In the past this fair has done tremendous business in the opening days but while there were some good sales the feeling among many of the 110 exhibitors was one of business potential rather than sales achieved.
However, a picture had been sold on the opening day for a price not far short of £100,000 and Rowles Fine Art sold an Edgar Hunt painting to a Hampshire collector for £35,000. Clocks also found buyers.
But the weekend was yet to come when we visited the fair and there was optimism that sales would pick up markedly. However, no exhibitor was over-optimistic about the prospects for the year ahead and all thought business would be tough.
In the search for customers one or two said they would increase their presence at fairs this year, and a surprising number are looking to showing at American fairs.
Good sales but no major upturn at Birmingham
IT was apparent on the second day of the first major fair of the year, The LAPADA Antiques and Fine Art Fair which opened at Birmingham’s NEC on January 16, that there is no marked upturn in business following a despondent 2001.
