Another February fair for Palm Beach

The organisers expect to host around 200 dealers, many of them with experience of international fixtures such as Olympia, Grosvenor House, Maastricht and New York’s Winter Antiques Show, and by the end of August over 100 had signed up. The organisers say they will meet their target 200 exhibitors well before the end of October.

The new fair is founded by three South Florida entrepreneurs, Kris Charamonde, Scott Diament and Rob Samuel, all successful dealers in estate jewellery but with other business interests, including
nightclubs.

All three have exhibited at Florida fairs and considering their background it is no surprise that there will be a marked emphasis on jewellery at their fair, a factor that may not be popular with some. About 60 of the exhibitors will be specialist jewellery dealers.

Third generation antiques dealer Nick Vandekar has been signed up as show manager and the fair will be designed by Nicky Aubrey, who has in the past worked for Haughton Fairs in New York.

The list of those already signed up from America includes Kentshire Galleries, Geoffrey Diner, Daphne Alazraki and Leo Kaplan, while the Continental Europe names included Maastricht exhibitors Leslie Smith of Holland and Aviva from Switzerland.

British dealers

But it is the large British contingent which is most noteworthy. The fair has pulled in Grosvenor House exhibitors Hancocks and Koopman, but the bulk of the names are well-known Olympia veterans such as John Howard, Hallidays, Wakelin and Linfield, Linda Gumb, John Jaffa and Haynes Fine Art.

When the Antiques Trade Gazette contacted a number of the Olympia regulars who had signed they all said they were attracted by the very modest stand rents, and a number were taking two or three stands.

The organisers maintain a big plus for the event is that it is held over President’s Weekend, a popular holiday in the United States.

A criticism of the new venture might be that there is too heavy a jewellery presence, but the lure of the Palm Beach market and affordability of stands would seem to have overcome this misgiving among even the most committed furniture
dealers.

There is no way the new fair could be confused with IFAE’s International Fine Art and Antiques Fair, this year rebranded Classic Palm Beach, which in eight years has become one of the world’s glitziest, most prestigious and expensive events.

With 80 top dealers lined up, Classic Palm Beach is scheduled to run at the new Convention Center from January 30 to February 8.