as shown), $1250 from Chris and Lisa Robinson of Robinson Ridge Antiques, Serena, Illinois. “I’ve been doing this for forty-some years, and I’ve never seen another one,” said Chris.

Grain-painted Ohio cupboard, 48½" high x 44" wide, $2100; embossed tin Ward’s Orange-Crush sign, $1400; two stoneware banks, $90 and $110; two-gallon jug with freehand stripes, $920; large basket with a raised bottom and carved handles, blue over gray paint, 23" diameter, $1500 from David Sinclair of Momence, Illinois.

Two half-round wooden butter prints, each with an attached “shelf” (that expert John H. Rogers describes as a separator), one butter stamp having a design of a wheat sheaf, the other with a foliate motif, each 7" wide, $695 apiece from Leisa Kirtley of The Western Reserve Antique Shop, Canfield, Ohio.

Victorian-era tin vasculum used for collecting plant specimens, the botanical case with a turned wooden handle and marked “Peter Gray / Maker / Boston,” wear and scratches, 7¼" high (excluding handle) x 18" long, $195 from Margie Krieg of Gleaner Antiques, Ashland, Ohio.

Grain-painted measure with dry, red vinegar paint, 8½" high x 13¼" diameter, $1495 from Teresa Waltz of Home in the Country Antiques, Trafalgar, Indiana.

Sampler wrought by Anna Meckly, dated 1833, 11½" x 13¼" (fabric size), $425 from Alicia Lawson of West Alexandria, Ohio.

Two-piece pine corner cupboard with a molded top and base, in an early black finish with newer shellac, H-hinges and rosehead nails, 80" high, $1450 from David Cotton and Heather Malott of Wabash, Indiana.

Connecticut low-back Windsor armchair in red paint, 1760-90, 22½" high, the seat 12" high, $1495 from Mary de Buhr of Downers Grove, Illinois.

Folky cage said to be for a mouse but more likely designed for a bird, circa 1880, with scalloped front edges over shaped legs, a scroll-cut top, 11¼" high x 9" wide, $325 from Marsha Schaefer of In the Country Antiques, Waxahachie, Texas.

Tramp art chest, the stepped form with a mirror and four drawers, disk embellishments, 18½" high x 19" wide, $215; tramp art bank, 8" high x 6¾" wide, $145 from Randi Moore of Outback Antiques, Oakland, Illinois.

Phone booth from a depot in Lapeer, Michigan, shingled roof, the exterior in pumpkin paint, the interior painted blue and with remnants of old wiring, sold during the show by Faith Lukianenko of South Haven, Michigan.

Cookie cutter of two people (possibly an adult and child), 8½" high x 7" wide (excluding base), $65 from Jerry and Wendy Norman of Pierson Station, Pierson, Illinois.

Oil on canvas painting of a homestead, 16 3/8" x 7 3/8", unframed, $545 from Suzanne Baker of Westville, Indiana.

Hanging corner cupboard in blue paint, one raised-panel door over a single dovetailed drawer and arched skirt, pegged construction, 35½" high x 22½" wide, sold during the show by Barbara Veazey of BV Antiques & Fiber Art, Paducah, Kentucky. “It’s a good show with wonderful dealers. You couldn’t ask for more,” said Veazey.