January 2010 – Maine, Part III

We went to the Coastal Maine Antiques Show, a one-day indoor-outdoor event. Exhibitors were members of the Maine Antiques Dealers Association. The show is vetted (checked to make sure there are no fakes and no pieces that are not the age and quality expected). Most booths had 18th- and 19th-century New England items. Things were older and more expensive than they’d be at a similar show in Ohio, San Francisco or Miami, but that’s to be expected. New England was settled by Europeans earlier and therefore has older antiques. Buyers were local with collections that center on New England styles. (We know dealers who take entirely different pieces to shows in the East than to shows in the South or Midwest.)

We talked to dealers and admired many antiques, but didn’t buy much because we were traveling by air. Kim did get a small Italian glass vase that fit in her suitcase. It was more suited to a modern house like hers than an old Maine home. Here’s a glimpse at some prices:

• A Lee Woodard 1940s set of iron table and chairs, $795. The dealer, who specialized in iron, also had a Salterini set from the 1940s for $1,200. Most fun was a Woodard 1940s tête-à-tête, $1,200. It’s a table with two attached chairs facing different directions. The last one the dealer sold went to a buyer who put it next to his tennis court.
• Tin “Please Keep Off the Grass” sign, 12 in., $48. Charming, but if I put it where school kids walk across my lawn, it might walk off too.
• Pair of concrete swans, 16 in. high, 1940s, $275. Great for the garden but expensive to ship.
• An amazing sandpaper picture from the 1800s called “Voyage of Life,” 24 in. sq. in a gold frame. I have some other sandpaper pictures (black chalk drawings on special sanded paper, popular in the late 1800s) in an upstairs hall. This was a quality picture, but $1,800 is out of the price range for my hall collection.
• A tinsel picture (made in part of crumpled metal foil), 24 by 18 in., $950; again, too expensive for my hall.
• Wooden chairs made in Maine and decorated with a painting of a fruit box, $2,400 each. That’s a good Maine price—things sell best near where they were made.
• A small 18th-century Chippendale desk seemed inexpensive at $3,400, and it didn’t sell. These desks aren’t doing well at auction, either. They don’t accommodate desktop computers. But a laptop fits into the open section at the back of the desk. And the slant top can close to hide a laptop and papers. The desks should start going up in price.

      to be continued…