Fairs and Markets

It was only after an epic battle for Spitalfields’ rich heritage by local conservationists that many of the area’s 17th and 18th century houses were preserved from redevelopment ten years ago.

Sheffield Antiques Quarter is planning a November 25 Christmas fair as its official opening, but it has effectively already relaunched.

For ten years now, London’s ‘Frieze’ art fair has been a temple that consigns itself strictly to the new and the now. Dedicated to art produced after the year 2000, collectors, curators and the general public have flocked to see the spectacle and view the next big thing.

The popular ‘Antiques & Home Show’, held six times a year at the Lincolnshire Showground, is to change from a three- to a two-day event.

The Scottish organisers and dealers Arte in Europa, best known for organising the ‘Edinburgh Art Fair’, are expanding south of the Border with a new fair in Cheshire.

While most initiatives connected with the Asian art market continue to expand apace, the ‘New York Arts of Pacific Asia Show’ – since 1995 a lynchpin of New York Asia Weeks – has announced that it will not run in the spring of 2013 due to lack of a suitable venue.

A 51-year-old man has been arrested in connection with ‘bounced cheques’ at an antiques fair.

International Antiques and Collectors Fairs (IACF) have announced three additional dates for 2013 at their Swinderby, Ardingly and Shepton Mallet events.

Every October for the past decade, the excitement whipped up by the arrival of ‘Frieze Art Fair’ in London has been the envy of many a fair organiser and the wider art world.

“We had the idea of bringing speciality markets into the city before Mary Portas,” says Jackie Edwards, who runs two booming Sunday monthly markets in Winchester.

Last month, we reported on Sue Ede’s purchase of The Bath Decorative Antiques Fair from Robin Coleman, the Bath-based dealer who has organised the event for the past 23 years.

There was a positive air as the third ‘Masterpiece London’ fair closed after a week’s run in its lavish purpose-built pavilion at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Following the successful inaugural fair at the venue earlier this year, the Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association have finalised a date for the second ‘CADA Antique and Art Fair’ at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, next year.

If the people of Sheffield weren’t aware of the vibrant Antiques Quarter right under their noses, they must be now.

Sue Ede has acquired ‘The Bath Decorative Antiques Fair’ from Robin Coleman, the Bath-based dealer who has organised the event for the past 23 years.

ATG Editor Ivan Macquisten is pictured here chairing a debate at the Summer Olympia fair on how the West should adapt to the demands of the Asian market.

Glamorous, imaginative, fresh, unashamedly expensive and just a bit OTT – ‘Masterpiece London’ is back for a third time.

Worcester Porcelain Museum will be launching a new look by unveiling items never seen before at the 'Antiques for Everyone' fair in July.

He's an 18-year-old heart-throb in one of the world’s most popular boy bands. So it may surprise you a bit to know that Harry Styles of One Direction is also an antiques fan.

ATG Editor Ivan Macquisten will chair a debate at this year’s Summer Olympia fair on the challenges facing the industry in breaking into the Chinese and Asian markets.