24 11th February 2012 dealers’ dossier


NEC National – a smaller fair but attracting new buyers


FOR the past two years the National Fine Art & Antiques Fair, supported by LAPADA, at Birmingham’s NEC has, undeniably, been a smaller,


slightly more muted affair. For the ninth time, the National took


over the vast Hall 11 from January 18-22, this time with roughly 55 exhibitors, and organiser Tiffany Pritchard of Clarion Events once again made a big effort to soften the utilitarian interior with good stand fitting and low lighting. Unlike Clarion’s sister NEC event, the


triannual Antiques for Everyone which has a more egalitarian approach, the National is unmistakably marketed as a quality and largely traditional antiques fair, targeted at richer customers. This year’s fair received mixed reviews.


While some dealers complained that it was quiet for them, with visitors looking but not looking to buy (a common complaint at many fairs), many others noticed how they met – and sold to – lots of new clients. Many such welcome visitors told dealers they would never consider visiting a London fair, deterred by bad traffic and lack of parking if not by distance. It’s difficult to accurately measure such


things, but an estimated 70% of overall sales were made to new customers. I went on the Friday, always the


quietest day at a fair like this, and met some dealers who were finding business a bit tedious, but others already very pleased with the way things were going, particularly David Harvey of W.R. Harvey, the Witney-based period furniture dealer. “We sold to new clients looking to


furnish their entire homes and have met some important new contacts that offer great potential,” said David. His sales included a mahogany


longcase by Peter Fearnley of Wigan, c.1780-1790, for “a very significant five- figure sum”, a c.1810, mahogany library bookcase, for £6750, a set of chairs, two mirrors and another bookcase. Mark Seabrook from Cambridgeshire,


another furniture dealer, sold several pieces of furniture and metalwork, including an 18th century oak Welsh


Above: detail of Pendle Hill Snow by Peter Taylor, 10 x 20in (26 x 50cm) oil on board, which is priced at £600 by Jo Bennett Original Pictures at the Stonyhurst College fair.


School sees start of new Galloway term


THE 2012 schedule for Susan Galloway starts a little later, not to mention further north, than other fairs organisers, with the first of her events running from February 17-19 at Stonyhurst College, near Clitheroe in Lancashire. Galloway Antiques Fairs have been


Above: among John Newton’s porcelain sales at the National was this Furstenberg vase by Friedrich Wilhelm Spahr & Co for an asking price of £995. Right: this George III, eight-day mahogany longcase, with sweep centre seconds hand and lunation train to the arch, by Peter Fearnley of Wigan, c.1780-1790 was sold by W.R. Harvey for a ‘very significant five-figure sum’.


dresser for £8000. “I’m extremely pleased,” said Mark at the close, “and I’ve more stock to go out in the next few days.” For 13 years until 2004, this fair was


only open to LAPADA members. It is still supported by LAPADA and this year some of the association’s directors who don’t normally exhibit sent stock for a group stand, called the LAPADA Directors’ Collective. Sales from the stand included a late 19th/early 20th century glazed breakfront bookcase, for around £15,000 and a George III mahogany fold-over tea table for £2500, both from Georgian Antiques from Edinburgh. Also sold from the LAPADA stand


was furniture from Graham Smith of Newcastle upon Tyne; jewellery from Anthea A.G. Antiques of London and paintings from Christopher Clarke, the Stow-on-the-Wold dealer. Dominic Vincent, making his debut


trading under the family name Garth Vincent Arms and Armour from Lincolnshire, had some strong sales


including cased pair of dueling pistols by Rawson of London for around £15,000. David Hickmet of Hickmet Fine Art


from West Sussex had around 30 sales of his Art Nouveau and Art Deco bronze sculpture and glass and Brian Watson, the English glass specialist from Norwich, reported particular demand for period decanters, selling nine in total. Camburn Fine Art from France


exhibited for the first time this year, specialising in watercolours by the contemporary painter Alan Halliday, and sold more than 23 works, predominantly to new customers, among whom were two members of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Neil Wilson of Campbell Wilson


from Aberdeenshire, with late 19th and 20th century Romantic and Aesthetic period paintings, noted how many of his regular local customers visited the fair. He sold a number of pictures, including


works by the Midlands painters Arthur Gaskin and Joseph Southall, and said: “We’ve met many new customers from across the country.”


running biannual fairs at this Elizabethan manor house, now a boarding school, for the past 17 years, and this time they have 30 dealers at the venue. The three newcomers are local


Lancashire dealerWhittle and Draper Fine Art, (British art from the 18th century to the late 1900s); D & M Chaddock of Cheshire (antique metalware) andWanted on Voyage of Buckinghamshire, (vintage luggage and sporting goods). Regular furniture dealers include Mark


Buckley of Skipton, as usual with inlaid Victorian and Edwardian furniture; Corn Mill Antiques, also from Skipton, who have smaller items of furniture, porcelain and decorative items, and period oak dealer Bryan Chew of Dorset. Angling Antiques of Barnard Castle


will again offer fishing related items, Jim Dickinson of Cheshire returns with antiquarian maps and prints, Drop Dial of Bolton bring, naturally, clocks and Oldfield Antiques of Ilkley offer silver. Once Upon A Time, Anderson


Jones and Scarab are among the jewellers. www.gallowayfairs.co.uk


Right: c.1970s Cartier man’s tonneau-shaped 18ct gold wristwatch priced at £4995 by Scarab of Kent at Stonyhurst.


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