Crowds fill museum during annual Antique Show

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on June 2, 2010

The Brandywine River Museum maintained a 39-year tradition
by launching the Memorial Day weekend with the opening of the annual three-day Antique
Show that raises money for the museum’s Volunteers Art Purchase Fund.

This year more than 400 people attended the Friday night
reception to see the wares offered by 31 antique dealers. Attendance through
Memorial Day was 2,143, according to figures provide by Lora Englehart of the
conservancy’s public relations department.

Jim Duff, executive director of the Brandywine Conservancy
and the museum, said the Antique Show and the winter Critter Sale have raised
enough money for the fund to purchase more than 200 works of art over the
years. Some of those purchases have been significant.

“Some very important pieces, like the James Peale still life
that was purchased a few years ago from New York. It’s one of the most
important pieces in our still life collection,” Duff said.

Duff added that many of the dealers, some coming from as far
as Alabama and New Hampshire keep returning to do the Chadds Ford show.

“There are many repeats. It’s quite wonderful that they want
to be back. That makes us happy and proud,” Duff said.

While many of the dealers traveled far, some were local. One
local antique dealer was Richard Worth of R.M. Worth Antiques of Chadds Ford.

One of the pieces he was showing for sale was a 1937 scale
model of the Hagley Mills that was made for E. Paul DuPont by one of DuPont’s
employees. It was a working model made of wood, Worth said. The selling price
was $12,800.

Accompanying the show was a special exhibit, “Crocks, Jugs, and Jars: Decorated American Stoneware” that
will run through July 18. It features an array of pottery demonstrating
decorative techniques used by craftsmen during the 18^th and 19^th
centuries when food in most American households was stored in salt-glazed
stoneware.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.