Eclectic mix highlights annual Kerr Museum Antique Show

Twenty-five antiques dealers representing eight states will set up shop March 13-15 at Oakmont Country Club for the 16th annual Kerr Memorial Museum Antique Show.

The show and sale featuring furnishings, fine arts and decorative pieces from the 18th to 20th centuries is the major fundraiser for the Oakmont museum depicting the history of the region at the end of the 19th century.

“We think the show’s popularity lies in the quality of the dealers as well as the variety of the items they bring to the show,” said Diana Thompson, co-chairwoman of this year’s event along with Jan Shoop and Joan Stewart. “There really is something for everyone, whether you own a traditional home or a funky loft in the Strip District.”

Thompson said the range of prices offered by the show’s dealers is an incentive for buyers to find their perfect treasure.

Paul Polce, an antiques dealer for 44 years returning as the show’s manager, agrees.

“You can spend $15 to $15,000 on anything from folk art to formal furniture,” he said. “It’s a very nice show with a lot of artwork, jewelry, miniatures and glass — and dealers that are very friendly.”

More young adults looking for antiques

Polce said he has noticed more young people taking an interest in antiques, both at the Kerr Museum show and at his antique showroom in Trumansburg, N.Y., where he and his wife, Connie, specialize in 18th- and 19th-century country and formal furniture and accessories.

“A lot of them are starting to realize that antique furniture is made better than what you can find new in a store today and you often can buy it for less,” he said.

Among the furniture items the Polces will have for sale will be several tiger maple pieces, including a tilt top breakfast table, circa 1740-1760, with cherry leg pedestal base. Smaller items include a pair of painted tin wall sconces, circa 1850, and a carnival game wheel and a soldier with pocket watch wooden weather vane, both from the 1900s.

Show features 2 new dealers

Two new dealers are joining the show this year: Francis Crespo Folk Art and Antiques of Lancaster, Pa., and Debbie Turi Antiques of Roseland, N.J.

Crespo specializes in antiques and art with a focus on 19th- and 20th-century American folk art. Among his items for sale will be a portrait painting of a boy in its original lemon gold frame from the 1850s, a Paige Koosed watercolor painting dated 1978 and folk art sculpture, weather vanes, paintings and unusual decorative arts.

“I have heard about the Oakmont show for years,” Crespo said. “I love these smaller, quality shows. You are able to engage with people and customers more easily than at larger shows. I am very much looking forward to exhibiting at this show.”

Folk art has been a passion of his for more than 20 years and he enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. “I love educating and passing these unique works to others for their enjoyment in their homes and collections,” he said.

Turi will feature a cigar band quilt and a solid marble carved lamb memorial from the mid-1800s with a price tag of $950.

Eclectic mix of art, fine jewelry

Paul Haig, owner of Haig’s of Rochester Fine Jewelry and Objects of Art of Rochester, Mich., will be returning to Oakmont after his first show there in 2019.

Elizabeth Isakson-Dado, gallery and exhibitions manager, said the dealership specializes in Asian objects of art and textiles, primarily from the 1600s to early 1900s, but it has grown to include other pieces, including antique estate jewelry.

“Last year’s show was a great first for us. We found that our eclectic mix of art objects and fine jewelry set us apart,” she said. “We found Oakmont to be a significant show, a true antique show with high end pieces and very qualified clients who were engaging and informed.”

One of the special pieces they will feature this year will be a diamond and sapphire Russian Imperial ring that Isakson-Dado said was created from a pin once worn by a lady-in-waiting for Catherine the Great, former empress of Russia (1762-1796).

“This piece originated in the late 1700s and is silver and enamel,” she said. “It was later repurposed — a practice that was common at the time — into a Russian Imperial Court ring between 1850-1880.” It features 6 carats of old mine-cut and rose-cut diamonds.

Coming ‘home’ for the show

Jane Langol of Medina, Ohio, a dealer at the Oakmont show for many years, will be returning with pieces from her collection of art pottery, paintings, textiles, folk art and more. She was born in Pittsburgh and lived in Baldwin-Whitehall before relocating to Ohio.

She said the Oakmont antiques show is one of her favorites of the 12 shows a year that she does from Nashville to Chicago. “I passed up the Chicago show this year to come to Oakmont because the dates conflicted,” she said.

Local dealers featured in the show include John Mickinak of Ligonier Antique Gallery, Greensburg; David and Mary Lee Snuffer of Bedford on the Square Antiques, Pittsburgh; John Kroeck of Sewickley Antiques, Leetsdale; and Harley Trice and Debra Coulson of Harley Trice Antiques and Fine Art, Pittsburgh.

The Kerr Museum’s team of junior docents also will attend, dressed in Victorian-period attire. The students serve as ambassadors for the museum located at 402 Delaware Ave., Oakmont, participating in activities throughout the year.

Lunch will be available in the club’s dining area. The lunch is cash only and no reservations are accepted.

Thompson said funds raised from the antique show help to maintain the Kerr Museum for the Pittsburgh community and provide support for exhibits, educational outreach and special events. The house in which the museum is located was commissioned in 1897 by a local physician, Dr. Thomas R. Kerr. Opened to visitors in 2002, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.