Treasures galore at antiques shows
September may mark the end of summer, but for treasure hunters it brings a bounty of possibilities. The Harmony Museum Antiques Show and the third annual Old Allegheny Antiques Show are on back-to-back weekends Sept. 16-17 and 23-24. Here is some of what you’ll find: The Harmony Museum Antiques
Show will be held in its 1805 Harmonist barn and tent at 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 16 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 17. Admission is $5. At least a dozen dealers will have old advertising, folk art, paintings, pottery, period and country furniture, toys and much more.
Charlie Bone of Fort Wayne, Ind., has been selling antiques at the Harmony show for the last three years. “My antiques inventory is wide-ranging,” he said.
On trips to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois, the longtime dealer sells folk art, stoneware, ceramics, lighting and early toys. He will have a framed Scherenschnitte, a German word for intricate paper cutouts from the 1850s to 1870s.
“They are very finely cut pieces showing birds, animals, flowers in planters and other forms,” he explained.
Debbie and Glenn Howard of Howard Antiques in Mt. Pleasant will be doing both the Harmony Antiques Show and the Penn’s Colony Festival in Saxonburg the same weekend.
“We will be at the Harmony show with an old store counter from the late 1800s that would make a beautiful kitchen island or bar,” said Mrs. Howard.
For Penn’s Colony, they will have a framed lithograph of a Confederate prison, a Sheraton table with two drawers as well as a hutch table with original paint. The third annual Old Allegheny Antiques Showwatercolor at Calvary United Methodist Church on the North Side will feature 20 dealers with a wide array of merchandise including jewelry, paintings, silver, furniture and linens. The show’s hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 23 and noon-5 p.m. Sept. 24. Admission is $5, $10 for early buyers who can get in at 9 a.m. Sept. 23.
Patrick Hastings moved from England to Pittsburgh and opened Mahla & Co. Antiques in the Strip District. An antique dealer since 1995, he specializes in 19thcentury and oil paintings.
“Young people do not seem to be interested in high-quality antique furniture,” he lamented, adding that the internet has dramatically changed the antiques business. “eBay and other sites have replaced the joy of browsing through shops and shows.”
He will be showing an early 1800s seascape that depicts the Battle of the Nile in 1798, when France and England faced off near Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.
When he is not doing antiques shows, Cliff Dietz has several booths in the Antique Emporium in Beaver Falls with his business partner, John Niederberger. He plans to bring to the North Side American glass by Fry, Morgantown and Fostoria and Pyrex kitchen ware. Other treasures will include mid-century modern brushed aluminum Kensington Ware by Alcoa and two Herman Miller chairs in brown leather.
“I will have pristine damask linens ready for the table,” he said.
Patrica Sheridan: psheridan@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2613, Twitter: @pasheridan.