Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 17-A
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17-A
these shows—‘The Fortieth Year’—where they say,
‘We’ll have teacup restoration and appraisals.’ Why
do young people care if it’s been around for forty
years?” And who needs teacups repaired nowadays?
He described an encounter that illustrates how hard
it can be to get people to come to shows. “We were at
one show, and a decorator called his client who lived,
like, two miles away and told him to come to look at
a piece. The client said, ‘No, an antiques show would
just make me cranky.’”
They also exhibit at the East Hampton Historical
Society show in July. Sales can vary wildly, Nestor
said. “Two years ago was a great show. Last year was
crappy.”
There’s also the often taxing challenge of dealing
with NewYorkers’ notoriously short attention spans—
especially when they’re “relaxing” in the Hamptons.
(Note: The author lived in Manhattan for 25 years.
He’s not casting aspersions here. He’s just reporting.)
Nestor said, “Maybe the weather’s bad, or the market’s
down, or they’re just ready to buy something and a
friend walks by and they wander off together.”
Nestor also noted that the Hamptons market has
changed. “A lot of people there rent out their places
for at least part of the summer because they can get so
much for them. They really don’t want to put things
in that are irreplaceable.” Restoration Hardware and
not antiques is often their default mode. Krynick said,
“One time I went into three or four houses out there,
and all were furnished in Restoration Hardware stuff.”
The couple has also been exhibiting at Debbie
Turi’s show in Bedford, New York. They believe her
small “boutique” approach to shows is consistent with
today’s market. “We’ve done it for four or five years,”
Nestor said.
Cottage+Camp traces about a third of its sales
to the Internet via either its website or listings on
1stdibs. Although they are, of course, happy to sell
online, Nestor and Krynick express bemusement at
the anonymity of these sales. The deal is made, then,
Nestor said, “It goes out the door, and you never hear
anything about it. We can sell giant pieces of furniture
and never hear ‘Boo.’” He noted that most sales are
to retail customers. “They buy it, pay for it, and it’s
gone. We have no sense of why people buy things.”
They, like so many dealers, regret the loss of
personal contact. Krynick said, “It seems very
random. You don’t get feedback. You used to talk to
people.” He added that this increases the confusion of
an already confusing market. “We can’t learn how to
buy better.”
Nestor recalled an incident that highlights the
impersonal nature of these sales. “We sold a piece of
folk art online and, for once, had to deliver it. When we
arrived we saw four or five things we’d sold before in
the context of this five-hundred-piece, decades-long
collection. They had even published a book.” The
earlier online sales had simply been absorbed in the
wash of other anonymous online sales, and the couple
had not realized they were playing a part in building
a major collection.
Nestor and Krynick have been members of 1stdibs
but, as has been the case with some other dealers we’ve
interviewed, they are not ecstatic about it. Krynick
said, “It’s gotten more corporate. We’re reconsidering.
We were basically using it as advertising.” As an
alternative, Nestor added, “We’re trying to migrate to
our website.”
Francis Nestor and John Krynick married two years
ago but have been together since they met in San
Francisco in 1984. Nestor had just graduated from the
San Francisco Art Institute; Krynick had graduated
from CranbrookAcademy ofArt with an MFAand had
come west to take a job, at which, he said, “I designed
and made little boutique fashion accessories.”
Nestor grew up in Randolph, Massachusetts, outside
of Boston; Krynick is from Bridgeton in extreme
southern New Jersey. He noted that Bridgeton is
actually below the Mason-Dixon Line and feels like
it. The couple decamped to Boston in 1987. “Even in
the eighties, San Francisco was wildly expensive,”
Krynick said.
Krynick took a job at the Harvard Medical School
library. He admitted he was no expert in medicine
or library work but said, “The person hiring me had
an uncle who had gone to Cranbrook.” The couple
learned early on that, if you plan to be dealers, it helps
to have someone in the family earning a predictable
income.
Nestor had been selling antiques before he could
even drive. “I was twelve and thirteen. I used to go
every weekend to the Norton flea market. I’d set up
and shop. My father would drive me and sleep in the
car.” Nestor hated Boston traffic, and since it had
John Krynick (left) and Francis Nestor.
Black-painted sheet-iron bull weathervane with white horns,
$950. One side of the ball on the standard reads “Worcester,
Mass,” and the other side appears to read: “Coates Popper
[?] Mfg. Co.”
Folky miniature chest from
Maryland, $450.
become apparent that Cottage+Camp’s taste appealed
mostly to New Yorkers, they decided to move closer to
Gotham. “We drew a big circle on a map, and we liked
Woodstock,” Krynick said.
Nestor said that in Woodstock, “We bought a totally
boring ranch house in town. Every time we had a good
show, we’d call a contractor and eventually there were
decks everywhere.”
As business declined in the early years of this century,
the couple decided to move to Philadelphia. Nestor
said, “We were ready for a more urban environment.
Philadelphia hadn’t had a real estate bubble, and we
sold our house in Woodstock at the top of the market.”
Also, Krynick said that he knew he could get teaching
work either in Philadelphia or nearby Baltimore. He was
correct. He ended up teaching “material construction;
that’s where textiles and fashion and sculpture overlap”
at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
Although Philadelphia was a great place to live, it
wasn’t great for business. Nestor said, “We tried an
open shop for a year, but it was already over on Pine
Street [which had been a thriving antiques district].
Pretty quickly we were sure it wasn’t going to work,”
although, he continued, “We could shop really well in
Philadelphia.”
Krynick added, “People weren’t responding to our
stuff. We weren’t selling to Philadelphians. All our
customers were from New York.”
Both men acknowledged how supportive dealer Amy
Finkel had been during their sojourn in the City of
Brotherly Love.
Ultimately they decided to return to the Northeast.
Nestor said, “We were planning to move back into
the Hudson valley but couldn’t find a place that was
reasonable.” So they nosed about over the border in
Massachusetts and landed in North Egremont.
And what are they going to do now? “We’re trying to
have fun again,” Nestor said.
For information contact Cottage+Camp, by
appointment, (413) 528-1241; website
); e-mails >,
>.
Portrait of a ripe banana in what appears to be its original
oak frame with gilt molding. It has a Boston label on the
back and is $1100.
Detail of the quilt top. A wonderful quilt top from Vermont, 86" x 72", $3500.