Fewer than five minutes after the Antique City Fun Fair opened at the Lehigh University Field House in Bethlehem, Pa., on April 18, the first retail sale of the two-day event was made. A Cambridge glass pitcher and six matching glasses with a listed price of $1,395 was bought by Carli Carlson of nearby Hellertown. "Do I get a prize?" he asked when notified of his first-place finish.
Carlson and his wife, Fran, who did some buying in her own right, were among the 400 showgoers who paid a premium price, $16, for an 8 a.m. early admission. The regular admission began at 10 a.m. He bought the Cambridge glass set from Ed Sawicki's "Memories Antiques" booth right inside the field house entrance.
The Carlsons are longtime customers and friends of Sawicki, a dealer based in Dunellen, N.J. "Ed is one of the major glass dealers in the United States," said Carlson.
“Memories Antiques (Glass is our Passion)” was one of at least seven glass specialists among the 140 dealers who had show booths. Their goods included Tiffany and other slag glass lampshades, as well as 19th- and 20th-century art glass, such as vaseline glass (made with a uranium oxide that glows under an ultraviolet light).
Jewelry, advertising, collectibles and toys, many made in Germany, were also popular among dealers, including those of Bertoia Auctions of Vineland, N.J., located about 90 miles away. The auction company was giving away brochures for its upcoming "In May We Play Sale" scheduled for Friday and Saturday, May 8 and 9. "We've also sold a few penny toys," said Jeanne Bertoia, who was staffing the booth along with her son, Mike.
Buyers also came from afar. A woman who declined to identify herself said she had come almost 200 miles from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and had bought a small doll. Jim Kramer, who had come from Long Island with his wife, Anne, on their "annual pilgrimage" to the show, said he collected beer and liquor bottles. They ended up, however, paying $1,325 for a four-foot-high National Biscuit Co. display case they were sure would fit in the back of their van for the trip home.
This is the fourth year the Antique City Fun Fair show has been held in Bethlehem, Pa. Originally put on for years in Atlantic City, N.J., and then briefly at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa., by veteran promoter Norman Shaut, it is now operated by William Thomas. On April 19, another 700 visitors showed, according to Thomas. All told, roughly 1,800 visitors attended, many getting advance tickets online.
One of the most unusual booths was Dave Irons Antiques of Northampton, Pa. He has operated for several decades, along with his wife, Sue, specializing, suitably enough, in antique flat irons. Irons has written several books about the collectible, beginning with "Irons by Irons" and two sequels.
But they also deal in country furniture and primitive antiques, notably tramp art, a popular sub-category of folk art. Irons has written about it in another book, "Tramp Art: One Notch at a Time."
He was selling copies of it, for $10, including one copy he autographed for Paul Gabel.
Gabel, a specialist in vintage and antique weaponry, said his own interest extends to another folk art sub-category: trench art, the use of spent artillery shells and other battlefield debris, mostly during World War I, that could be made into lamps and similar decorative items. (Trench art, primarily from the United Kingdom, is available on eBay at modest three-figure prices.)
The Irons’ antiques booth had two tramp art items, usually made out of wood and small and portable, as the often itinerant nature of its makers suggests. One was a stand-alone portable ashtray whose surface was composed of hundreds of bottle caps (hard to decipher but possibly for Labatt’s ale). It had a price tag of $300. The other piece was what appeared to be a towering armoire or wardrobe and was ornamented with hammered copper panels. Its asking price was $13,000.
Many areas of the toy and advertising fields continue to grow in popularity, according Bill Rawlski, a well-known Chicago, Ill., dealer in his second year at the Fun Fair. "It's the glory days for toys," he said. But not necessarily for those who buy them. Prices have gotten very high, Rawlski noted.
The hottest advertising collectibles are gas and oil signs, according to Rawlski. “A while back, Barrett Jackson, the Chicago area auto auction company, got $80,000 for a Husky gasoline sign,” he said.
One reason for that, according to Rawlski, particularly signs using neon, is for "car barns," Rawlski's term but one in widespread use for oversized garages for multi-car collections. They have lots of wall space to decorate, Rawlski explained, and demand is keeping prices high.
Moments earlier, Rawlski had also made an unusual sale: a diminutive Coca-Cola sign with wording in both English and Chinese, to Bob Nance, a fellow dealer. He had paid $200 for it at set-up and had taken it back to his own booth.
Nearby, jewelry dealer Susan Akinson was looking at a small ring she had just bought. She was going to clean it and research it. Then she'd sell it, too.
Flipping is not just for the real estate market, according to Antique City associate Glenn Freeman. Shows like the Fun Fair "would not run if it weren't for dealers buying from dealers."
For additional information, visit www.antiquecityshow.com.