Nashville, Tennessee
The Fairgrounds Nashville had an interesting way of promoting one of its marquee events. Taped to the doors of restroom stalls, where occupants became a captive audience, were fliers for the monthly Nashville Flea Market, described as “The Best Flea Market in Tennessee.”
A flea market was an odd thing to consider, at least during that particular time and space. It was Nashville, the weekend of Valentine’s Day. Just outside the restroom was a completely different show—one of the most thriving markets in America. And if you’ve been, you know. This was no flea market. Not even close.
The bustle beyond those bathroom doors revolved around The Nashville Show, held February 13-15 and managed by Jenkins + Co. Jon Jenkins put together 137 dealers in 129 booths for The Nashville Show. But, as he noted, “Those are just numbers.” Without proper context, numbers don’t mean squat.
First and foremost, what mattered at The Nashville Show was the formula—a mix that has evolved well past the days when the overwhelming Americana appeal was the last word to this event. And though Americana still maintains a bold presence across the floor—as do folk art, country antiques, and all those things that once defined Nashville in February—there’s no longer the cookie-cutter approach that worked so well so many years ago.
It’s kind of a Dr. Bruce Banner thing. You know, the Incredible Hulk. Dr. Banner was fine in his science gig. Quiet. Comfortable. Bland. But don’t excite him. Certainly don’t tick him off. As he noted, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
And maybe in a way antiques shows have grown too comfortable over the years, mixing the same chemicals and looking for a different reaction. What the Jenkins family did, in its own special way, was suck in a dose of gamma radiation and grow indignantly mindful of the notion that the antiques market wasn’t going to hold the same course forever. Americana, fine. But what about buyers who couldn’t care less for cigar-store Indians and Anna Pottery pig flasks? Leaving those people out in the cold was enough to turn a guy irritable and split-your-pants green.
It wasn’t so much that The Nashville Show got angry as that it got smart. It diversified. For anyone who has walked the floor in recent years, the change is obvious. And never more so than when traveling the aisles from one side of the show to the other. At one corner were Bob Zordani and Heidi Kellner of Z & K Antiques, Lexington, Virginia, traditional Americana, from a rooster weathervane to hooked rugs. Near the farthest point opposite was John Forster of Barometer Fair, Sarasota, Florida, offering his usual display of weather-related instruments.
Along the way, the show mutated. It moved away from Americana, danced a bit with England, Europe, and Asia, and, in some booths, pushed across eras, leaving behind Chippendale’s predictable lines and Sheraton’s finesse as it took a fancy to the staid nature of the Arts and Crafts movement before signaling and changing lanes, destination mid-century modern and beyond. And somewhere in that dizzying switch was a vintage Pyrex display full of (what else?) Pyrex. Didn’t see that in the Nashville days of old.
“The crazy thing about it is that it’s never been intentional. It’s morphed because of the market,” said Jenkins. At the most recent show, 70 or so dealers of American antiques gave way to 50-some dealers of European material, decorative art, jewelry, and the like. “It’s never been intentional. It’s a reaction to the market. I really like the mix of the show. I think it’s one of the only places in the country you find that mix.” And that variety is holding. Jenkins said there’s little difference across the floor from three years ago to now.
Back to the numbers. In 2024 The Nashville Show moved the bar. “Last year we set an attendance record,” said Jenkins. “This goes back to the hotels, back to the good old days.” This year, the customer count was off that mark by about a hundred folks. “To do that two years in a row, with everything that’s going on in the world, that’s a pretty good floor,” he added.
Something else needs to be mentioned right about here: perspective. It also has to do with the numbers. On Saturday, the last day of the show, thunderstorms and gusty winds waved a finger in the face of anyone who hadn’t yet made it to The Nashville Show. Nonetheless, the overall headcount was proof of the event’s appeal.
More than 30 years into things, The Nashville Show wasn’t doing too shabby. One might say it was even flexing a muscle and roaring. As Jenkins noted, “Maybe the good old days are now.”
The Nashville Show was one of five antiques-related events during Valentine’s Day weekend in Nashville and nearby Lebanon, Tennessee. “We’ve been there when there were five shows. We’ve been there when we were the only show,” he said. “The more shows, the better.”
For more information, phone (317) 431-0118 or visit the website (www.jenkinsandco.com/the-nashville-show).
Susan Fleener-Apple and Keith Fleener of Tarkington Interiors, Indianapolis, Indiana, didn’t know much about their large outdoor clock advertising “Clayton, Son & Crowther,” priced at $3400 and measuring 46" diameter. A check of Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com) revealed numerous advertisements for the company, listing it as “Estate Agents and Valuers” in Manchester, England. The earliest reference found was in a 1925 issue of the Manchester Evening News. The latest ad for the business, in a 1973 copy of the paper, described the company as “Auctioneers, Surveyors, Valuers, Estate & Insurance Agents.” The clock has plastic faces and shows no signs of inner works, suggesting that the hands were turned by mechanics inside the building to which it was attached. The oversize roosters, 46" high and said to be made of zinc or aluminum, were priced at $1200 each. They were found at Marburger Farm Antique Show in Round Top, Texas, where Fleener-Apple swapped a root chair for the fowls.
Don’t say you weren’t warned. The single-sided painted wood sign advised “Any Person taking down this fence / or using this Path will be / considered a trespasser.” There was a story here, unfortunately lost to time. Brenda and Mel Evans of Chat Old Log House Antiques, Tiffin, Ohio, said the sign came from Massachusetts. Measuring 10" x 42", it was priced at $325.
The red and white stripes on barber poles originate from the days of bloodletting. Red represented blood, while white stood for bandages. The shape of the pole was even symbolic, reminiscent of something the patient would grip to encourage blood flow during a good letting. It all makes a haircut seem rather benign. This 36" tall barber pole, acquired in New England, was $895 from Linda Green of Stone Barn Antiques, Wildwood, Missouri.
Dealers come to Nashville from near and far. Adin Poole of Tucson, Arizona, said he had a 29-hour trip to get to Music City. Then again, he’s used to getting around. His early ties to New England included shops in Vermont and Massachusetts. Now retired and living in the Sun Belt, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab Americana that other retirees hauled to the Grand Canyon State and then quickly tired of in favor of Southwest décor. “I buy all year and come out here and have fun,” he said. It’s the only show he does, and his broad mix of merchandise included this homestead pencil sketch from the 19th century. Measuring 7½" x 9¾" (sight size), it was tagged $125.
Chris Smith of Circa 1855, Lebanon, Ohio, had nicknamed the boy “Jimmy” in this electrified bronze of a lad wearing overalls and a backward baseball-style cap while standing next to a street lamp. It was said to have a connection to a library in Tulsa, Oklahoma, probably as an interior piece of artwork, but the correlation wasn’t clear. Standing 80" high overall, the work was priced at $3950.
Good pie safes weren’t hard to find. Butch Lever of Hebron, Kentucky, had this bulky but intriguing example in cherry with old green-gray paint and punched designs consisting of alternating bold fylfots and hearts. Having cockbeaded drawers and turned legs, it stands 64½" high x 58" wide x 24½" deep and was priced at $6500. Smalls atop the pie safe included decorated stoneware pieces priced from $275 to $2800 each; miniature painted pantry boxes and a basket, $500 to $875 each; a heart-motif weathervane in painted wood, $1800; and a blue-painted apple tray with heart-shaped cutout handles, $475. The single-sided sign for “C. Weiser / Fruit & Vegetables / Reading, PA.” was $875.
Kirk Albert of Asheville, North Carolina, takes an atypical approach to his job. “This is an intersection of folk art and antiques that truly doesn’t exist anywhere else,” he said. The foundation for his business was developed over 20 years at his shop, Kirk Albert Vintage Furnishings in Seattle, Washington. “There were three thousand square feet of this. The installations were a big thing to me.” But it was more than displays and receipts. “It was about the storytelling. They buy the story, not the object. If they love the story, they love the object.” A first-time seller at Nashville, he brought items that told stories, such as this claw lamp. The articulated base, found in a salvage yard, was paired with a Japanese ocean float used as a finial and hidden from view in this photo by a shade Albert designed. The price was $2400.
Sugar sideboard? Liquor sideboard? Tony Lewis of Tony’s Antiques, Powell, Tennessee, wasn’t completely sure, but there is no question that this piece is in a hard-to-find small size at 44" high x 39" wide x 20¾" deep. Made of walnut with yellow pine secondary, in the original surface, it originated in east Tennessee and was tagged $14,500.
The horse hooked rug at the top, measuring 38½" x 48", was priced at $3950 and lasted only minutes into early buying Thursday morning. The other horse hooked rug, 40" x 42", having a graphic ground and striped border, was also $3950. The rooster weathervane, 19th century, was $4750. The “Horse Powders” trade sign was from Petersburg, Virginia, and dated to the mid-19th century. The period piece was repurposed from a solid raised-panel shutter having a cast-iron catch. It was priced at $4250 by Bob Zordani and Heidi Kellner of Z & K Antiques, Lexington, Virginia. The couple does only four shows annually. “This is my favorite show of the year. This is our high-dollar show,” said Zordani. “We try to bring stuff that is visually appealing.”
Sometimes there’s a story beyond the story. Priced at $14,500 was this Zell Nerve Tablets sidewalk sign in embossed tin with a wooden frame and a support leg on the back. Measuring 40½" x 28¼", it was offered by Paul and Angela Smith of Mr. and Mrs. Smith Antiques, Harlan, Iowa. The sign pictures champion marksman Sgt. Clarence E. Orr, who also appeared in Zell Drug Company newspaper ads. Orr won the President’s Trophy for the military rifle championship of America in 1905, leading to his meeting Theodore Roosevelt. The sharpshooter also won other national championships with various firearms in 1908, 1910, and 1912 and spent a career working in the ballistics department for Western Cartridge Company. Orr’s life was one story. His death was another. Tragically, in 1944 at the age of 63, Orr used his marksman skills to murder his estranged wife, shooting her four times with a .22-caliber rifle. “Neighbors said that Orr fired the rifle from outside the residence where his wife was employed as a housekeeper,” according to the Alton Evening Telegraph. Orr then shot and killed himself.
When it came to art, the variety at the show ranged from paint-by-number panels in at least one booth to this hand-colored stone lithograph, Texian Hare, priced at $6500 by Kirk and Starlette Krommenhoek of K & S Fine Arts, Purcellville, Virginia. Taken from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America by John James Audubon and the Reverend John Bachman, 1845-48, the work measures 20" x 25¾" (sight size). It is big, vibrant, and impressive. “I’ve had it three times but never with this color,” said Kirk.
Don and Marta Orwig of Corunna, Indiana, missed Nashville the last three years but were back with two booths of big, turn-your-head merchandise, the kind that distinguishes the Orwigs from almost everyone else. The backdrop to one booth was a 6' x 9' canvas lithographed with a circa 1885 image depicting Ute Chief Severo and his family, priced at $6500. The image was produced in a variety of formats by the Detroit Photographic Company. The lighted American flag sign, 45½" x 59½", was $4500; the Cub Cadet neon sign, $1750; and the Ice neon sign was $3250. “Business is great,” said Don. “The right stuff at the right price, that’s all it takes.” While the furniture market is flat, other material is booming. “Folk art is hotter than it’s ever been. Any kind of sign brings a stupid price. Any kind of advertising has gone up thirty percent in the last two years. People have money.”
Advertising? Check. Americana? Check. William Powell of Franklin, Tennessee, had the market covered. His display included a “Billiards” sign at $6500; “Millinery,” $1200; “Fire Chief,” $475; a firefighter’s helmet, “Chief / Salem / FD,” $1600; “Brandreth’s Pills,” $4600; “Sheboygan Boot & Shoe Co.,” with a Native American camp scene, $7500; a copper figural architectural element, $850; The Captain and the Kids standup display, $1800; and “Who’s Your Tailor? / Ed. V. Price & Co.,” $6750.
To understand the scarcity of this Pride of Kentucky advertising sign, you have to know a little about longtime dealers Kim and Mary Kokles of Garland, Texas. They’ve specialized in advertising since biblical times, it seems. At one point in their career, they owned the largest and most important advertising show in the country. They’ve been exposed to a gazillion pieces of advertising, yet Kim noted that this sign was only the second example he had seen. Lithographed paper, marked lower left copyright 1896 by Weideman-Holmes Co. (which later was known as Weideman-Fries), the sign measures 27½" x 39½" (sight size) and was priced at $4500. There was also this: “When you look at it, what is it? Whiskey, women, and horses. It’s got Kentucky written all over it,” said Kim.
John Forster of Barometer Fair, Sarasota, Florida, has been in business for 40 years, but this deluxe instrument, labeled “The World’s Barometer and Weather Indicator,” was described as “the only one I’ve ever seen.” Having a barometer, sympiesometer, and thermometer, it was made by Wilson, Son & Walter of Liverpool, England, mid-19th century. The instruments included some ivory parts, all in a large mahogany case measuring 41" x 17". The piece was tagged $3400.
What’s not to like about an apothecary in old blue paint with a high scalloped base and in a manageable size that would allow it to fit in most any home? This example sold early on Thursday.
Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, York County, Pennsylvania, specializes in antique American flags and patriotic textiles, but it was the carved owl figure that Bridgman pointed out. Made of butternut and likely dating to the 1940s or ’50s, it was priced at $9500. He said a smaller example is also known. In the background, the 15-star flag with an unusual star pattern is probably pro-southern, immediately before the Civil War, with the stars representing slave states. The cat hooked rug dates to roughly 1880 to 1910 and was $6500.
Standing out among the artwork in the booth of William Union of Art & Antique Gallery, Holden, Massachusetts, was this Daniel Strain (1847-1925) full-length portrait of a barefoot woman in an outdoor setting, oil on canvas, 46" x 26" (sight size), priced at $2500.
For all the high-powered, high-dollar goods on the floor, there was a good measure of affordable, fun material, including four vintage skateboards made of painted wood, priced at $120 each, and a hobby horse tagged $65. They were shown by Mary and Will Evans of Dallas, Texas.
A news editor I once worked with was a gifted but somewhat twisted writer who once did a short piece about a horse killed when a train struck the animal’s trailer as it was transported over a railroad crossing. The journalist started his report with “A horse is a corpse, of course, of course.” (For the younger generation, look up the theme song for the Mr. Ed television show. It’ll make sense.) The incident came to mind after seeing a woman walking the aisles of The Nashville Show with a recently purchased horse head in her arms.
Originally published in the May 2025 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2025 Maine Antique Digest
