Fairs and Markets

SOME changes at the long-standing firm of English period furniture specialists H.C. Baxter, for decades a familiar fixture on their stand at the Grosvenor House Fair.

ARTHUR Swallow Fairs are to cut future Swinderby fairs from three days to two. From the next event in June the RAF Swinderby International Antiques and Collectors’ Fair will be open on the Friday Trade Day and on Saturday but will drop Sunday trading.

EXPECT around 3000 original works from 45 UK dealers at the 10th annual Chelsea Art Fair, organised by Caroline Penman and held from April 21 to 24 at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London’s King’s Road SW3.

The London Coin Fair (Frances & Howard Simmons) took place on February 5. Of the three of these fairs each year this one is not expected to be the most active. This time the reverse applied.

THE famous Bermondsey Square Antiques Market has traded in the square since 1948. This August, Southwark Council and developers Urban Catalyst will start work on the 18-month redevelopment of the square, during which it will be business as usual for the Friday antiques market. Or as near as possible given the immense upheaval for the traders.

The mixed feelings felt by the trade towards television boiled over last week as David Dickinson became involved in a very public altercation with a dealer at the spring NEC fair.

AS Easter approaches life is picking up apace on the provincial fairs scene.

“YOU have to wait until June at the earliest to assess just how Maastricht went,” said one veteran of the world’s top fair. Other exhibitors maintain you do not really know just how successful Maastricht was until a year after its close.

THE management team of IFAE’s Palm Beach shows is to take on new responsibilities as Lorenzo Rudolf takes on a new role in the organisation.

SPRING Olympia, held from March 1 to 6 at the West London exhibition centre, changed its name this year to Fine Art, Design & Antiques and, although around half of the 170 or so exhibitors had traditional antiques, the 20th century design and contemporary look dominated.

HOT on the heels of their event at Arley Hall in Cheshire, Cooper Antiques Fairs move on to two more March fixtures, the more notable being the one held this weekend from March 18 to 20 at Powderham Castle, near Exeter in Devon.

MARCH is a busy fairs month for many organisers, but none more so than Cooper Antiques Fairs who hold three events, starting this weekend with their long-established fair at Arley Hall, near Knutsford in Cheshire, from March 11 to 13.

PRESENTER and interviewer Jeremy Paxman, pictured right, has agreed to be the patron of this year’s Antiquarian Book Fair, which will be held at Olympia in West London from June 9 to 12.

NOW in its 13th year, the BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair has become not just an established but a highly regarded fixture on the British quality fairs scene.

The annual Paris Salon du Dessin will showcase 30 of the world’s premier drawings specialists at the Palais de la Bourse in Paris from March 16-21.

MARCH in the small and ancient Dutch city of Maastricht is not just the hub of the international art world for the duration of the world’s top fair, TEFAF Maastricht. It has an impact which reverberates throughout the whole year and is a commercial event unparalleled in its quality and expertise.

THE currencies of the world will be traded at Maastricht, but no exchange is likely to match that seen on the stand of West Yorkshire porcelain specialist Valerie Clark at Robert Bailey’s Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair in Harrogate over the weekend of February 4 to 6.

WITH the emphasis this week on Europe, a reminder that life goes on elsewhere.

Following the success of the discounted entry to the Newark fair, dmg Antiques Fairs will test a reduced entry price of £10 for trade day at the Ardingly fair on April 19.

THERE was an unprecedented attendance at the February Newark fair as buyers took advantage of a free ticket offer to experience the fair’s new three-day format.