Fairs and Markets

THIS year’s Summer Fine Art and Antiques Fair opened at Olympia last Thursday with the 400 or so exhibitors in a very subdued mood. However, by the end of the first day much serious business had been achieved.

SOTHEBY’S have announced that they will hold their first sale at their new Olympia salerooms on September 18. The dispersal of the single owner collection will mark the beginning of an annual programme of 80-85 sales aimed largely at the middle market in terms of value.

dmg world media have teamed up with Florida-based fair organiser David Lester to form a new art and antiques fairs group aimed at the very top end of the market.

The loan exhibitions held by London jewellery dealers Wartski have become something of an event in the summer calendar. They focus on specific areas of the jeweller’s art and previously the spotlight has been turned on such subjects as the tiara in 1997, and two years ago an impressive show dedicated to the work of the Parisian firm Falize Frères.

THE London fairs season gets seriously underway on June 7 with the opening of the The Fine Art and Antiques Fair, which runs at Olympia until June 17.

USA: IT involves a rather longer trip than to North Yorkshire, but among the world’s top events celebrating ethnographic arts and crafts The New York International Tribal Antiques Show will run at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue and 67th St, from May 20 to 23 with a $75 evening benefit preview on Saturday May 19.

USA: Florida-based organiser David Lester has abandoned plans to launch his inaugural America’s International Fine Art Fair at Westchester County, New York State, this October and has postponed the debut until October 11 to 20, 2002.

UK: AN extraordinary breakdown in communication between Earls Court and Olympia, owners of the famous Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair, and London organiser of one-day fairs Matthew Adams resulted in Adams Antiques Fairs losing an Olympia slot with no written notice or confirmation.

LONDON-based Haughton International Fairs have changed the name of their International 20th Century Arts Fair to The International Art + Design Fair 1900-2001.

ENOUGH of the 117 exhibitors reported decent sales at the 32nd Kunst Messe Koln, the West German Antique Dealers Association national fair at Cologne’s Trade Fair Centre from March 24 to April 1, to record a solid performance, probably up on last year.

USA: First there was The Antiques Roadshow, now we have the Antiques Rivershow. That is the aim of a New Orleans antiques dealer who wants to take to the Mississippi on a decomissioned casino boat with the most unusual antiques fair yet devised.

FOR 20 of its 27 years the annual Harrogate Antique and Fine Art Fair has been organised by West Country-based Louise Walker but with 80 exhibitors this year’s staging from May 3 to 6 is the biggest so far.

UK: A NEWLY established firm of provincial auctioneers are broadening the scope of their business by launching a two-day ceramics fair in London in June.

UK: NOTED for its wide variety of stock, there truly is something for everyone at all prices at the Summer Fine Art and Antiques Fair, which will be held at Olympia in West London from June 7 to 17.

UK: WELSH organisers (and occasional ceramics dealers) Robert and Carol Pugh make their debut as the new owners of the Little Chelsea Antiques Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall, London SW3 on April 2 and 3.

TEFAF Maastricht closed on Sunday with museum-quality goods having sold well – particularly Old Masters, Contemporary art and Oriental – but business was being achieved from the opening party on March 9, when collectors converged on this showstopping pottery model of a recumbent Bactrian camel, 101/2in (27cm) high, on the stand of London specialist Ben Janssens.

UK: Morris sets out his vision for a market. UK: A NO dateline policy for all three Olympia antique fairs is among the plans Andrew Morris, chief executive of Earls Court and Olympia and head of Clarion Events, the halls’ organising arm, has revealed in an exclusive interview with the Antiques Trade Gazette.

US: FEARS of an economic downturn seem to have almost as much effect in the United States as any downturn itself, and there was much talk of recession in the run-up to this year’s Palm Beach International Art and Antiques Fair, the Florida phenomenon which organiser David Lester has taken to the premier league in just five years.

USA: FLORIDA-based organiser David Lester plans to move into the North East of the United States this autumn with the launch from October 4 to 14 of The New York International Fine Art Fair in Westchester County, New York State.

UK: MODESTLY billed as a sale of Victorian and Later Furniture and Household Effects, this smallish event in a Suffolk town probably best known for its many antiques shops n fact combined two of the strengths of provincial auctioneers – some decent fresh-to-market period furniture to attract wide trade interest and some material guaranteed to spark bids from local enthusiasts.