Maine Antique Digest, March 2017

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8-A Maine Antique Digest, March 2017
Help Needed
Fragments
SEEKING “T.PHILLIPS”
In the past 75 years, five
cherry Chippendale slant-
lid desks bearing the stamp
“T.PHILLIPS” have emerged
in northeastern Pennsylvania
(sometimes reported as “T. Phil-
lip” without an “s”). Four are
stamped on the end of one slide-
out lid support (loper), while the
fifth is stamped on both sides of
both lopers. All bear the same
distinctive stamp. The letter “s”
is half-size and tucked under the
loop of the second “p.” It may
be indistinct.
Three desks appeared in The
Magazine Antiques (April 1941,
p. 206, owner “R.M.S.,” Indiana;
June 1966, pp. 843-4, owner
Primo Berrettini; and May 1978,
pp. 1128-9, no owner given).
Two desks remain in northeast-
ern Pennsylvania.
This researcher is seeking the
following help: the current own-
SEEKING AFRICAN
AMERICAN CULTURAL ITEMS
FOR NEW EXHIBITION
The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art
in Biloxi, Mississippi, is asking the
public for pertinent information such
as photos, maps, objects, and ephem-
era that can be borrowed for use in a
new exhibition called A City within
a City: African American Culture in
Biloxi.
The exhibit is being installed in
the Pleasant Reed Interpretative
Center on the museum campus. It
will tell, in part, of the cultural his-
tory of a vibrant, segregated “city
within a city” in Biloxi during the
post World War II years, consisting
of schools, theaters, visiting celebri-
ties, nightclubs, restaurants, and other
businesses owned, operated, and
employed by African Americans.
The geographic boundaries of this
neighborhood, once called “back of
town,” consisted of Caillavet Street
on the west, Bayou Auguste on the
north (near what is now Bradford
Street), Lee Street on the east, and the
railroad tracks on the south.
The exhibit will benefit the pub-
lic by assisting in the dissemination
of the story of A City within a City,
details of which are little known out-
side the African American commu-
nity in Biloxi.
For inquiries and submissions,
please contact assistant curator Rhea
Miner at (228) 374-5547.
ershipand locationof the three
desks shown in The Maga-
zine Antiques; information
regarding any other furni-
ture stamped “T.Phillips”;
and any information as to the
dates, work locations, fam-
ily relationships, etc. of T.
Phillips.
A direct Phillips descen-
dant recalls verbal family
reference to a “Theodore
Phillips” and has a family
history of Andrew Phillips
(b. 1731, Smithfield, Rhode
Island) emigrating from
Rhode Island about 1806 to
Abington Township of then
Luzerne County, Pennsylva-
nia, where he died in 1818.
No Theodore Phillips is
found in this history.
The desks share construc-
tion characteristics and sec-
ondary woods found in New
England and northeastern
Pennsylvania.
Dave Crowther, 15582 SR
407, Dalton, PA 18414, (570)
Indy Ad Show Ownership Change
by Don Johnson
The Indy Antique Advertising Show
has been sold, and the new owners
plan to move the event out of Indianap-
olis this fall.
Bruce and Donna Weir of B & D Pro-
motions, Effingham, Illinois, sold the
show on January 7 to Mark and Nona
Wilson of Northstar Collective, Park
Falls, Wisconsin. Also part of the deal
was the Gateway Gas & Advertising
Show in St. Louis. The Weirs, who have
owned the advertising show since Janu-
ary 2010, are moving to Hawaii.
The Weirs agreed to run the Gateway
Gas & Advertising Show (February
16-18) and the spring edition of the Indy
Antique Advertising Show (March 17
and 18) for the Wilsons, who will then
take over all responsibilities of both
shows.
The Wilsons have roughly 20 years
of experience in the antiques business.
Relatively new to the management side
of things, they acquired two Wisconsin
shows in recent years: the Antique Sport-
ing and Advertising Show in Oshkosh,
held in February, and the Minocqua
Antique Show, a July event.
Mark Wilson is no stranger to the Indy
Antique Advertising Show, having set
up there as a dealer for about five years.
Before that, he attended as a customer.
The event has averaged about 100
dealers in recent years but has seen some
decline in that number of dealers. The
show will keep its semiannual schedule
(March and September), but some sig-
nificant changes are planned, including a
move to the Boone County Fairgrounds
in Lebanon, Indiana—about 25 miles to
the northwest. That site will be the loca-
tion of three simultaneous shows under
the umbrella of the Boone County Trea-
sure Hunt.
The Treasure Hunt will be a gener-
al-line antiques show that incorporates
the other events—the Indy Antique
Advertising Show and the newly cre-
ated Indy Antique Oil & Gas Show. The
shows will debut September 23 and 24,
a Saturday and Sunday. The advertising
show has previously run on Friday and
Saturday.
“The Boone County Treasure Hunt is
the master show, so to speak. These other
shows are shows inside that show,” Wil-
son explained.
Beginning in September, the Indy
Antique Advertising Show will no lon-
ger offer early buying, which cost $40 to
shop the first day of the show. Another
change will be the addition of an antique
advertising auction on Saturday night.
“Roughly three hundred pieces of adver-
tising will be part of that,” Wilson noted.
He is optimistic about the changes.
“Those were made based on a lot of feed-
back I got from a lot of dealers doing the
show currently and a lot who want to
come back to it,” Wilson said. “Our hope
is we will have a good response to those
changes.”
For more information, phone (906)
250-1618 or visit (www.indyadshow.
com).
Barn Star Will Manage
Adirondack Museum Show
The 25th annual Adirondack Museum
Antiques Show and Sale on Septem-
ber 15 and 16 will have new manage-
ment—Barn Star Productions and Frank
Gaglio.
Featuring more than 50 exhibitors, the
event started over 25 years ago and has
attracted collectors seeking rustic, camp,
Native American, and Adirondack fur-
nishings and accessories in an outdoor
setting under tents and covered porches.
While the main theme of the show will
present frontier décor, Barn Star plans to
gentrify the offerings to attract a broader
audience by adding a few new categories,
such as fine art, estate and designer jew-
elry, and mid-century modern, which all
blend well with contemporary camp and
lodge living.
A preview party will be held on Friday,
September 15, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tickets
352-7311, ext. 119. On Saturday, Septem-
ber 16, a museum admission ticket will
include the antiques show from 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. plus all museum exhibits. Park-
ing will be free, and there will be food
available.
The Adirondack Museum is located
at 9097 State Route 30, Blue Mountain
Lake, New York. For more information,
Kenos Resolve All Legal Matters
L eigh and Leslie Keno, well-known
figures in the antiques world, have
resolved all four of the legal claims
against them. The twins were involved in
four separate lawsuits, each with a sim-
ilar charge: the Kenos were accused of
buying multiple lots at auctions and fail-
ing to pay the auction houses.
The suit filed by Cakebread Art
Antiques Collectables, Inc., which does
business as New Orleans Auction Galler-
ies (NOAG), against both brothers and
Keno Art Advisory, LLC has been settled
and dismissed.
It’s a similar story with Sloans & Ken-
yon, Chevy Chase, Maryland, which
filed suit against Leigh Keno and Keno,
Inc. “The matter had been resolved to
the satisfaction of our client, the case
has been dismissed, and the Kenos made
good on their winning bids to the extent
the items were still available,” said attor-
ney Monty Yolles.
Also resolved is the suit filed by
Kamelot Auction House, Philadel-
phia, against both brothers. “The mat-
ter regarding Messrs. Keno has been
resolved; Kamelot has received payment
in full. Kamelot holds no ill will toward
the brothers and wishes all the best of
luck and continued success in the future,”
wrote Anthony Gallia in an e-mail.
The suit filed by Stair Galleries against
Leslie Keno was withdrawn on February
6. “The matter has been resolved, leaving
only some bookkeeping reconciliations.
My clients appreciate the professional-
ism that Mr. Stair has shown as things
worked their way out,” wrote Mark Law-
less, attorney for the Kenos.
“Having grown up in the art and
antiques world, we have a deep appreci-
ation and respect for the hard work of the
people in this community and are thank-
ful for the patience of those who’ve been
affected,” said Leigh Keno on February
6. “Since this situation began, we’ve
been working every day to fulfill our
obligations. We are relieved to put this
situation behind us, and each of us is
looking forward to a busy 2017.”
“OK, my friend, I understand that is your best price.”