The NHADA is pleased to name Rachel Gurley as Dealer of the Month for July 2019. Rachel was born and raised in the antiques trade. “My family is in the business. My mother and father, David and Nan Gurley were amazing dealers, and when I was 5 or so, they began promoting antique shows. Dealers from all over became my extended family,” Rachel said.

Her late mother, Nan Gurley, was famous in the business. Her brother Josh, an auctioneer, owns and operates Gurley Auction Company in Parsonsfield, Maine. Rachel opened the Gurley Antiques Gallery originally in Yarmouth, Maine in 2008. In 2011, she met her now husband, Timothy Libby, and moved the business to Dunstan Corner on Route 1 in Scarborough, Maine.

Rachel and Joshua have continued the family business and now promote antique shows. Rachel urges readers to keep an “eye on the calendar for upcoming shows!” The Deerfield Antique Show in August during NH Antiques Week is a favorite for those looking for quality Americana and folk art. The Cornish Antique Show and Vintage Fair is in September, at the same time as the Cornish Apple Festival. The Boxborough Show series in Boxborough, MA is a “great picker’s market” and happens three times a year, featuring 60 dealers with fresh antiques. Gurley also promotes the Scarborough High School Antiques and Vintage Show in Scarborough, ME in the spring as well as the Dover Antiques Flea Market at the Dover Elks Lodge which is the first Wednesday of the month, October through April.

Rachel graduated with a degree in art history and a minor in French and art from the University of Maine Orono. “I was a five star pastry chef,” Rachel said, but “the entrepreneurial antiques blood ran too strong.” She said her degree helped in the in business “but my hands-on experience taught me the most. My mom taught me everything from running the business to appreciating the ‘little yummies’ as she liked to call them. I was watching the shop on our farm by the time I was 10.” 

With a family name to honor, Rachel promised that she will continue to love the Antiques Business like her parents, David and Nan. “I managed Mom’s shop for years, and I know all the guys,” she declared. “The business has changed, now we have to have something for everyone. Gurley Antiques Gallery has everything from high quality to fun and funky.”