Vendors at Greensburg antiques show share a passion for the past

Jeff Poole’s grandmother would never let him into her china closet.

Today, however, Poole is in everyone else’s china closet, as owner of On the Diamond Antiques in Ligonier. An Irwin resident, Poole was watching the snow swirl outside the Greensburg Country Club on Thursday afternoon as he and other vendors started setting up for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts’ Greensburg Antiques Show and Sale, which opens Friday at the club in Hempfield.

“You want to be flexible in what you buy and what you offer,” Poole said. “I try to find a big variety of things. A lot of dealers focus only on high-end antiques. And it’s fine to have a $1,000 item you’re selling, but having a lot of good $25 and $35 items? That’s what’s going to make you money.”

Prominent among Poole’s display is a group of items he purchased during an estate sale at Fred Rogers’ family summer home in Unity.

For vendor Mike Sterrett of Scottdale, antiques are a passion going back four decades.

“My house is like a museum,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a fireman and a stamp collector, too, so the house is filled with fire and stamp memorabilia, as well.”

Sterrett’s sister, Karen, caught the antiques bug about six years ago, she said, and has been accompanying him to shows in recent years.

“I really love the history behind things,” she said. “There’s always a story, and I always try to find it out.”

Both Sterretts said they appreciate the longevity of the items they collect and sell.

“The things you see on these tables are not made today,” she said. “And, if they are, there’s no chance they’ll last this long.”

Kendra Harshberger of Bedford said she got into selling antiques when her home began bursting at the seams with things she’d acquired.

“You can’t keep it all,” she said as she looked for the right angle to display two stained-glass windows that once belonged to a Johnstown church.

“The earlier (time period), the better,” Harshberger said of her antiques preference. “And the more unique, the better.”

Poole agreed.

“Young people get a bad rap for not wanting to buy antiques, but I’ve seen them at more shows recently,” he said.

Poole said younger people tend toward the clean lines and gentle curves of mid-century modern pieces, “and you can get that stuff at Target now.”

“But what happened is a lot of those younger people looked around and said, ‘We all have the exact same stuff,’ and they’re now looking for something from that era that’s a little more unique.”

Grace Lilly, who drove from the state of Indiana, said younger buyers have shown interest recently in “Vaseline glass,” a term dating to the 1950s that refers to pieces made using a minute amount of uranium. The radioactive additive is the reason Lilly also brought several blacklights with her.

“It glows in the dark,” she said.

And while it might seem like an extremely bad idea to handle something containing uranium, a 2001 study by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the amount of radiation exposure caused by the glass is less than 1% of the total radiation an average person is exposed to each year.

Vendor Paul Fischer and his husband Dannie Chandler also drove all the way from Indianapolis to set up a display at the show.

“We’ve done shows in the Pittsburgh and West Virginia area, and we see a lot of the same customers,” Fischer said.

They’ve been coming to the Greensburg show for the past eight years.

“It’s got a nice mix of dealers,” he said. “It has high-end merchandise, mom-and-pop dealers, and the promoters are great.”

The show opens Friday at 6 p.m at the country club, 309 Pleasant Valley Road in Hempfield.