A regular in the calendar since 1951, the event relocated to The Garden Rooms at the large Yorkshire Dales site for its autumn run after its longstanding home at the Harrogate Convention Centre was converted to a Nightingale Hospital.
Just over 2600 visitors attended the four-day event from September 30 to October 3 with many exhibitors reporting healthy sales, especially for pictures.
Fair organiser Ingrid Nilson reserved special praise for the auction house, saying the event had “benefited hugely” from the promotion provided by the venue.
She added: “The exhibitors and our regular visitors were very impressed with the facilities, not least the excellent catering and ample parking, and the many Tennants customers who attended the fair enjoyed a different type of day out.
“Plenty of sales were made and it is gratifying to see that the collaboration with the auction house has proved so successful.”
Nilson has already rebooked The Garden Rooms for the 2022 edition which will take place from September 29 to October 2.
Bumper fair
Among the exhibitors enjoying a bumper fair this time around was Keith Ellis of Ellis Fine Art, who sold stock every day including furniture, paintings, small clocks and accessories.
His stand-out sale was a watercolour painting by the late artist and conservationist Peter Scott (1909-89) of mallards flying over wetlands which had an asking price in the region of £25,000. “The interest has been phenomenal, and sales have been very good,” Ellis said.
'Mallards in flight over the wetlands' by Peter Scott, oil on canvas, sold in the region of £25,000 by Ellis Fine Art at The Northern Antiques Fair.
London and Cotswolds gallery Haynes Fine Art achieved a total of nine sales, mainly contemporary paintings by English plein air painter Haidee-Jo Summers (b.1971) and Scottish landscapist Jolomo (b.1948), to a mixture of new and existing clients, all local to Yorkshire.
The gallery’s Tony Haynes said: “There has been exceptional attendance with high numbers every day, all of whom have expressed how wonderful it is to be able to visit The Northern Antiques Fair again, especially at this venue.”
Among the purchases made from the Walker Galleries was a John Piper watercolour, an oil on canvas by Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro and a work by Dorothea Sharp.
Local landmark
Carnes Fine Art sold a view of Betty’s Tea Rooms in Harrogate especially for the fair by Ben Ark, an emerging landscape artist from Salford who recently had an exhibition at The Lowry in Manchester. It sold on the opening morning for £950.
New exhibitor JA Yarwood Antiques & Fine Art, back on the fair circuit after a break of a few years, made sales ranging from a pair of opal earrings for £160 to £5500 for an 18ct gold French snuff box. Its clients came from the Newcastle, Darlington and Harrogate areas.
