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- Editor’s
Note:
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- This
column is a regular feature in the Wayback Times in which my
husband takes interesting people out to lunch … and sends
me the bill.
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- (It's
a tough job, but someone has to do it!)
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- Send
us an e-mail if you have someone in mind for one of Peter Neilly's
interviews over lunch.
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- Peter Neilly is Out
to Lunch
- Breaking bread with
interesting people
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- Out to Lunch!
with Peter Neilly
- Today's Out To Lunch guest is
Bill Dobson, owner
and promoter of the Bowmanville Antique Show, the
Odessa Show, the Perth Antique Show and, along
with three partners, the Cabin Fever Show in Kingston. It's Valentine’s
Day and for the first time in 30 years, I won't be spending it
with Sandy (the Warden). After lunch with Bill, I'm off to Ottawa
for a business meeting and then I'll head to Nepean to visit
the Yesteryear Antique Fair. Bill has chosen the Rob Roy Pub
and Restaurant in historic Smiths Falls for a memorable (but
very unromantic) Valentine's Day lunch.And when we're through,
Bill can at least share the rest of the day with his wife, Linda.
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- Photo: Bill Dobson with one of his many finds, a vivier,
used to keep freshly caught fish in the water while native fishermen
in canoes continued fishing,
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- Peter: Thanks for meeting with me Bill, and thank you
for the condensed but very interesting history of Smiths Falls
that you gave me on our way here. You organize quite a few renowned
antique events. The dealers and patrons of your shows know you
as a very innovative promoter. Can you explain to the readers
who have never been to the Odessa Antique Show your reason for
doing the early admission set up and how it works.
Bill: It actually wasn't my idea. A few of my regular
dealers suggested that I do what several American promoters were
doing and charge an early admission to let the public in at the
same time the dealers are unpacking and setting up their booths.
Being a dealer yourself, you know how much buying and trading
goes on between dealers during set up before an antique show
opens. By not allowing the dealers to unpack and set up before
the public is let in, everyone has the same chance to get first
crack at what’s available as it is unpacked. Initially I
was disappointed because the first year we did this, only about
50 people paid the $20 early admission price. But I watched as
they were leaving and noticed that most of them left with their
trucks and vans filled with merchandise. They were serious buyers
and the dealers were very pleased with the results. As a promoter,
if you don't listen to your dealers, you'll soon get into trouble.
The next year, we had 100 early admissions and eventually we
got up to over 500. As far as I know, the Odessa Show is the
only show in Canada currently using this system.
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- Peter: The complimentary pizza and beer on the Saturday
night is also a big hit with the dealers.You also create a real
party atmosphere for your dealers at the Cabin Fever Show. Tell
us how that works.
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- Bill: At the Cabin Fever Show in Kingston, we set up
a package deal for the dealers that includes your booth, a two
night stay at the Best Western Fireside Inn, two breakfasts for
two, a gourmet dinner for two on Saturday night, and a party
with music, free booze, and free hors d’oeuvres on the Friday
night. We always put a bottle of wine in the rooms with a corkscrew
and each year the corkscrew will say
Cabin Fever 2006 or Cabin Fever 2008, depending on what year
it is.We have dealers who have collected these corkscrews ever
since we started doing it. It's a fun weekend and a great party
for everyone.
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- Peter: Your Bowmanville Show has the reputation for
being one of the top antiques and folk art shows in North America.
The show always creates a lot of excitement in the antique community.
I recall attending it a few years ago and seeing an entire booth
of antique hooked rugs sell in the first 15 minutes of the show.
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- Bill: That was Carol Telfer's booth that featured
the Grenfell collection and I believe it sold for around $300,000.
I think the collection went back to a museum in Newfoundland.
Carol will be returning to this year’s Bowmanville Show
which is in March (March 21 & 22). It's always Easter weekend
and starts on Good Friday.
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- Peter: The show is definitely a high end antique and
folk art show. I am always amazed at the prices quality pieces
sell for.
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- Bill: There is one thing I would like to dispel about
the Bowmanville Show and that is that things are seen as being
overpriced. I don't think they are. The show is filled with high
quality pieces that sell quickly. If they were priced too high,
they wouldn't sell. I wish people would come to the show even
if they think they can't afford to buy, just to educate themselves
as to what makes a certain cupboard worth $30,000 compared to
one that’s worth $3,000. They should consider the show as
an educational event and learn from the dealers. People who have
never attended think it's a snobbish show and it's the exact
opposite. It's a friendly show. The dealers are always willing
to explain why things are what they are and what makes a certain
piece worth more. That’s how you learn. As a collector,
you have to be able to tell the difference between the good,
the better and the best. And if you are spending money, you have
to be assured that you are spending it in the proper way. Having
said that, I still think people should not buy antiques only
as an investment. Buy things that you like, things that you can
use in your house and decorate with and buy things that give
you pleasure to own. If they increase in value down the road,
it's a bonus.
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- Peter: With the value of our dollar and the price of
gas so high, we have had fewer American buyers in our shop. Have
you noticed the drop in numbers of American buyers at your shows?
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- Bill: Definitely a big drop, but it’s something
we are going to have to adjust to. I can remember a few years
ago going outside at the Bowmanville Show five hours before the
show was to open and seeing six people already lined up to get
in. Five of the six were Americans. Those days are over and we
have to look at new ways to interest people in antiques. I have
a few new ideas that people might call a little crazy, but we
have to change our ways to keep being successful as promoters.
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- Peter: As a dealer and a show promoter what does Bill
Dobson collect?
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- Bill: I collect a lot of things. Too many. I have collections
within collections. In the 1970s, we had three auctions at my
farm just to thin things out. At each auction, we sold over 1,000
artifacts. Mostly 19th century and earlier tools of the trade
pieces.We even had Mennonites come up from New York State for
the auction and they weren't allowed to bring their horses across
the border, so we sent down Mennonites from Portland (in their
buggies) to pick them up at the border and bring them to the
sale. I have had three other auctions since at the farm. I used
to collect items that had anything to do with birds and about
10 years ago Tim Potter held an auction for me to sell
350 of my 400 bird pieces. There were rugs with bird images,
crocks with birds on them, bird weather vanes, quilts with birds
on them, anything to do with birds. Throughout the auction, people
kept shouting at Tim, “Hey Tim, what kind of bird is that?"
and "Tim, what type of bird is this one?” He was a
good friend of mine and still is, but he didn't know anything
about birds and was getting quite annoyed as the sale went on.
At the end of the sale, he shouted out to me, “Dobson, don't
ever buy another (expletive deletive) bird for the rest of your
life!” Another collection that I have that sort of goes
along with my spinning wheel, wool winder and weaving collection
is my hand woven coverlet collection. At present, I have about
90 coverlets in that collection. I used a lot of them for fund
raising for different groups that I'm involved with. I spend
about half my time fund raising for my community. I was approached
by the Westborough Weavers Guild and asked if I would give them
my collection for two years. They went over them inch by inch
and studied them, put them in sleeves and displayed them at a
textile museum along with some related items, like spinning wheels
and wool winders, that I had given them. They had Dorothy
Burnham open the collection and give a lecture on weaving.
She was the leading textile expert and author of several weaving
and quilting books and she was blown away by this collection.
During the two years the guild had the collection, they took
photographs and digital pictures of all the coverlets in detail
that showed weaving dots, so that the patterns of all 90 coverlets
could be reproduced at later dates by interested weavers. They
printed three books on the collection showing these patterns.
The museum has one, the guild has one and they gave one to me.
I also collect forged iron artifacts and, of course, folk art.
Somehow, each collection leads to another. It never ends. By
the way, Linda and I would love to have you and Sandy up to the
farm someday for a visit and to show you around.
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- Peter: Thanks for the invitation, we would really enjoy
that.You mentioned before that you are involved in politics and
also have plans for a museum of your own.
Bill: Yes, last week I put my name in and I'm running
for deputy reeve of Montague Township. The election is the last
day of March, so I’ll have a busy month coming up. The museum
is another ongoing project that I hope to have open this year.
It will be on our farm, which is just a few miles from here.
The main focus of the museum will be tools of the trades of the
18th and 19th century in combination with food and agricultural
production. I want to show that a small family farm business
can be sustainable. To me, the downfall and failure of the single-family
small farm is one of the biggest things hurting society today.
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- Peter: Thanks again for meeting with me Bill and good
luck with the election.You obviously care a great deal about
your community and will be an asset to its future. Now go home
and spend the rest of Valentine’s Day with Linda. I'll send
the bill
for lunch to Sandy.
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- In addition to being actively
involved in their community, collecting antiques, promoting shows
and setting up a museum, Bill and Linda Dobson also raise and
market organic beef on their farm.
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- Out to Lunch Archives:
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