Fairs and Markets

LAUNCHED back in 1995, Robert Bailey’s annual fair at Claridge’s has always had its own special, cosy little niche on the London fairs calendar. But would it change when this year it became The LAPADA Fine Art & Antiques Fair at Claridge’s?

POLICE are warning the trade to be on the alert after a gang stole £8000 worth of jewellery from Banbury Antique Centre on April 19.

FOLLOWING last year’s successful launch there will be a second Art Deco Fair on Sunday, May 16 at Eltham Palace in South East London.

JUST two of the 31 dealers standing at the fourth North Norfolk Fine Art and Antiques Fair at Sussex Barn, Burnham Market over Easter (April 10 to 12) did badly, and although the gate was slightly down on last year spending was definitely up.

FEW organisers are reluctant to blow their own trumpet, but Barry Phillips, who as Camfair puts together the monthly antiques fair at The Castle Hall, Hertford, admits he has been a bit too quiet about what he calls “Hertfordshire’s best-kept secret”.

BUSINESS was patchy at the 8th Pavillon des Antiquaires et des Beaux Arts that ran from March 27-April 4 in the Jardin des Tuileries, featuring 80 galleries, all but seven from France. New York’s Barry Friedman, participating for the first time, headed the small foreign contingent along with Michel Soskine Inc., showing drawings by the German-born Horst Janssen (1927-95).

SPECIALIST ceramics dealers will, once again, be gathering at the historic chateau at Enghien, 20 miles south west of Brussels, this week for the fourth staging of the Salon Céramique Ancienne (Oude Keramiek).

THERE were signs of an improving trade climate at the Antiques For Everyone fair held at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre from April 15 to 18, and this is particularly significant at the country’s largest vetted antiques event.

DEALERS at the Saffron Walden Antiques Centre have offered a reward of up to £10,000 for information leading to the return of their stock and the capture of the burglars who stole it.

THE international Asian art community descended upon New York in March to secure the most enticing exhibits in Manhattan’s two major Asian art fairs and numerous dealers’ shows. They were also there to contest the best quality Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Southeast Asian fare in Sotheby’s and Christie’s five specialist auctions that took place between March 23 and 25.

THIS Sunday, April 25, South London organisers P&A Antiques launch The Brocante Antiques Market at Chelsea Village Hotel at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea football ground, with about 45 dealers, a number of them coming over from France.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE organisers Midas Fairs are relaunching their long-standing two-day Spring Bank Holiday fair at The Bellhouse Hotel in Beaconsfield next month. The previously popular partially standfitted event returns on May 30 and 31 after a year off, due to what Joy Alder of Midas describes as “circumstances beyond the organiser’s control”.

NOW in its ninth year, Caroline Penman’s Chelsea Art Fair will be held at Chelsea Old Town Hall on the King’s Road, London SW3, from April 22 to 25.

AFTER 19 years, The London Original Print Fair is still the only event of its kind in Europe and it goes from strength to strength, as you will see when it runs this week from April 22 to 25 at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

IT is no surprise that arguably our top provincial quality fair should be at Harrogate, which, with justification, many consider the provincial antiques capital. And we know that the spring antiques season is seriously under way when The Harrogate Antique and Fine Art Fair opens its doors at the Harrogate International Centre in the heart of the picturesque North Yorkshire town.

MAKING it even more of an antiquesfest than usual in Harrogate, running at the same time as Louise Walker’s fair (but closing one day earlier on May 2) is local organiser Galloway Antiques Fairs’ The Old Swan Hotel Antiques Fair in Swan Road. The hotel is just a short stroll from The International Centre.

DEALERS are advised to check their vehicles before leaving showground fairs following a sophisticated robbery attempt at Sunbury Antiques Market.

WHILE print devotees will be flocking to The London Original Print Fair (April 22-25) this week at the Royal Academy’s new space in Burlington Gardens, off Old Bond Street, it should not be forgotten that there are currently a number of other events celebrating the printmaker’s craft.

THE organisers of the Newark International Antiques and Collectors’ Fair are to give a 50 per cent price break to dealers who do not currently stand at the giant fair.

ON Radio Four’s Desert Island Discs of April 28 the castaway was painter Jack Vettriano (b. 1954). When asked by presenter Sue Lawley how much he thought his celebrated oil, The Singing Butler, would sell for at Sotheby’s on April 19, Vettriano’s response was that it would exceed the top estimate of £200,000.