St. Peter’s Village, Chester County, Pennsylvania, is a picturesque village built along the scenic Falls of French Creek. It was home to iron miners, as well as the location of a granite quarry, and destination of 19^th century excursions to the countryside. The huge boulders embedded in the stream alongside and below the village make this tiny town and its hotel a desirable recreational retreat even today.

 During the 1960’s, I remember St. Peter’s as a thriving community filled with shops, buggy rides, re-enactors and great food. Aunt Lena sat on a porch and played her musical saw with a violin bow – I was amazed!

 My art teacher, Jon Smith of the Anvil Studio, took my art school group to St.Peter’s so we could paint en plein air. I painted a lovely spring scene while nestled in the cleft of a huge boulder. Two boys painted differing views of a tire lodged under a boulder in yellow water. I was appalled, and Mr. Smith was not pleased, either.

 Today, St. Peter’s Inn is still in operation. We saw a wedding in progress on a platform above the rushing stream and boulders. An antiques shop and some eateries provide a reason to walk through the now quiet village. But you can still climb on the boulders and walk the short trails. Bring the kids—it’s free!

Day two of the York show was a bit slower than yesterday. That's apparently typical for the show. However, the quality and volume of visitors remained strong. The visitors to the York show really know antiques and engage in good conversations. And some of them even buy!

James PriceGarthoeffner Gallery

Newsom Berdan

Some animals at the show:

Day one got off to a busy start. Friday is the day when other dealers and serious collectors tend to show up. A steady stream of visitors filled the aisles until late afternoon. Most dealers we spoke to reported some sales. Here are just a few of the booths at the show:

Thurston Nichols 

Kelly Kinzle

Chuck White

Jeff Bridgman

We arrived to the York Fairgrounds today in 90+ degree weather. But we made the best of it and painstakingly set up our booth. Take a look:

More tomorrow...

Today, we arrived at the start of Antiques Week in Manchester, New Hampshire. We wanted to get a close look at the event that kicks off the week. Ron Borgeault presided over his annual auction. Joining Ron at the dais was Jack Lipinski of Antiques and Fine Art Magazine. We met a number of our dealer colleagues there—many arriving in preparation Ron Borgeault at the helm.for shows they’ll be doing during the week. It’s a pilgrimage: serious antiques buyers on vacation in the region stop by for the events as part of their vacations. Dealers commit the better part of a week to buy and sell.

Jack Lipinski leads the bidding. Note the William and Mary paint decorated chest of drawers. It had a low estimate of $150,000. Bidders didn't meet the reserve and it didn't sell.

The auction on Saturday featured several collections. The first featured the collection of M. Austin & Jill R. Fine of Baltimore, Maryland. That part of the auction ran from 10 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m. Then, the remainder of the day included collections of David B. Gendron plus property from several other collections. All of these collections focused exclusively on Americana. The pieces ranged from folk art and painted furniture to high-style 18^th and 19^th century objects. Prices ranged from very strong for exceptional and rare pieces to soft for more ordinary objects. Quite a number of pieces didn’t attract bids at the minimum reserve and thus didn’t sell.

Here are just a few pictures of some notable pieces that did or didn’t sell:

This block-front Massachusetts desk did not attract any bidding at the reserve of $38,000. Passed.

 This Newport, Rhode Island tea table soared to $84,000.

Bidders pushed this Boston Queen Anne highboy to $125,000.