The Charleston Show 2025 | Maine Antique Digest

Charleston, South Carolina

Photos courtesy Donna Prunkl

What began as the Charleston International Antiques Show in 2004 has morphed into simply the Charleston Show. M.A.D. was there for the inaugural international show (see the June 2004 edition of M.A.D., pp. 26-28-D). Keeling Wainwright Associates managed the show for the Historic Charleston Foundation from its beginning until 2012. During those nine years, “International” was dropped in favor of simply the Charleston Antiques Show. Beginning in 2013 the Antiques Council, an Ohio-based nonprofit, took over management for Historic Charleston. Nine years later, in 2022, Historic Charleston ended its sponsorship, and the Antiques Council took over ownership of the show, shortening its name even further.

The Charleston Show’s latest iteration was March 21 to 23 at Festival Hall, Charleston, South Carolina. When M.A.D. visited the show on its opening day, our first stop was the booth of Finnegan Gallery, Chicago. The Antiques Council’s director of shows, Kaye Gregg, is a partner in Finnegan Gallery. The previous night’s preview party was topic number one. “This planter sold at preview and is going to Cashiers [North Carolina],” said co-owner Marty Shapiro, and “the garden seat to Philadelphia.” Kaye added that the sold-out preview “brought in a young, lively crowd.”

Many of the 23 other dealers from the States, England, and France voiced the same enthusiasm. “It was a great preview,” said Michael Birdsall of Birdsall-Haase, St. Paul, Minnesota. Ron Bassin of A Bird in Hand Antiques, Florham Park, New Jersey, was glad to see so many “young people at preview, which was surprising.” Contacted after the sale, Bassin said that the preview was his best day of the show.

Popular interior designer Timothy Corrigan (b. 1956), who spoke Saturday morning about restoring and decorating French châteaus, also attended the preview. At several booths, he left a card with his photograph and endorsement, “Timothy Corrigan’s Pick.” The cards may have influenced attention, interest, and purchases.

Interior designer Timothy Corrigan was the guest speaker on Saturday. Corrigan is the author of multiple books. The newest, At Home in France: Inspiration and Style in Town and Country, was published in 2024. He is with Kaye Gregg, director of shows for the Antiques Council.

Jasmine Doussiere of Silver Art by D & R explained the details of a seashell-decorated flatware service for 12 (partially shown). All 140 pieces (service plus serving pieces) are solid silver with an applied 24k gold wash. “Because they are gilded,” said Doussiere, “they never need polishing.” The flatware was produced circa 1905 by Maison Cardeilhac, Paris (active 1804-1951) and has a Minerva hallmark. This was only the second show where the set had been offered. Asking price: $45,000. The total weight of the silver is 41 pounds.

At his Saturday talk, Corrigan, who has lived in France on and off from the age of 30, described himself broadly as “an American who understands the French design ethic.” He then confessed to being a “château-aholic.” There are over 40,000 châteaus in France, and he has owned four. The first three were quite expensive to maintain. The fourth, Château de la Chevallerie in the Loire Valley near Alençon, France, apparently was just right. He bought the 18,000-square-foot mansion in 2018 from descendants of its original owner and began an extensive restoration of the house, grounds, gardens, and outbuildings. He described how he designed an air-conditioning system that brought cool air through the estate’s many existing fireplaces. Half of the château’s 26 bedrooms were repurposed as en suite bathrooms, and eight rooms are reserved for paying guests, who must stay at least a week and rent the entire château. In decorating the château, Corrigan used several shades of yellow, what he called “the color of the moment.”

The show’s location could not have been better. A multilevel parking garage was a three-minute walk from Festival Hall, the former Memminger High School auditorium, built in 1939. Spoleto Festival USA, which used the then-vacant structure for performances beginning in 2000, renovated it in 2008. The antiques-shop-heavy King Street, the College of Charleston, superb restaurants, historic Charleston neighborhoods, and elegant gardens were nearby.

For the show, Festival Hall featured colorful, large booths on aisles named after local streets and avenues. Several metal park benches were placed in the aisles for those who needed to sit a spell. Darius Nemati of Nemati Collection, New York City, provided antique rugs for the walls in several dealer booths and the lecture hall. To use Timothy Corrigan’s phrase, the Charleston Show was comfortably elegant.

For more information on the Charleston Show for 2026 and other shows conducted by the Antiques Council, visit the website (https://antiquescouncil.com) or call (330) 606-8226.

Charleston Show first-timer Ron Greenwald of Woodmere Village, Ohio, brought an impressive collection of 19th- and 20th-century decorative objects to the show. Farm at Underhill Center (Vermont) by Chauncey F. Ryder (1868-1949) hung in one corner. “It is untouched,” said Greenwald. The 25" x 30" (sight size) oil on canvas accompanied by its bill of sale from 1985 was $12,000.

Birdsall and Haase, St. Paul, Minnesota, are veterans of the Lauritzen Gardens Antiques & Design Show, Omaha, Nebraska. This was their first time at Charleston. They were asking $8500 for this early 19th-century Italian or French double-strand 18k gold necklace with five framed colored intaglio Roman coins. Behind the necklace can be seen a small portion of a massive 18th-century English tapestry that ran the entire length of the Birdsall-Haase booth. From Nemati Collection, the tapestry was $65,000.

“I chased this carpet for twenty years,” said Darius Nemati of Nemati Collection. Its owner finally retired, and Nemati bought the 12' x 6' Kurd Persian rug at auction. The circa 1900 rug is an example of a Minahani (or Mina Khani) design, in which floral motifs are arranged in a lattice pattern. The carpet was $11,500.

Two craftsmen from Iran were reknotting damaged portions of antique carpets from Nemati Collection, located in Connecticut and New York.

Roger D. Winter, Ltd., Bucks County, Pennsylvania, offered this pair of Irish Chippendale mahogany console tables with replaced Carrara marble tops for $18,500. Winter noted that “Irish furniture is quirkier and rarer than comparable English furniture.” Each table measures 30" x 39½" x 20" and was topped with a 17" x 16" circa 1870 English or French terra-cotta dog figure. The pair of brown-glazed dogs was $2750.

J. Andrew Silla knew every mishap that befell the Harvey Mills sailing ship, here painted by marine artist Henry Scott, R.S.A. (British, 1911-2005). Construction of the Harvey Mills, a wooden Down Easter built in 1876 in Thomaston, Maine, was behind schedule when it was discovered that half the timbers were cut wrong. After construction of the ship was finished at $15,000 higher than the original estimate, the ship would not move off the launching blocks. When it was finally launched, it crushed one of the crew. Other mishaps included springing a leak, catching fire, colliding with and sinking another ship, being haunted, and finally getting lost at sea. Silla priced the 24¼" x 40" (sight size) oil on canvas at $21,500.

Ron and Joyce Bassin of A Bird in Hand Antiques, Florham Park, New Jersey, are ten-year veterans of the Charleston Show and its predecessors. Among the weathervanes in their booth was this 25" x 32" zinc and copper “Index” horse vane by J. Howard & Company, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, circa 1856-67. There is a single bullet hole in the zinc portion of the vane. The wounded horse vane was priced at $32,700.

It was impossible to miss the 12 silver stirrup cups displayed by S. J. Shrubsole, New York City. The cups were made for John Hungerford Arkwright (English, 1833-1905) by Hunt & Roskell, London, circa 1869-93. Unlike other cups, these can stand upright on the animal’s horns and snout. The nine larger cups are 5¼" tall, and the three smaller ones, 4¼". All are engraved with the name of the bull or cow represented and their various prizes. The cups were featured on the British Antiques Roadshow at Hampton Court Castle, season 33, episode 27, in 2011. Asking price: $450,000.

Thierry Doussiere of Silver Art by D & R, Baltimore, Maryland, and Marseille, France, suggested that this 19th-century French Empire potpourri container is in the style of noted French bronzer Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). What appears to be a burner under the bowl is decorative, said Doussiere, who priced the 24½" tall patinated bronze and ormolu object at $22,000.

On a far wall in the large double booth of Callaghan Fine Paintings, Shrewsbury, England, was this Expressionist watercolor and gouache on paper painting by Eugène “Gen” Paul (French, 1895-1975). The artist’s most productive years were 1925 to 1929. Paul’s 19" x 25" (sight size) painting titled At the Polo was $18,750.

The exterior of Festival Hall during the Charleston Show.

Among the many lovely prints offered by Denise De Laurentis of Fine Antique Prints, Wayne, Pennsylvania, was this copperplate engraving by English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) depicting Pagurus maculatus (the red mottled rock crab) and Cancer chelis crassissimus (the rough-shelled crab). It is a page from Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which was published in London in sections starting in the early 1730s. Catesby was based in Charleston, South Carolina, along with coastal Georgia and the Bahamas during much of his time in the Colonies. The print was $3500.

While we were checking out William Cook’s booth, a couple came by requesting information on buying one of the chairs sold to guests at then-Prince Charles’s investiture as the Prince of Wales, July 1, 1969. This one was sold for $3500. The chairs were designed by Lord Snowdon and handmade in Wales. Cook is based in Hungerford, England, and exhibits at several shows in the U.S. and England. Before he sells a chair, Cook removes the deteriorating foam padding and replaces it with something more durable.

Peace and Plenty Antiques, Washington, D.C., placed fresh tulips in this 18th-century five-piece Dutch Delft garniture set with lidded and beaker vases in a celadon glaze with birds, vines, and flowers. The set came from the collection of Caroline Faison Antiques, which was sold at Leland Little Auctions in 2021. Asking price: $6950.

Getting to interview the staff at the booth of B. Viz Design, New Orleans, was not easy. One group of customers was quickly followed by another. What was the attraction? Only the most attractive pillows, created through intensive labor and patience in a process Rebecca Vizard calls “regal recycling.” The family salvages damaged antique textiles such as uniforms, altar pieces, and tapestries and creates over-the-top decorative throw pillows. This 15" x 34" pillow with thickly raised gold metallic embroidery on velvet with vintage gold metallic cording was $3000.

Loana Marina Purrazzo of Evanston, Illinois, has been collecting matte gold-tone jewelry by Robert Lee Morris (b. 1947) since the 1970s. “Some are marked,” said Purrazzo. Morris made jewelry for Donna Karan, Ann Klein, Michael Kors, and others. The Telescope cuff bracelet was $2800; the Dart necklace, $2500.

David Brooker of Woodbury, Connecticut, and Surrey, England, had several dog portraits in his booth. This one, an oil of a Jack Russell terrier by British artist John Emms (1844-1912), caught our eye. Emms is noted for his portraits of horses, foxhounds, and terriers as well as hunt scenes. Brooker called attention to the scratched signature, lower right: “‘Fritz’ / Jn Emms / 77.” He dated the painting to 1900 and tagged it $6950.

“The rigging is the last element the artist adds in a ship portrait,” said David Brooker. “And if the painting is not cleaned with great care, it is the first element to be damaged.” These circa 1840 marine paintings by Nicholas Matthew Condy (English, 1818-1851) were meticulously cleaned a month ago, and the rigging is intact. They were $12,500 for the pair or $22,500 for four (two more not shown).