IACF

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.

IACF’s Ardingly market was the final major fair held before the new lockdown began in England

One of the most popular fairs on the circuit, IACF’s Peterborough Festival of Antiques is back.

The buying crowd at IACF Ardingly was more local than usual but no less enthusiastic

Top tips from IACF’s Ardingly International Antiques & Collectors Fair.

Thirteen-year old Miles Raymond from Tunbridge Wells started collecting after he found an old bottle in his grandparents’ garden. He would like be a dealer in the future, but his career path also leans towards design and engineering – with his interest in antiques a useful influence.

Fairs held at conference and events venues that involve more than 30 people at any one time will not be possible under government legislation until October 1.

Trader reopens shop and stresses the need not to bombard customers with the safety message