The weekly antique expositions will begin tomorrow at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury, with a bonus day on Saturday this week only. The 17 members of the Martha's Vineyard Antique Association (MVAA) will preside at booths, each one a miniature antique store.
Many items at Ms. Kirwin's Able to Cane Antiques in West Tisbury will be available at the antique show at the Grange Hall starting tomorrow. Photos by Ralph Stewart
Many of the objects offered for sale have Martha's Vineyard in their provenance. Some dealers, like Allen Hanson (Early Spring Antiques Shop), sell only antiques they have bought on the Vineyard.
Ron Gamba was the first dealer to show antiques at the Grange Hall, 12 years ago, and he continues to exhibit. He helped restore the interior of the old Agricultural Hall for the Preservation Trust, which owns the building, and he holds the lease from the Trust for the show and the permits from the town of West Tisbury.
Ron Bietman joined Mr. Gamba soon after, and six years ago other dealers joined the show and formed the MVAA. A variety of dealers is good for everyone, according to show organizer and coordinator Patty Kirwin, who believes that customers will come if there are more kinds of antiques to see and buy. "The show is a wonderful opportunity for me," she says. "In most days I may get five or six customers in my store [Able to Cane Antiques], but at the Grange show 300 or 400 people look at my booth."
No two booths are alike, not only because antique pieces are by their nature unique, but also because the dealers specialize in different genres. Some, like Mr. Gamba, display country furniture; others, paintings and folk art, textiles, antique books, maps, or estate jewelry. Even two dealers showing nautical antiques may have different kinds of stuff. One dealer may offer old charts, maps, and ship paintings, while across the hall another may display old marine tools, fishing gear, and ship fittings. Off-Island dealers also set up booths outdoors in the busy season.
Why and how to acquire antiques
Most dealers are also collectors, and so the dealers and the customers who file past their booths come to antiquing for the same kinds of reasons. Some love history, and each piece has a history. When you touch an old tool, in a way you contact the worker who once used it.
Other collectors admire fine workmanship and beautiful design. Some customers are shopping for vintage jewelry or clothing, or for just the right painting or table or chair for their homes. Interior designers hope to do the same for a client.
Everyone hopes for a great find, a fantastic bargain, and every antique collector has a story of an unexpected bonus discovered in a pile of junk. Ms. Kirwin tells of buying, as part of the contents of a Campground cottage, a vase someone had painted a hideous pink. It felt unusually heavy to her, and when she stripped the pink paint, she found a piece of Merrimac pottery made in 1897 and today valued at about $40,000. She still has that one in her private collection.
Patty Kirwin, organizer and coordinator of the M.V. Antique Association, among the treasures waiting to be discovered. Photo by Ralph Stewart
Mr. Bietman is an attorney who has been buying and selling antiques as a hobby for more than 30 years. As a law student he was already so hooked on antiquing that he studied for the bar exam at the huge outdoor flea market in Brimfield. He says that he has, by design, the messiest booth at the Grange show, sometimes just piles of stuff on the floor. While he respects the dealers who have booths with objects neatly arranged on shelves, he thinks buyers have the same mindset as he has: "Antique hunters like to sort through piles of stuff looking for treasures. It's the same impulse that got me interested in antiques."
The members of the MVAA search for antiques in a variety of places. Some often buy whole house contents. Ms. Kirwin says there's no feeling like being the first to bid on a houseful of objects amassed over someone's lifetime. It's like being the first archeologist to open a long-hidden tomb or temple.
Mr. Bietman says that he's like a reporter looking for a scoop. "My secret is my sources," he says, "friends who are real estate agents, probate attorneys, bank executives - anyone who knows when a house is going to be closed and the contents disposed of."
Ms. Hanson, on the other hand, has built a word-of-mouth clientele over 34 years in the business. People call her when they have objects to sell.
All the dealers haunt the yard sales on Saturday mornings. Usually dealers are the first to arrive, early if the seller will permit early birds. "By 9 am," Ms. Kirwin says, "the dealers will have checked out all the good stuff."
Some of the good stuff will be at the Grange Hall on Fridays during the summer.
The antique show at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury (next to the town hall), Friday and Saturday, 9 am to 3 pm. Early birds are okay, and many dealers will stay late if there are shoppers.
