IACF

Serendipitous finds – and planned purchases – abound as antiques return to Ally Pally

A pleasure to see the IACF Alexandra Palace Antiques & Collectors Fair back in action on September 4. A fair well above standard – not quite at the Olympia or Battersea level – and geared for people in the mid-price range.

Traders welcome the return of the organiser’s only London event which was last held in 2020

Rundown on some of the events taking place countrywide in July and August.

Claire Hunt is celebrating 25 years working for the fair organiser IACF.

The largest showground fairs are so extensive that it would be impossible to browse items on all the stands in one day. IACF’s Newark Antiques Fair, for example, is held on an 84-acre site with up to 2500 stands.

Managing director of IACF William Thomas is building up the momentum to the bumper crowds which are expected this Easter at the two-day 'Peterborough Festival of Antiques'.

Stall-holders report brisk trade during the latest staging of the huge West Sussex event

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Dealers will be heading to Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire this month with three days of buying beckoning from the two ‘biggies’.

Ticket requests are up as the East of England Showground prepares for the biannual antiques festival.

Organiser IACF has been forced to cancel its Alexandra Palace Antiques & Collectors Fair scheduled for October 24 because of a scheduling clash with another event using the halls in north London.

Man down. Prone and looking as if he had fainted on parade, this model of a guardsman is being carted unceremoniously away from the South of England Showground at last month’s IACF Ardingly.

Although some restrictions are still in place for now, many fairs and markets organisers are gearing up for a busy summer to serve pent-up demand.

The restrictions operating during the latest lockdowns are continuing to ease in countries including France and the Republic of Ireland.

Art glass dealers look forward to the Festival of Antiques.

Will Thomas, managing director of IACF, surely speaks for the trade with his fervent hope that successive pandemic lockdowns have now come to an end.

All fairs and markets and physical art and antiques exhibitions and events are cancelled across England under the new coronavirus lockdown restrictions.