Fall Antiques Show in New York City

Sales of Pottery, Quilts, Furniture Benefit American Folk Art Museum

Oct 12, 2008

As one of the United States' premiere antiques shows, the Fall Antiques Show was the place to find pottery, quilts, rugs, textiles and more antique treasures.

Each autumn (for nearly two decades), antiques collectors and dealers alike awaited the start of the Fall Antiques Show in New York City, held to support the Museum of American Folk Art. The Fall Antiques Show was one of the most venerated shows of American antiques in the United States. It brought together the best in furniture, textiles, pottery and so much more.

The very first show was in 1979 and was held at the Park Avenue Armory. Sanford Smith, the show's producer, described it as "a most successful first show" with 90 exhibitors present. Smith enlisted the talents of Martha Stewart to cater the event. "She had biscuits, jam, jelly, baked potatoes – even live chickens in crates – all presented in a way never seen before," he recalled. Attendees perused fine examples of Americana and welcomed the beginning of a new tradition.

Devotees of the show visited each year, consulting long-time friends, searching for new ideas and perhaps buying a piece to supplement a collection. Next to research, the show afforded individuals the opportunity to learn about antiques by talking to an expert. And the antiques dealers at the Fall Antiques Show, including Rufus Foshee, Kathryn Berenson, Laura Fisher and , were willing to speak with attendees and answer questions about items from their areas of expertise.

Rufus Foshee began displaying his fine collection of English and American eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pottery at the first Fall Antiques Show. Foshee specializes in creamware, mochaware, blue-and-white Staffordshire and spongeware, making him an internationally recognized authority on fine china and pottery. Foshee began his antique pottery collection in the late 1960s with a lamp and bowl that he discovered in an antiques shop in Staten Island, New York. A neighbor shared with him a book about fine china, further encouraging his goal for collecting, and he began dealing in antiques.

Kathryn Berenson has a long fascination with textiles, starting from when she was a young child learning how to sew. As her pastime developes into a substantial livelihood, Berenson took a trip to Paris where she began showing examples of American quilts in a gallery there. Berenson's French clients gave her an introduction to country quilts, many of them from Provence, and she was soon attracted to them. Today, Berenson is an internationally recognized authority and collector of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French quilts and textiles.

New York City antiques dealer Laura Fisher is recognized for her fine collection of American quilts, hand-hooked rugs and folk art. Fisher displayed her hand-hooked rug collection at many of the Fall Antiques shows. Several of these rugs originate from New England and Nova Scotia; one particular example, a piece called "World Without End," is a unique rug from upstate New York. Fisher explained that many of the symbols, themes and motifs found in folk art can be openly examined. The folk artists, many of whom were self-taught, used these symbols and motifs with more ease than those artisans that were formally trained.

While many of the dealers at the Fall Antiques Show focused on specific genres and periods, Doug Taylor took an eclectic alternative: He collects scientific specimens, naturalists' items, and any other unusual objects that tickle his fancy, including birds' eggs and nests, taxidermy artifacts, falconry hoods, hourglasses, globes, rubber-balloon molds, miniature shoes, dolls and a group of 104 cast-iron doorstops in the shape of frogs. Taylor began his collection as a child. "Any collection starts small and grows to be much larger than the sum of its parts," he admitted.

For those interested in antiques, a visit to an antiques show or a local antiques shop can be an enlightening opportunity to see and learn about various types of antiques. A collection starts with curiosity, research and discovery. Each antiques expert once was a curious collector and expertise develops together with a collection. Collect something that interests you, seek out the experts and never hesitate to conduct your own research.

Sanford Smith, Rufus Foshee, Kathryn Berenson, Laura Fisher and Doug Taylor

Sanford L. Smith & Associates

Kathryn Berenson

Doug Taylor

Kathryn Berenson

The copyright of the article Fall Antiques Show in New York City in Antiques & Collectibles is owned by Michael Vyskocil. Permission to republish Fall Antiques Show in New York City in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.