Under the title An Englishman’s Home in the 18th Century, Mr Bly will host a tea party for selected guests, delivering a lecture, discussing and then hopefully selling the associated furniture he will have brought over.
The formula can then be repeated for a dining room and for cocktails, with a changing stock to match the talk. Outside the targeted talks the exhibition will be open to the public and stock will be complemented by items from New York silver dealers Shrubsole, ceramics specialists Vandekar, and others.
Already well known in the United States, Mr Bly will up his profile during the Carlyle exhibition with the American launch of his book Is it Genuine?
In late January he will move on to the Palm Beach International Art and Antique Fair where he regularly shows.
If successful, the Carlyle exhibitions will be repeated and there are plans to take the idea to other centres like Atlanta and Chicago where Mr Bly is already known through his lecture tours.
He says: “Our aim is to find the very best market for our stock-in-trade of fine English antiques and it is evident from recent trading experience that North America is currently the place, just as it was in the 1920s and ’30s.”
To free up time to develop business in America, Mr Bly has re-assigned the lease on his shop at 27 Bury Street, London SW1 to Fine Art of Oakham, but he will keep a presence at the showroom with a selection of stock and be available two days a week or by appointment.
His permanent base will remain at his offices, workshops and showrooms at Tring, Hertfordshire.
Bly heads for US with new marketing formula
ST James’s dealer John Bly is the latest of an increasing number establishing a presence in the United States. He starts from December 10 to 14 with a selling exhibition with lectures, for which he will take over The Versailles Suite at New York’s famous Carlyle Hotel.
