Fairs and Markets

Glide through the richly carpeted, calm corridors of a TEFAF fair and it’s easy to be oblivious to the frenetic preparations that have led exhibitors to this pivotal moment in their sales calendar.

To inject new blood into the senior ranks of TEFAF exhibitors, the fair’s organisers allow younger dealers, some from non-traditional disciplines, to do a live audition each year in the Showcase section. Kate Quill finds out what this tough test involves...

Lifting the lid on what it takes to be an exhibitor at a TEFAF fair, ATG asked three dealers – one American, one British and one German – to chart their preparations, concerns and hopes as they head to Maastricht for the 2018 event. Compiled by Lisa Johnson.

Like most enduring events, the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair boasts a formula both familiar and distinctive which has been tempered by gradual changes.

The Palladian home of the Earls of Pembroke will host the 41st staging of venerable vetted antiques fair on March 2-4.

A dazzling red and black herringbone-patterned Conklin Nozac cushion point pen and pencil set dating from 1932 and with an ability to write 7000 words before running out, is for sale at the Eastern Pen Show on March 4.

Kate and Mike Button of Black Dog Antiques in the market town of Halesworth in Suffolk, also run the monthly Halesworth Brocante which they launched two years ago in the town’s Old Print Works.

With several months to go before the next edition of The Art & Antiques Fair Olympia opens, fair director Mary Claire Boyd says that 2018’s event will feature a different format from past years and anticipates around 30,000 visitors to attend the revamped event.

Look around at any edition of the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair and there will be dealers hastily rehanging and restocking empty spaces on their stands.

The Specialist Glass Fair, founded in 1991 by Patricia Hier and run for 16 years by Paul Bishop, will be held on Sunday, February 25.

“We are always being asked about running our art fairs in Surrey,” said Deborah James, director with Sarah McAllister of Contemporary Art Fairs.

Antiques dealer and fair organiser Marcus Potts is an Art Deco and early 20th century ceramics man, but he is an absolute mine of information on vintage toys.

The New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC) has taken the decision to drop antiquities from its offering amid concerns over looted art.

Daniel Crouch Rare Books sold this huge 25ft (7.6m) wide ‘Atlas of the City of New York – Borough of Manhattan’ map at the Winter Antiques Show last month.

Antique Church Furnishings, which describes itself as ‘God’s Furniture since 1985’, sells almost everything in the religious line – from chasubles to crucifixes and misericordes to missal stands.

Art Antiques Cheshire, the annual fair at The Mere Golf Resort & Spa, is now in its seventh year.

According to Wikipedia, the medieval city of Norwich had at one time 36 parish churches, the largest collection of urban medieval buildings north of the Alps.