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Show Stopper: Ed Weisman commented that if you bought this Federal Secretary you wouldnÕt be buying just a piece of furniture, but a 200-year-old work of art. The combination of the glazed top and the tambour doors made your chances of finding another, he said, Òabout the same as finding a needle in a haystack.Ó It had all the bells and whistles, subtly line-inlaid drawers, reeding, great verticality, candleslides and a complex interior. He asked $16,500 for it at Hunt Valley.
Ed Weissman, 110 Chapel St., Portsmouth, NH 03801,
Phone: (603) 431-7575.
Great Starter: Most of us know that tulips came from the Middle East, both the flowers themselves, and, more importantly for readers of this magazine, the tulip motif, one of the most popular decorative motifs, whether carved or painted. Don Kruggel had this Persian tulip candleholder that had been made in the land of the tulip during the sixteenth century. It was a copper-bronze, and was a tempting $975 at Winnetka.
Kruggel Antiques, Rochester, NY, (585) 244-6475, donald.kruggel@frontiernet.net.
Show Stopper: Janice Paull enthused over this 12-inch pair of MasonÕs Ironstone vases in the Bandana ware pattern. They were made about 1910, but the pattern had been introduced in 1830 in 20 different color combinations on a black transfer pattern known as Òdogs of fo.Ó Bandana ware was re-introduced in 1910, but production was halted by the outbreak of WW1, and so examples from this later period are very scarce. They are usually marked underneath with a black transfer-printed crown and ÒEngland.Ó Janice asked $1900 for them at Winnetka, and they sold.
Janice Paull Antiques, CP 6, Mexilhoeira Grande, P8501-903, Portugal. +351 282799701, jamicepaull@yahoo.com, www.janicepaull.com.
Show Stopper: If you were a fitness fanatic, a folk art fan, and could afford $15,000, these Indian clubs would have been just the thing for you at Winnetka. They were painted with Hudson River Valley Landscapes inside gold rimmed reserves where the gold had been enhanced with sand. 'Indian Clubs,' George Allen told me, “were brought home from India by the English and came to America from there. They were a fashionable form of exercise from about 1860 to 1890, and these must have been the most fashionable examples of all.”
Raccoon Creek Antiques, PO Box 276, Oley, PA 19457, (856) 224-1282, raccooncreek@msn.com, www.raccooncreekantiques.com.
Great Starter: Long sets of chairs are hard to find, but this set of 10 English Regency chairs could have been found in Bill SchwindÕs booth, but not for long, at Winnetka. They sold on the first day. At $25,000, only $2,500 a chair, someone had made a great start to furnishing a formal dining room.
W.M. Schwind Antiques, 51 East Main Street, Yarmouth, MEÊ 04096, (207) 846-9458 www.schwindantiques.com.
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Great Starter: You wonÕt find a simpler Welsh Dresser than this primitive example that Jerry Brill brought to Hunt Valley. It was all one piece, of slab-sided construction and still had its original iron hooks. It was made of elm that had acquired a wonderfully glowing color over the years, and sported two molded-front drawers. Despite its name, it was probably English and had been made around the turn of the eighteenth century. $5,500 seemed a good price for someone starting to furnish a country home.
Brill's Antiques, 10527 Jefferson Ave, Newport News, VA 23601, (757) 596-5333.
Show Stopper: This wonderful lithograph by Alfonse Mucha was printed by F. Champenois in 1896, and was brought to Winnetka by Sarah Stocking. “Just look at the sweeping curves of her hair,” Sarah enthused, “and the very different curves of the cigarette smoke – it’s the epitome of Art Nouveau. This is known as ‘the small Job,’” Sarah continued (Mucha also produced a larger poster for the same brand of cigarette papers) “and what is really critical is the condition of the gold on her hair. All the other colors were printed, but the gold powder was applied by hand after the poster was printed.” Besides loss, the gold could also suffer from a well-intentioned attempt to de-acidify the paper – the process takes all the sparkle away. In this example, her hair sparkled in the way that gold should, and Sarah had framed it under a new form of non-reflective, UV-protected plexiglass that is a by-product of the flat-screen TV industry.
Sarah Stocking Vintage Posters, 368 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA, (415) 984-0706, www.sarahstocking.com.
Show Stopper: These eighteenth-century Italian columns were six feet high and carved all over with climbing vines and bunches of grapes. The old surface with traces of gilding on the grapes and the rich patination were to die for. Brennan and Mouilleseaux brought them to Hunt Valley, where Tim Brennan bet me theyÕd end up in someoneÕs wine cellar. IÕm pleased I was prudent, because thatÕs exactly where they went, though not from Hunt Valley, but from Winnetka the next weekend. $9,500.
Brennan & Mouilleseaux, 239 Marsh Road, Northfield, CT 06778, (860) 283-2232, timanddave@optonline.net.
Show Stopper: Hirschl and Adler brought this stunning pair of chairs to the Winter Show. Stuart Feld told me that there is a small group of chairs produced in the neo-classical period in New York that had upholstered backs and slip seats. They were offered with or without arms, in mahogany or ebonized and gilded maple (as here). Stuart called them “the boldest and handsomest of all the New York chairs of the period.” “There's an identical pair, almost certainly from the same set, in the Museum of the City of New York. “These chairs were the tastemakers and trendsetters of their day,” Stuart continued, “with an advanced understanding of construction and superb workmanship, they could only have been made by an exceptionally skilled craftsman, and when we take into account their carved waterleaves, acanthus leaves and hairy paw feet, we can confidently attribute them to Duncan Phyfe.” The form derives from the relics of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt that were excavated in the early nineteenth century and became the basis for neo-classicism.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 21 East 70th St, New York, NY 10021, (212) 535-8810, www.HirschlAndAdler.com.
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