Read & Watch	Visit	Browse
Antiques & The Arts Weekly	Colonial Williamsburg	Antique Show / Auction Calendar
Antiques Roadshow/PBS*	Historic Deerfield	Auctions: Christies Furniture & decorative arts
Early American Life magazine*	Metropolitan Museum American Decorative Arts section*	Auctions: Sotheby's Furniture & decorative arts*
Maine Antiques Digest*	Old Sturbridge Village	Flea Market Directory search by state
Reference Bookshelf: Antiques	Winterthur Museum*	What are early American antiques*
More to read...	More museums...	More shows, auctions & markets...

What are early American antiques?   For a quick lesson, click on photo links below and go the the original web sites to read the related article, see the larger original image, note the web source, and learn a bit more about each antique.
 

Armchair Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org	Box Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Clock Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Desk Winterthur Museum www.winterthur.org	Earthenware Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
Fraktur York County Heritage Trust http://www.yorkheritage.org	Gameboard Antiques & the Arts Online www.antiquesandthearts.com	High chair Maine Antique Digest  www.maineantiquedigest.com	Indian, cigar store Folk Art Collection New York State Historical Assoc.	John Townsend chest Sold for $4,732,500 ! Maine Antique Digest  www.maineantiquedigest.com
Kentucky rifle Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org.	Lowboy Maine Antique Digest  www.maineantiquedigest.com	Mechanical banks Mechanical Bank Collectors of America www.mechanicalbanks.org	Wallace Nutting secretary Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Oak chest Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org.
Pewter flagon Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Quilts Smithsonian magazine www.smithsonianmag.si.edu	Redware pottery bowls Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Shaker chest Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Tea table Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com
Unusual painted dower chest Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Weather Vane Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Windsor chair Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	E Xtremely rare folk art portraits Maine Antique Digest www.maineantiquedigest.com	Y - Z

• Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia -- 173-acre historic area including 88 original buildings and hundreds of others, plus the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum
• Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts
• Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Michigan
• Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts
• Kendall Whaling Museum, Massachusetts
• Landis Valley Museum, Pennsylvania
• Manello Museum of American Folk Art, New York
• Mercer Museum, Bucks County Historical Society, Pennsylvania
• Monticello, Virginia
• Mount Vernon, Virginia
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
• Mystic Seaport, Connecticut
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Especially see:
• Pennsylvania German Folk Art -- from the Index of American Design
• American Painting -- includes Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, and others
• New Bedford Whaling Museum / Old Dartmouth Historical Society, Massachusetts
• Old Salem, North Carolina
• Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
• Shelburne Museum, Vermont
• Smithsonian: Museums and Research Centers, Washington, DC
• Strawbery Banke Museum, New Hampshire
• Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts
• Wadsworth Atheneum -- Department of American Decorative Arts, Connecticut
• Winterthur Museum and Gardens, Delaware -- museum of early American decorative arts on 966 acre estate

• Museum Studies -- a resource guide from the University of Delaware Library
• Historic House Museums in the U.S.
• Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities

Newspapers -- most antique dealers and collectors read one or both of these:

• Antiques and The Arts Online (The Newtown Bee) -- weekly antiques trade newspaper with web site
• Maine Antique Digest -- monthly trade newspaper with comprehensive web site about antiques

• Early American Life
• Early America Review
• Magazine Antiques -- Brant Publications Inc., 575 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10012

No Web version,  but read it in print!
• Winterthur Portfolio

Journal subscription information only

Online Texts:

• Early American Documents Online -- scanned originals of Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the Constitution
• Reference Bookshelf: classic core collection of books about antiques

• Antiques Roadshow -- the PBS show that excited the interest of the nation in antiques
• Expressions of Common Hands: Folk Art of the Pennsylvania Dutch -- Time Warner video shown on PBS about 18th century style craftsmen of today in Pennsylvania
• Sotheby's Presents: An Introduction to Antiques Volume 1 (2001)

Older established national associations

• The Pewter Collectors Club and other pewter collectors' associations. For more information about recent meetings and contact information go to http://www.collectors.org/news/in-00089.asp
• The Rushlight Club -- for collectors of early lighting. Publisher of the book: Early Lighting.
• Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities -- focused on preservation of historic houses

• Antique Collectors Club -- really more a publisher and distributor of books on antiques than a true club
• Folk Art Society of America
• Mechanical Bank Collectors of America

People who love to collect Americana are an interesting group and below are just a few individuals who have played a major role in preserving and collecting American antiques.

• Ralph Carpenter
  • Distinguished preservationist, collector, consultant and author. Dedicated to preserving the decorative arts and architecture of early America, particularly the Rhode Island area.
  • 1999 winner of the Henry Francis du Pont Award for the Decorative Arts, given by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
  • Article "Ralph Carpenter: The man they call Mr. Newport" -- from Newtown Bee Antiques and The Arts Online
• Bertram K. and Nina Little
  • Major collectors from the 1920s until their deaths in 1993
  • 1984 winners of the Henry Francis du Pont Award for the Decorative Arts, given by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
  • Article: "Passion for the Past -- from Smithsonian magazine
  • Article from the Magazine Antiques (October 1993) (not online)
• Wallace Nutting
  • Premier collector and maker of reproductions in the 1920s
  • Wallace Nutting Center
  • Wallace Nutting Bibliography & Checklist
• Israel Sack & his sons, Harold, Albert and Robert
  • Scholars, authors and antiques dealers
  • Israel Sack began his career in dealing with American antiques in 1903 in Boston, moving the business to New York City in the 1930s, where he was later joined by his sons Harold, Albert and Robert
  • Israel Sack, Inc. / Sack Heritage Group
  • Obituary: Harold Sack -- from Maine Antiques Digest (August 2000)
• Alice Winchester
  • Editor, the Magazine Antiques (1938-1971) and scholar
  • 1990 winner of the Henry Francis du Pont Award for the Decorative Arts, given by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
  • Article in the October 1993 issue of the Magazine Antiques (not online)

• Search for antique objects -- in Maine Antique Digest's Advertisers listings in shops, shows and auctions.
• AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive -- a searchable database of over 500,000 photographs from the Associated Press.  The University of Delaware subscription is licensed for use by University of Delaware students, faculty, staff. Hundreds of photos related to antiques. One example is a close up color photo with the caption: "Rare 18th century secretary bookcase that sold for a record $8,250,500 at a Sotheby's auction in New York on Sunday, Jan. 17, 1999." (All images in this database may be used by University of Delaware faculty, staff and students for educational, non-commercial purposes for example in creation of online courses, instructional materials, class web sites, and student projects at the University of Delaware.)  Search for a word like "antique" or "highboy" and then browse through the images and click on captions.
• Search engines, such as Google Image Search (http://images.google.com/) -- search for a word/phrase such as "tavern table"

• ArtFact -- search an online price guide of auction results and link to other decorative arts Web pages
• Price Database -- search an online database of 12,000 items from Maine Antiques Digest (register online to use this free source)
• Online Auction Catalogs -- a list by Maine Antiques Digest. Includes price catalogs of past sales.
• Sotheby's Auction House -- online catalogues. Begin by selecting category of catalogue, then select specific auction catalog.  Information online includes the original auction sale price estimate made prior to auction.

Antiques collectors often refer to books with photos and descriptions of early American furniture and assessories. The "classic core American antiques book collection" listed below provides selected classic books with a focus on furniture, folkart pewter, iron, copper and brass in America from the 17th, 18th, and early 19th century.

To purchase new or out-of-print editions, check booksellers and antiques shops. For online bookstores or rare, used, out-of-print sources online, see the University of Delaware Library guide: Book Collecting and Book Buying: A Guide to Internet Resources. Out-of-print books may also be in auctions.

Start your antiques book collection with this essential reference book:

Nutting, Wallace. Furniture Treasury (mostly of American origin): All periods of American furniture with some foreign examples in America, also American hardware and household utensils. 3 volumes. Framingham, Massachusetts: Old American, 1928-1933; Reprint ed: Furniture Treasury (2 Volumes in 1). New York: Hungry Minds, Inc, 1954.
(UD Library:  NK 2407 .N73)
Five thousand illustrations with descriptions on the same page. A bibliography of publications by and about Wallace Nutting is available at: http://www.wnutting.com/biblio.htm

Classic Core American Antiques Book Collection

Thousands of books are available about antiques.  This list represents a selected classic core collection of books which are valuable for constant reference and which include large numbers of illustrations. Several of the books are about antiques of English origin but are included because recognizing and understanding these are key to collecting American antiques, particularly pewter, iron and brass.

Books available at the University of Delaware Library have the designation "UD Library" and the LC call numbers.  If books are not part of the University of Delaware Library collection, but are part of the Winterthur Library collection, the designation "Winterthur Library" appears.

Americana, folk and decorative art. New York: Art & Antiques, 1982.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 807 .A51)

American Furniture. Annual.
(UD Library:  NK 2405 .A64)
Edited by Luke Beckerdite and William N. Hosley.

Cotterell, Howard Hershell. Old pewter, its makers and marks in England, Scotland, and Ireland: an account of the old pewterer and his craft. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle Co., 1963.
(UD Library:  NK 8415 .G7)

Early lighting: a pictorial guide. 2nd ed. Boston: The Rushlight Club, 1979.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 8360 .R95)
Click here for more information.

Evans, Nancy Goyne. American Windsor Chairs. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1996.
(UD Library:  NK 2715 .E92 1996)

Fales, Dean A. American painted furniture, 1660-1880. New York: Dutton, 1972.
(UD Library:  NK 2406 .F3 1972)

Gould, Mary Earle. Early American wooden ware and other kitchen utensils. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle Co.,1962 (c. 1942).
(UD Library:  E 161 .G6 1962)

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. Metalwork in early America: copper and its alloys from the Winterthur collection. By Donald L. Fennimore. Wilmington, Del.: Henry Francis du Pont Wintherthur Museum, 1996.
(UD Library:  NK 8112 .H46 1996)

Hurst, Ronald L., and Prown, Jonathan. Southern Furniture 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection. Williamsburg Decorative Arts Series. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.
(UD Library:  NK 2411 .H87 1997)

Jacobs, Carl. Guide to American pewter. New York: McBride, 1957.
(UD Library:  NK 8412 .J3)

Kauffman, Henry J. American Copper and Brass. Camden, N.J.: T. Nelson, 1968.
(UD Library:  NK 7803 .K3)

Kauffman, Henry J. The American pewterer: his techniques & his products. Drawings by Dorothy Briggs.  Camden, N.J.: T. Nelson, 1970; Reprint ed. Mendham, NJ: Astragal Press, 1994.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 8412 .K21)
(Winterthur Library:  NK 8412 .K21 1994)

Kauffman, Henry J. Early American ironware, cast and wrought. Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 1966.
(UD Library:  NK 8212 .A1 K3)

Keno, Leigh, and Keno, Leslie, with Joan Barzilay Freund. Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture. Warner Books, 2000.
(UD Library:  NK 1133.26 .K46 A2 2000)
Read book review by Lita Solis-Cohen: "The Kenos Tell Almost All" in the August 2000, Maine Antique Digest.

Kettell, Russell Hawes. The pine furniture of early New England. Reprint of the 1929 edition published by Doubleday. New York: Dover Publications, 1975.
(UD Library:  NK 2410 .K4 1975)

Kirk, John T. Early American furniture: how to recognize, evaluate, buy, and care for the most beautiful pieces -- high style, country, primitive, & rustic. New York: Knopf, 1970.
(UD Library:  FOLIO NK 2406 .K56 1970)

Ladd, Paul Revere. Early American fireplaces. New York: Hastings House, 1977.
(Winterthur Library:  TH 7425 .L15)

Lindsay, John Seymour. Iron and brass implements of the English house. London: A. Tiranti, 1970.
(UD Library:  NK 6443 .L5 1970)

Montgomery, Charles Frankin. A history of American pewter. Revised and enlarged edition. A Winterthur book. New York: Dutton, 1978.
(UD Library:  PN 1994 .C5143 1982)

The Pennsylvania German collection. Handbooks in American art, no. 2. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 835 .P41pa)

Pewter Collectors' Club of America. Pewter in American life. Wappinger's Falls, NY: Pewter Collectors' Club of America, 1984.
(UD Library:   NK 8412 .P48 1984)

Plummer, Don. Colonial Wrought Iron: The Sorber Collection. Ocean Pines, MD: Skipjack Press, 1999.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 8203 .P73)
Click here for more information about this book.

Prisant, Carol. Antiques Roadshow Primer: The Introductory Guide to Antiques and Collectibles from the Most-Watched Series on PBS. Preface by Chris Jussel. New York: Workman Publishing, 1999.
(UD Library:  Reference NK 1125 .P75 1999)

Richards, Nancy E.; Evans, Nancy Goyne; Cooper, Wendy A.; and Podmaniczky, Michael S. New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods. Winterthur, Del: Winterthur Book, 1997.
(UD Library:  NK 2410 .R5 1997)

Santore, Charles. The Windsor style in America. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, c. 1981-1987.
(UD Library:  NK 2406 .S36 1987)

Schiffer, Herbert F.; Schiffer, Peter Berwind; and Schiffer, Nancy. Antique iron: survey of American and English forms, fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. Exton, PA: Schiffer Pub., 1979.
(Winterthur Library: NK 8212 .S33)

Sherril, Sarah B. Carpets and rugs of Europe and America. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996.
(UD Library:  NK 2842 .S54 1996)

Thomas, John Carl. Connecticut pewter and pewterers. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Society, 1976.
(Winterthur Library:  NK 8412 .T45)

Webster, Donald Blake. Decorated stoneware pottery of North America. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle Co., 1971.
(UD Library:  NK 4003 .W4)

To search for other books about antiques:

• To search theUniversity of Delaware Library online catalog click on:  DELCAT
• To search the Winterthur Library online catalog click on: WINTERCAT

• Early American Life -- see the print magazine for articles about and advertisements from established makers of 18th century reproductions.
• Examples of craftsmen in early American reproductions are below. Check Early American Life magazine for articles and advertisements for many more.
• Early American Floorcloths, New Hampshire -- reproduction floorcloths
• Gregg Shooner, Ohio -- redware pottery
• Itinerant Weaver, Pennsylvania -- reproduction coverlets handwoven on antique looms
• Oley Valley Reproductions, Pennsylvania -- reproduction 18th century American furniture
• Schereinschnitte by Marilyn Diener, Pennsylvania -- paper cutting/Scherenschnitte
• Wisconsin Pottery, Joel Huntley, Ohio -- redware pottery
• Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen -- includes craft fairs, member lists, web sites
• Wallace Nutting Center -- the legacy of Wallace Nutting, including images of early 20th century reproduction furniture, pictures, and links to other web sites

Megasites

• Antique Show & Auction Calendar (from Antiques & the Arts Weekly Online)
• Calendar of Antique Shows & Auctions (from Maine Antique Digest)

Adamstown, Pennsylvania, an hour from Philadelphia,  is an example of one major antiques market center drawing collectors and dealers because over a thousand dealers selling everything from $20,000 American 18th century cupboards to $100 1950s lunchboxes within a one mile radius every Sunday.

• Black Angus / Stoudtburg Antiques Mall, Adamstown, Pennsylvania -- 500 dealers of quality antiques drawing buyers nationwide. Largely indoors, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, open every Sunday
• Renninger's Antique Market, Adamstown, Pennsylvania (open every Sunday) and Kutztown, Pennsylvania (open every Saturday) -- drawing buyers nationwide
• Shupp's Grove, Adamstown, Pennsylvania -- outdoor antiques and collectibles market, open every Sunday

Selected Major Antique Shows

• Brimfield Antiques Show, Brimfield, Massachusetts -- 4,000 antique dealers gather three times each year
• Chester County Historical Society Antiques Show -- in March. See article in Maine Antique Digest (May 2001)
• Heart of Country Antique Show, Nashville, Tennessee. See article in Maine Antique Digest (April 2002)
• New Hampshire Antiques Week, Manchester, New Hampshire -- one week every August. See article in Maine Antiques Digest (October 2000)
• Philadelphia Antiques Show, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- held for over 39 years, benefitting the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. See article in Maine Antique Digest (June 2001)
• Antiques at the Armory, New York -- formerly known as Antiques at the Other Armory. See article in Maine Antique Digest (March 2002)
• The Winter Antique Show -- established by the East Side House Settlement in 1955. Held every January at the Seventh Regiment Armory, 67th & Park Avenue, New York City.

• ArtFact -- search an online price guide of auction results and link to other decorative arts webpages
• Online auction catalogs and Other Antiquing, Art, and Auction Resources -- compiled by Maine Antiques Digest.

• Alderfer Company, Hatfield, Pennsylvania
• Christie's, New York
• Doyle / New York -- William Doyle Galleries
• eBay online auction -- online auction
• Early American History Auctions, Inc. -- an auction house for coins, currency, autographs, documents. Includes online catalogs with color photos
• Eldred's, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
• Freeman's Auction Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Harris Auction Galleries, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland
• Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Ronald Bourgeault, Auctioneer
• Phillips Auctioneers, New York
• Pook & Pook, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
• Skinner, Inc. Auctioneers & Appraisers of Antiques and Fine Art, Bolton, Massachusetts
• Sloane's Auction Galleries, Washington, D.C. & Miami, Florida -- also created Antiqnet.com
• Sotheby's, New York
• Willis Henry Auctions Inc., Marshfield, Massachusetts

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