Show Runs Through February 3rd at Park Avenue Armory.

The Winter Antiques Show opened its 10-day run at the Park Avenue Armory with strong sales, celebrity sightings, standing-room-only at the special lectures, and a 25% increase in daily visitors. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was among the first patrons to arrive at the Opening Night Party on January 24. Also shopping in the Show’s first days were Martha Stewart, Caroline Kennedy, Peter Brant, Bette Midler, Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman, Ric Ocasek, and David Rockefeller. Sales were robust across all disciplines, including Americana, antiquities, mid-century Italian glass, folk art, and 20th century fine and decorative arts. All net proceeds from sponsors, special events, and ticket sales support East Side House Settlement, a non-profit in the South Bronx providing social services to community residents.

Among the 20th century works purchased were a remarkable group of five Harry Bertoia Bushes sold by Jonathan Boos to a single collector. Boos also sold a painting by George Tooker, The Helping Hand, and a work by American Modernist John Marin. Lost City Arts sold a custom dining table by Paul Evans and a geometric coffee table by Fontana Arte, as well as a goatskin floor lamp by Alda Tura. Glass Past reported a dozen sales in the Show’s opening days including a Venini & Co. tessuto vase by Carlo Scarpa and a rotellati vase by Ercole Barovier,

Associated Artists’ sales in the first weekend include a Christopher Dresser tray, a Benham & Froud table lamp, a Wedgwood Dragon Lustre bowl, and a William H. Jackson & Co. brass fire tool set. Thomas Colville Fine Art reported sales of works by Eastman Johnson, George Inness, Everett Shinn, and Thomas Sully. Hirschl & Adler Galleries sold a 12-piece set of “Cable” pattern flint glass goblets c. 1860 by Boston and Sandwich Glass Company. Macklowe Gallery sold a "Dragonfly" Tiffany Studios table lamp (c. 1900), a Daum & Majorelle magnolia lamp, a Tiffany lava favrile vase, and several pieces of jewelry. Among the Show’s folk art specialists, Allan Katz Americana reported seven sales in the first weekend, including a 1915 trade sign for a shoe store, a salesman sample barber chair made in 1910, and a 1915 Lady Liberty plaque. Olde Hope Antiques sold a c. 1810 decorated blanket chest attributed to the Otto family of Centre County, PA, and a c. 1865 horse weathervane from Bridgewater, MA.

Other sales highlights include Schwarz Gallery’s unique 17th century Rembrandt Peale drawing of George Washington that reveals the process by which Peale standardized his numerous Washington portraits (sold to George Washington’s Mount Vernon), and an Alyn Williams miniature of Consuelo Vanderbilt at seven years old from Philadelphia dealer Elle Shushan. Barbara Israel Garden Antiques sold several whimsical sculptures, including a group of three grit stone figures of Eros, Flora, and Dionysus c. 1820 from Castle Rijvissche in Zwijnaarde, Belgium. Throckmorton had a record breaking opening night sale with their green jade, Serpentine, Olmec Mask circa 1100 BC, while Les Enluminures reported the sale of several Renaissance rings.

The Opening Night Party held on Thursday, January 24—with Winter Antiques Show Committee Chairman Arie L. Kopelman, Vice Chairs Lucinda C. Ballard and Michael R. Lynch, Honorary Chairs Mr. and Mrs. Claudio Del Vecchio and Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, and Opening Night Chairs Kelly C. Coffey, Head of Private Bank, New York City, J.P. Morgan, and Barry Sommers, CEO, Chase Wealth Management—was attended by more than 1,600 people. Celebrating the Show’s special loan exhibition, Newport: The Glamour of Ornament, were dozens of patrons from The Preservation Society of Newport County. The exhibition, designed by Jeff Daly, features a dazzling 28-foot photographic scrim backdrop of the interior court of The Breakers and includes over 50 works from The Breakers, Hunter House, Marble House, The Elms, Kingscote, Rosecliff, Chateau-sur-Mer, and Chepstow.

A complete virtual tour of the Show and all of the exhibitors’ booths is available online at www.winterantiquesshow.com. The Show was re-designed this year by set and lighting designer Daniel Meeker and features new architectural components and a light palette that give the Show a fresh, modern look.

Images and captions from the Show are available in the image gallery at:  www.winterantiquesshow.com.

The 59th annual Winter Antiques Show will be held through February 3, 2013, at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th Street and Park Avenue, New York City. Show hours are from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily, except Sundays and Thursday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. General admission to the Show is $20, which includes the Show's award-winning catalogue.

About East Side House Settlement

East Side House Settlement was founded in 1891 to help immigrants and lower income families on the East Side of Manhattan. In 1962, it moved to the South Bronx where it serves 8,000 residents annually within one of America’s poorest congressional districts, the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx. Among the initiatives that focus on educational attainment as the gateway out of poverty is the innovative and highly acclaimed Mott Haven Village Preparatory School. For more information, please visit www.eastsidehouse.org.