Cash cow: this 19th-century portrait of a prize shorthorn bull called Comet will be offered by the Blackbrook Gallery in Leicestershire for £20,000

Once again, the new year has opened with news that, against the run of play,
one of Britain’s most experienced art-and-antiques fair organisers is
expanding.

Last January, it was Sussex-based Caroline Penman, who reopened the Kensington
Fair in west London. Now it is Sue Ede, a 68-year-old veteran of Cooper
Fairs in Somerset, who, in spite of the recession, has been building an
impressive portfolio of fairs held in prestigious country venues.

Last year, Ede acquired the Buxton Antiques Fair in Derbyshire, in an attempt
to revive the once-respected spa town event, and this March she will take
over the Tatton Park Fair in Knutsford, Cheshire. Held in the historic
mansion and grounds of Tatton Park, the fair was “the” event for
collectors in the area, says Ede. Recently, however, it seemed to have lost
its focus on high-quality antiques, and Ede acquired it for a “substantial
five-figure sum”, she says.

Ede’s other fairs include one at Powderham Castle in Devon, which takes place
next month, and another at Westonbirt, held in a Grade I-listed private
girl’s school in Gloucestershire, close to Highgrove, which took place last
weekend.

“Fairs are much more important to the trade than they used to be,”
says Ede, “because a lot of the dealers don’t have shops anymore.”

Counting the attractions of the provincial fair, she lists the ease of access
and car-parking for visitors, and the cost of stands – one tenth the price
of the big London fairs – which is better for dealers and helps keep prices
down for collectors.

The biggest provincial fair in the UK, to which the smaller fairs aspire, is
the National Fine Art and Antiques Fair to be held this year at the NEC in
Birmingham from January 20. It is supported by British trade associations
LAPADA and BADA, whose members dominate the exhibitors’ list and maintain
the highest of standards.

This year, one of the highlights is a portrait by Thomas Weaver of Comet, a
prize shorthorn bull that sold for a record £1,000 in 1810, which will be
offered by the Blackbrook Gallery in Leicestershire for £20,000.

While the fairs’ picture in the provinces is one of consolidation, in London,
where the stakes are higher, it has become much more fractured. With the
demise of the flagship Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair in June, a
many-sided battle to take its place is threatening the calendar with
overcrowding. Even before Grosvenor House closed, David and Lee-Ann Lester,
the Florida-based organisers regarded as among the world’s most innovative
fair directors, had moved to take control of its chief rival, the Summer
Olympia fair in west London.

The Lesters will increase stand sizes and prices in an effort to attract the
highest-quality goods and customers. But in America the high end of their
business has struggled, with plans for luxury fairs in Miami and aboard
their $20 million yacht on hold or changing into something less exclusive.

Also running into problems in America are London-based dealers Brian and Anna
Haughton, who run several highly rated fairs in New York, and were the first
to respond to the closure of the Grosvenor House fair. They have announced
plans to hold the first “Art Antiques London” in a purpose-built
marquee in Kensington Gardens for up to 70 exhibitors in June. But last
year, their Asian art fair in New York was cancelled due to recession nerves
among exhibitors, and now their flagship International Fine Art Fair there
looks to be under threat.

A third art-and-antiques fair homing in on London is to be held by French
organisers Patrick Perrin and Stephane Custot in Berkeley Square at the end
of June.

Much will depend on how much dealer support these fairs get, and many are
still waiting to hear whether a fourth fair in June, proposed by a group of
Grosvenor House exhibitors, led by top furniture dealers Mallett and
provisionally entitled “Masterpiece”, will get planning permission
to launch in Chelsea Barracks where more than 150 exhibitors could be
accommodated.

With so much concentration on providing space for high-end activities,
Caroline Penman has spotted a gap in the market to launch yet another new
fair, but for lower-value antiques and for lower prices, at the Kensington
town hall in June.

So much activity is symptomatic of the need dealers have to make new contacts,
to maintain cash flow and gain publicity. But whether they will be able to
support so many new ventures remains to be seen.