Both familiar and fresh faces were welcome at the Cotswolds Antiques Dealers Association’s (CADA) annual fair.
The event ran from November 17-19 at Compton Verney House - its third outing at the folk art museum - and visitor numbers were up 20% from 2022.
Callum Jackson from Jacksons Antique was among those who reconnected with existing buyers at the fair. He had met a client there last year who became a regular of the dealership and had been buying since from the website. That client returned this year and purchased a Vienna porcelain plaque from Jackson in the region of £3000.
Callum Jackson at his stall at the CADA fair.
“It’s a very reliable fair,” fellow dealer David Hickmet from Hickmet Fine Art said. “A lot of clients we normally meet continue to come. We find the loyalty very encouraging.”
He also said that he had met new customers who had come in originally to peruse the art gallery on the top floor of the museum.
Myles Birket Foster watercolour, The Picnic - Cromer, Norfolk, sold by Newman Fine Art at the CADA fair.
Also selling to existing clients was Derek Newman from Newman Fine Art who parted with two watercolours to a client whom he had met when the event was first held at Compton Verney in 2021. One of the pictures was a Myles Birket Foster watercolour, The Picnic - Cromer, Norfolk, which sold for £1650.
Across the three-day fair, as well as through promotion beforehand, he sold 11 watercolours.
From the stand of David Houlston of Houlston a large 16th century oak carving of an English king went for more than of £10,000 to an existing client.
“We were pleased with the footfall,” said Houlston. “There was brisk trading, almost entirely private, and we had to restock the stand each day.”
Other top sales on his stand included a Charles I boarded and joined oak and elm mural cupboard from Gloucestershire, c.1630, which went for £3800 and a Charles II needlework picture, c.1670, snapped up for £4650.
One of the longest-running client relationships of the fair was between David Harvey of WR Harvey and a couple who came in first thing on Saturday and remembered his shop from when it was in London 50 years ago.
One of the most popular items on his stand was a Regency Mahogany Hunt table, in the manner of Gillows, c.1825 which was offered for £14,500.
While it did not sell at the fair, there was a lot of interest after the event from people that had seen it on social media posts.
Gallery manager Philippa Norton said: “We were very satisfied with the public’s interest in such an unusual item. All it needs is the right person with the right house.”
New buyers
While returning customers were plentiful, many of the dealers also had great success with new buyers.
Garret & Hurst Sculpture had a very good first day, making two big sales to new clients.
One of these was Le Semeur (The Sower), a 23½in (60cm) high bronze by French sculptor Henri Désiré Gauguie (1858-1927) for around £4500. The other piece was a bronze sculpture of a cricketer ‘waiting his innings’, dated 1863, by English sculptor Joseph Durham (1814-1877) which sold for a price in the region of £2500.
Meanwhile, two postboxes went to two different clients for prices in the region of £8500 each from the stand of Mark Goodger Antiques.
Both were Victorian country house oak postboxes, c.1870, but one was slightly smaller than the other. A Georgian green tortoiseshell tea caddy with canted corners, c.1800, sold to another client, also in the region of £8500.
People often come on the stand and like things, but this time people are coming on and buying them,” said John Stanley of Blackbrook Gallery, who also had a very successful weekend.
One work that sold to a new client was a painting of an old shepherd with Southdown sheep by William Garland, 1848, which went for a price in the region of £4000.
A Benjamin Zobel sand painting of pigs went to an existing client, priced around £1500. On the last day, Stanley also sold The Hare & Lapwings, an oil on canvas, by H Carter, signed and dated 1905, for a price in the region of £4000.
Freya Mitton with the John Piper work she sold at the CADA fair.
Freya Mitton from Freya Mitton 20th Century British Art sold her most expensive piece on the first day which was a John Piper work, St Mary in the Marsh, for a five-figure sum. Two different couples had been wanting to buy it, but one came back while the other had lunch and managed to snap it up.
Mitton said: “The quality of people coming in has been mind-blowingly good. It’s not the largest number of people but you’re not looking for the largest number, you’re looking for the people wanting to buy.”
No date has been set for the CADA fair next year, but the association is in talks with the venue and hopes for a November slot.
