BYTOWN ANTIQUE & BOTTLE CLUB
Bytown Antique & Bottle Club
2017 Show Display
A Unique Display of Antiques & Folk Art
It was a special project that just kept getting better and better! We were looking to do something special for our annual show at the end of April to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary when the suggestion came forward that we organize a display of some of the best items from our members’ collections.
With the concept roughed out, we put out the call to members to see if they would agree to provide items for the display. We had reason to be concerned. In some cases we were asking members to give us antiques that had never been out of their collections. The majority had never been on public display. Could we ensure the security of these rare and, in all cases, valuable items?
True to form, the Club members embraced the concept of the display and, in the end, came through for us big time!
Before long we had some 40 very special antiques and collectibles offered for display. The list included important examples of country furniture, merchant stoneware, decoys, shorebirds, folk art, textiles, advertising – most of which had an Ottawa or Ottawa Valley connection. All of them were museum quality.
Portrait of a Clydesdale horse called "Maccombie" by artist J. J. Kenyon,
Washington, Ontario, oil on canvas, circa 1880
Many hours were spent planning the display including one dimensional scale models with all of the pieces laid out on paper.
The organizers made three separate site visits to the Nepean Sportsplex, Hall A, to measure and view the area for the display. None of us had actually organized a display like this and we are not professional curators. We did our best knowing at least that the “raw material” with which we were working, the antiques, were unique. More meetings were held and we slowly planned the other elements including signage and the handout listing and describing the various antiques in the display.
The day of the Show arrived and fifteen members of the Club began arriving at the Nepean Sportsplex on Woodroffe Avenue in Ottawa with their items for the display. We had roughly two hours to build the display, and, a few minutes before show opening at 9 AM, we were placing the numbered cards with each item and making final adjustments.
The display was a great success and impressed the public and members of the Club.
Colin Latreille, of Colin Latreille Auctions took some great photographs, which accompany this article.
How will we outdo ourselves next year? Wait and see!
Check out our Facebook link below to learn more about collecting and antiques!
By Shaun Markey
2017 Bytown Antique & Bottle Show Display Committee Members (left to right)
Jon Church, Shaun Markey, Carol Cameron, Alvin Cameron. Absent is Don Hewson. Congratulations on your hard work in organizing a superb display!
Collecting Our Material HeritageHere is a selection of items from the display in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary year. Presented by the Bytown Antique & Bottle Club, April 30th, 2017. | Elm Work TableUnusual work table in elm wood, with real and false drawers, Carleton Place, Ontario, circa 1870. | Rooster Weather VaneSpectacular full-bodied “chantecler” (old French word for rooster) weather vane, Quebec, circa 1850. |
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Child's Pull Horse ToyChild's wooden pull horse toy with horsehair tail, Quebec, circa 1880. | Canada Goose DecoyHollow Canada Goose in attack position on a platform, carved by John Ramsay (1858-1934), Summerside, Prince Edward Island, circa 1890. | Trade Sign & ShorebirdsDuck Dinner trade sign, two sided, enamel on metal, from the Russell House Hotel, Smith Falls, Ontario, circa 1910. Left - Black bellied plover shore bird decoy by John Ramsay, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, circa 1880. Right - Yellowlegs shorebird decoy with wire legs, Toronto Harbour area, unknown carver, Toronto, Ontario, circa 1880. |
Wooden Wall BoxDecorative wall box in original paint, from a Germanic settlement, Renfrew County, Ontario, circa 1880. | Ottawa Merchant Fish CrockA Canada West (CW) Ottawa merchant, stoneware storage crock with a rarely seen cobalt blue fish decoration. Many had thought the Bytown of the 1850's was too small and too rowdy to be Canada’s capital. Once chosen, some merchants chose to promote its new “City” status; hence the “Ottawa City” in its stamp. Pre-Confederation, circa 1841-1867. | Winter Logging Scene by Minnie FylesUniquely Canadian winter logging scene folk art painting on tree fungus (Ganoderma applanatum), by Minnie Fyles (1863 – 1943), Hull, Quebec. Minnie Fyles painted this as a gift for her fiancé, W. Garrioch of Ottawa. Photographs of Mr. W. Garrioch and Miss M. Fyles. Signed by Minne Fyles, 1893. |
Side Chair & School House QuiltUnusual blue side chair in hardwood, overpaint (Ladysmith, Quebec) circa 1900. Beautiful homespun wool quilt in s schoolhouse pattern, Williamsburg, Ontario, circa 1870. | Canadian Pacific PosterCanadian Pacific Railway broadside, which is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only, advertising for settlers' excursion, leaving from Ottawa, Ontario, April 16, 1884. | Open Storage CupboardA unique pine, open dish dresser and storage cupboard in superb original colour, Renfrew, Ontario, circa 1870. Very rare King Charles spaniel figurine, Daniel Orth Pottery, Jordan, Ontario, circa 1870. Pie plate, cherry design, by Eby Pottery Waterloo, Ontario, circa 1880. Brown speckled lidded jar by the Eby Pottery, Markham, Ontario, circa. 1855. Large spotted jar, Stormont County, Ontario, circa 1870. |
Pie Plate by Eby PotteryPie plate, cherry design, by Eby Pottery Waterloo, Ontario, circa 1880. | Spotted Earthenware JarLarge spotted jar with unusual glaze, Stormont County, Ontario, circa 1870. | Redware Milk PanBeautifully glazed redware milk pan from Waterloo County, circa 1860. |
Cat Painting by Joe SleepFolk art painting, Cat with Flowers and Butterflies, by Joe Sleep (1914 – 1978), Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1977. | Windsor Side Chair & Blanket ChestExceptional and rustic stick Windsor side chair in original condition, Peel County, Ontario, circa 1810. Pine blanket chest, or V-box, Quebec, circa 1840. | Appliquéd Star QuiltElaborate cotton appliqué quilt festooned with a central star, vines and maple leaves, Ontario, circa 1910. |
Totem PoleImpressive carved and painted totem pole, Alert Bay, British Columbia. 1910. | Oil Lamp on Maple WashstandOil lamp with white swirl font and marble base, circa 1870. Finely turned and executed bird's eye maple washstand, Nova Scotia, circa 1825. | Rare Items in Display CaseExtremely rare double spout, redware harvest jug by the Kulp pottery from Grimsby, Ontario, circa 1829. Exceedingly rare ginger beer bottle, Chateau Laurier Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario, circa 1910. Six beautiful free-blown and hand decorated barber bottles found in shops across Canada beginning in the 1880’s. |
James Robinson's The Tea PotRare pre-confederation Ottawa stoneware crock. Tea merchant James Robinson’s The Tea Pot sold groceries, provisions, as well as tea, from outlets on Sussex, Rideau and Wellington Streets, Ottawa, Ontario, circa 1860. | First Nations Burl BowlExtraordinary burl bowl made from elm, with cutout handles, First Nations, Brantford, Ontario circa 1810. | Oil Lamp on Lamp TableCranberry cut to clear lamp, with marble base, circa 1870. Outstanding cherry wood lamp table, two drawers, with decorative turnings on legs in pristine original condition, Martintown, Ontario, circa 1860. |
Dominion Day & Election PostersDominion Day celebration poster, with a schedule of special trains from the surrounding communities, Napanee, Ontario, July 1st, 1892. Liberal election poster, stating precise claims, from the 1920's. | Redware Finger JarLarge finger red ware jug, Renfrew County, Ontario, circa 1870. | Arrow Back ArmchairArrow back armchair by Moses Kedy (1798 – 1874) in extraordinary untouched, original condition, Fitzroy Harbour, Ontario, circa 1850. |
WhirligigColourful whirligig of man sawing wood, Ottawa, Ontario, circa 1960. | Stoneware Jug & Pine BenchThree gallon stoneware jug with cobalt blue flower decoration, circa 1870. Small red pine bench, original finish, Prescott, Ontario, circa 1870. |