Collector Chats With Peter S. Seibert

This Week: Old School Antiques Dealing: Chapter I

By Peter Seibert

I have been spending a lot of time in antiques malls lately. It’s always great for me to do as I get to see many items, hunt for a few treasures of my own, and also look to see what is out there. As someone who has gone to antiques malls on a regular basis over the years, I have watched the rise and fall and rise again of this segment of the business.

Many years ago, I remember when the mall phenomenon was young and new. Dealers would come together and rent space in a building for a cooperative store. The model evolved around either straight payment of rent by booth owners or sweat equity where each dealer had to work a set number of days selling for everyone in the mall. There were infinite variations to this, but the model seemed to stick. It was a way for part-time dealers to test the waterso although more often than not those newbies did not last very long in the business. If they priced things too high, they soon quit in disgust over a lack of sales. If they priced low and sold too much, they quit after a time because they could not replenish their stock. It was only the dealer who had the fortitude and long-term game face who could make it in a mall.

The mall phenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s centered around three communities in central Pennsylvania. Hershey had My Wife’s Antiques and later Zieglers (in town and out in the country). Carlisle had Northgate I and Northgate II along with the relocated Antiques World from the old automobilarama building on Route 15. New Oxford had a group of shops and then cooperatives that changed a good bit over the years. There were others, but it was that circuit, outside of the shops in Adamstown, that seemed to attract most of the dealers.

My mother and I went into both Zieglers and Antiques

World at different times during that period. We learned a lot selling there and saw some great items. I still recall an insanely original Pennsylvania National Guard tunic complete with all insignia and even a broadside about a muster event in the pocket.

This was the time when any crock, particularly if made by Cowden & Wilcox, was an easy $100. Currier & Ives, copper lusterware, and pattern glass filled out the malls. We would go to a country sale in Perry, Union or Dauphin counties on Friday night or Saturday morning and then restock on Sundays. The big worries were not about a lack of antiques but rather about changes in taste. My old friend, Elsie Doehne (Doehne’s Oxbow Shop in Harrisburg), told me that pattern glass was dead because modern dishwashers would destroy it!

The fakes that we saw were pretty clumsy by a modern standard. Jumbo pattern glass was a good example. Cranked out as reproductions, it was easy to tell both by the softness of details and that there was no wear on the bottoms.

We did not sell much furniture, only because Mom drove a two-door car, and so

Doylestown

Continued from page 1 beingonsite at the annual event. The Doylestown Arts Festival is proud to promote Doylestown and Bucks County on a national level, including putting a spotlight on Doylestown’s art and cultural district. To round out the experience, the Doylestown Arts Festival is seeking additional applications for artbased activities to help to build an exciting energy throughout the event and unify the town-wide experience around the arts.

Applications for Art Activities wash stands were about all there was that would fit in the back. We bought lots of ugly chairs, as I recall, and most of them sold. Victorian and then Mission were both hot thanks to Barbra Streisand and other collectors. and Cultural Partners are open through April 8.

It was a crazy time of too much money and a lot of stuff in the antiques world. Next column, the show circuit and how far the money would go.

“Born to collect” should be the motto of Peter Seibert’s family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seibert’s writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years’ worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.

Home to over 8,000 residents as well as the Michener Art Museum, Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle, TileWorks, County Theater, and a robust array of galleries, restaurants, and locally-owned shops and boutiques, Doylestown is recognized as a destination town. The Doylestown Arts Festival is made possible by a small volunteer committee of Discover Doylestown and is presented by the Thompson Organization. For more information about this year’s festival and applications, visit www.dtownartsfestival.com.

10 A.M.-4 P.M. Rockville Hilton, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD

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From The Farmhouse Spring Antique Show

April 1, 2023

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

$5.00 admission for adults, free admission for children 18 and younger.

Held at the Edward Walls building, Cecil County Fairgrounds 4640 Telegraph Road, Elkton, Maryland.

About 30 dealers bringing good American Country furnishings. Including painted furniture, textiles, stoneware, redware, lighting, stone fruit, etc.

East Nottingham Antiques Barn Sale

April 1, 2023

8:00 am - 2:00 pm 211 Brick Meeting House Road, North East, Maryland

Direct all questions to Jeffrey Ricketts eastnottinghamantiques@gmail.com (443) 256-8280

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