PART 2 

Page 3

Carlton's Road trip to the 

PORTLAND EXPO ANTIQUES SHOW

July 9th- 11th 2010

I would say the Portland Expo facility is one of the nicest locations for an antiques show I've been to. The building looks fairly modern, well maintained and is nice and clean. Probably most important, the air conditioning works great throughout the whole building, even in the huge lobby area. I saw dealers who obviously were set up outside in the 100+ degree heat, napping on the floor in the lobby. Good for them and good for the promoter for providing the relief. 

The show is staged in two huge rooms that are divided by an area that has food vendors and a lot of tables to sit at. Although the tables are so close together it's hard to get into them. As you're sitting there, every once in a while you sense someone peering past you with a plate of food contemplating the nerve to disturb you to squeeze by.  I had a hot dog and a Pepsi that basically served it's purpose. But the self serve chopped onions and relish didn't have a sneeze guard. I guess because sneeze guards are so expensive or they just don't expect anyone to ever sneeze on them. 

One of the vendors sold ice cream bars with nuts that eventually got to me. They had what looked like the whole set up to dip the vanilla bars on a stick in chocolate then roll it in nuts, which watching is part of the fun of getting one. But once I handed over the money all they did was reach in the freezer behind and hand me one already made up. I guess they just like to fake ya out with the tray of chopped nuts sitting there. There are also food vendors located around the perimeter of the floors. There was an Asian food one that served stir fry that seemed pretty popular. The great smell of sesame oil gets your attention and lets you know it's not a hot dog stand.

42" x 29"

The Yale Fence by Alfred Cornelius Howland copyright 1891

As mentioned, I arrived at the show at 9:00AM Friday and hit the outside dealers first since it was already 75 degrees and was expected to get to 100 that day….Within fifteen minutes, about the third row I spotted the print you see above titled “The Yale Fence”. It has a copyright of 1891 by the publisher C. Klackner, and the artist was Alfred Cornelius Howland. Framed it measures 42” wide by 29” tall. 

close in of print

The print could easily be overlooked as it’s almost mundane. All you see is a bunch of trees and a boring looking street scene with a lot of small illustrations of people. However…it’s all in the neighborhood and who the people are. Had I not seen another example once I may have walked right by and never noticed it.

Here’s the whole story…back about a year ago Hunt had one of these in their March 2009 auction. Even that listing would have been easy to overlook. The photo didn‘t look like much, but the description was intriguing. See the Hunt listing here. The description stated it was a “Unique Harvard baseball print“, and that it depicted the “Harvard baseball team posed in a campus setting” It was the first example I’d seen and the description said it was the first Hunt had seen…so if I hadn’t seen it….and Hunt hadn’t seen it…it’s rare!

Example Hunt Auctions had

I sensed it was a great piece and a potential sleeper that might not get a lot of action. I emailed Hunt with questions and requested closer detailed photos. They graciously sent multiple close in shots but I never got a reply to my question of whether the dimensions they gave were outside the frame or inside the window. I ended up not bidding on it because, in short, I felt I couldn’t fully comprehend the piece. I wasn’t exactly sure what the print was all about and I just didn’t feel like plunking down money for something that really didn‘t turn my head to look at. But it was one of those pieces I never forgot and left me wondering, as I sensed there was something important about it.

Then came Portland.…The dealer had a wide assortment of medium quality stuff....and there among it all was this print on the ground propped up against a large crock. Because of my experience with the one in Hunt a year earlier I recognized it immediately. It caught me completely by surprise. If you asked me beforehand what I expected to see at the show this print surely would have been last. Particularly since it’s such an east coast thing, who would expect it in a pile of stuff way out in the Pacific Northwest.

As I recall the couple that had it were still setting stuff out and scurrying around. Naturally using the standard poker face I asked the price in a way that wouldn’t seem like I was too interested….but I was interested all right! It all came on so sudden, and I’m not a morning person, so I had to kind of struggle to put it all together. It wasn’t like it was in perfect condition and nicely framed…The glass appeared to have been missing a long time and the print had yellowed/darkened. There was evidence of some water stains, but not too bad, plus there were tiny specks of paint. The oak frame seemed period and was very well suited, but needed refinishing…

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