Maine Antique Digest, March 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, March 2017 19-B
- SHOW -
19-B
Williamsburg, Virginia
The 35th Annual Holiday Antiques Show
by Walter C. Newman
The 35th annual Holiday Antiques Show
in Williamsburg, Virginia, was held at
the Williamsburg Doubletree Hotel and
Conference Center, November 25-27, 2016. The
annual show is one of those seasonal events
that is well worth putting on the calendar.
The Holiday Antiques Show is always held
the weekend following Thanksgiving and is
specifically aimed at offering area residents and
visitors to Colonial Williamsburg an alternative
to traditional black Friday weekend shopping.
The show helps mark the formal beginning
of the festive season and is held amid an
atmosphere of our shared Colonial heritage,
with gingerbread, decorated carriages, and
open fire torchères. The show owes its success
to the tireless effort of its promoter, Bettianne
Sweeney, who has been the guiding force
behind the event since its inception in 1981.
Sweeney stated that she wants this show to be
a place where antiques enthusiasts, neophytes,
and dealers can come together, renew old
acquaintances, make new friends, and surround
themselves with quality antiques. For 35 years
that has been its simple yet quite successful
formula. Sweeney has assembled an excellent
group of dealers, and she prides herself on the
quality of their offerings.
Sweeney reminded me, “This is not a flea
market. Our guests come here to see quality, and
we are careful to provide that.”
According to Sweeney, Friday’s preview was
very successful, with over 300 in attendance.
There was a surprise visit from Melvin Arion,
promoter of the Original York [Pennsylvania]
Antiques Show. Active shoppers included
antiques scholar and author Sumpter Priddy
III and representatives from the museums at
Colonial Williamsburg.
One feature of the show is often a guest
appraiser. This time, PBS Antiques Roadshow
regular Ken Farmer did the honors. Individuals
were able to call ahead, describe their item,
and set an appointment with him for a verbal
appraisal. The Williamsburg patrons filled
Farmer’s afternoon.
The show is not large. There are only 30
dealers, and, as with any long-running event,
there is turnover. This time Bettianne Sweeney
had six dealers who were new to the show. One
of the newcomers, Peyton Collie of Whitakers,
North Carolina, did particularly well. Within
moments of the preview’s opening, he sold an
18th-century chest of drawers attributed to
James Crow of Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
Collie said that the young buyer had not been
first in line to enter the show and was worried
that he would miss out. Once inside, he literally
ran to the chest and hugged it. That is a satisfied
customer. These are the good old days.
For additional information, contact Bettianne
Sweeney > or
see ). Mark your
calendar for November 24-26.
The show helps mark
the formal beginning of
the festive season.
This eastern Virginia, probably Norfolk, chest of drawers, circa
1800, is signed by the maker, James Duncan. Scott Cilley of
Northumberland Antiques, Richmond, Virginia, offered the
mahogany chest with cedar, poplar, and white pine secondary
woods. The drawers feature applied cockbeading, and there
is a delicate molding strip above the shaped skirt. The chest
is raised on slightly flared French feet. The chest was $1450
and sold early in the show. The three slide-top boxes ranged in
price from $145 to $345. Scott stated that business had been
very good. In fact, after the Friday evening preview he had to
travel his storage facility to bring in more stock. By midday on
Saturday he had run out of “Sold” tags. Nice problem to have.
It is always a pleasure to stop at the Neverbird Antiques booth.
Bill and Joyce Subjack of Surry, Virginia, provide a wide
array of art and ephemera, and each piece is accompanied by
an interesting story. The Subjacks offered what appears to be
a charcoal rendering of the 1898 oil painting Hounds in the
Kennel by William Henry Hamilton Trood (British, 1848-1899).
Upon extremely close examination, however, one can see that
the image is actually an intricately stitched silk embroidery.
Bill stated that the needlework was executed in Japan, circa
1900. Bill also noted that the original Trood oil on canvas from
which this embroidery was copied sold at Bonhams in New
York City in 2012 for $212,500. This needlework copy was
priced at $4000.
Mary and Jim McCormick recently moved from
Massachusetts to Williamsburg, Virginia. They trade as The
Odd Chair and The Old Crock. Best not ask which is which.
The odd chair shown here is one of a pair of 19th-century
Windsors in old green paint with gold stenciling. The spindles,
legs, and stretchers feature enhanced bamboo turnings, and
the front legs display a brushed floral design. They were
marked $195. The 70" x 54" Turkey red and off-white quilt
dates circa 1860 and was tagged $395. The York, Maine,
dovetailed sea chest in old blue paint with a till and drawer
was priced at $425; and the 19th-century solid-body Canada
goose was marked $225.
This fine mahogany four-drawer chest by William Hook
of Salem, Massachusetts, dates to about 1810. The dresser
features a rectangular top with cookie corners above deeply
reeded columns terminating in ring-turned feet. The piece was
priced at $5800. The William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) oil on
canvas landscape was tagged $16,500. The circa 1860 coaching
scenes were marked $2200, and the copper vessel with heart-
cut handles was priced at $1750. This fine display was in the
booth of Gordon and Mary Nicoll of Nicoll Fine Art
and Antiques, Damariscotta, Maine.