The Greater York Antiques Show and Sale is one of the top shows of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic, featuring 60 dealers from across the United States. This year’s event will run on Saturday and Sunday, May 6 and 7, at Memorial Hall East in the York Expo Center in York, Pa.
The show will feature fresh merchandise and will include, for the first time at show, cut glass from the collection of Dr. John Williams. Attendees may browse inspiring room settings of 18th- through 20th-century furniture, folk art, lighting, silver, ceramics, glass, fine antique jewelry, clocks, paintings, and other fine decorative accessories for the house and garden.
“It’s something special. You can’t find this material presented in this kind of atmosphere anywhere else,” said Bob Bockius, show manager of the Greater York Antiques Show.
The show also promises many unique items, including a collection of 30 carved walking sticks and pointers by William Abbott Willard (1851-1931), which can be found in the booth of Arborfield Americana. William Abbott Willard spent nearly his whole life in Hartford, Conn., where he lived in a house with Mark Twain as his neighbor on one side and Harriet Beecher Stowe on the other. He gained a wide reputation for his hobby of carving canes as gifts for friends and relatives to commemorate both personal and historic events of the day. He often carved cane handles in the forms of distinguished gentlemen's heads, and he usually added an inscription explaining the occasion the cane commemorated. Most of his canes were carved from twigs he gathered on the grounds of Mark Twain's property, and he presented many to Twain and Stowe.
New to this year’s show will be J.K. Nevin Antiques from Doylestown, Pa.; Fleshman’s Antiques from New Market, Md.; Barbara Rew of Lewes, Del.; and Gary Manlove of Greenwood, Del., who is bringing a Henry Mauger rifle to the show. Mauger (1750-1826) worked in Douglas Township along the Bucks County, Pa., line. He made rifles and pistols and some locks. It is believed that John Derr apprenticed under Mauger, as Derr used a similar patchbox design on many of his long rifles. This same design was also used by Joseph Faust.
A special feature on Saturday afternoon will be a manager’s reception, providing an opportunity to talk with the dealers and learn the significance and history of the items they are offering for sale while enjoying a glass of wine or champagne.
The show hours will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Coffee and pastry from the Copper Crust, a quality local bakery, will be served as part of a relaxing Sunday morning perfect for shopping and enjoying the show. The change in Sunday hours is to accommodate collectors and dealers who will be traveling to Brimfield, Mass.
The admission price will be $12.
The York Expo Center/York Fairgrounds is located in downtown York, a short distance from the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a few miles from Interstate 83 and Interstate 81. The street address is 334 Carlisle Ave., York, Pa.
The Greater York Antique Show is produced by Mitchell Displays Inc. of Westville, N.J.
For more information, call Bob Bockius at 856-686-9000, email bobbockius@hotmail.com, or visit www.mitchelldisplays.com.