The antiques business at its most confident

Stubbs’ ‘Portrait of a Gentleman’ (1781)

The art world seems to be operating in two parallel universes at the moment: there is the small group of competitive billionaires paying record prices at auction for the diminishing number of accepted masterpieces, and there is the local antique dealer struggling to stay in business during a recession.

The former can be found at glitzy evening auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s while the latter cluster together more sedately at fairs. An increasing number of dealers are giving up their costly galleries and relying on fairs – and the internet – to attract new clients.

There is no better place to observe the traditional antique business at its most confident and aspiring than at the British Antique Dealers Association annual fair, held in a spacious marquee in Duke of York Square in Chelsea from March 17-23. This year, following the sudden demise last summer of the Grosvenor House fair, its success is more vital than ever for leading British antique dealers. Space restrictions limited the number of new exhibitors but those admitted are treating it as Grosvenor revitalised and bringing high-quality goods.

For one refugee from Grosvenor, Richard Coles, of furniture dealers Godson & Coles, this includes a gothic mahogany side table, the twin of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a walnut bureau cabinet, priced at £150,000 ($202,000), which might well have been made for Blenheim Palace. Coles repeats the constant theme of dealers: “Demand for the most interesting Georgian furniture is as great as ever and it is still very undervalued; the problem is finding supply. For the more mundane items the market is slow.”

The BADA fair has raised its game in recent years, and Lucy Johnson, who combines dealing in early furniture with 20th-century art, is returning after an absence of a decade. She is a dealer who operates without a gallery, which means she can offer paintings by some of the established names of 20th-century British art – Nicholson, Sutherland, Piper, Pasmore, Vaughan – for under £25,000. Her offerings also include such rarities as one of the first japanned cupboards made in England, in the early 17th century, for £30,000, and an inlaid 17th-century Spanish writing desk for £35,000.

For many BADA dealers from the provinces, the fair, located in one of the most prosperous corners of London, is vital for unveiling freshly acquired treasures to potential clients. Midlands based Jonathan Coulbourn of Thomas Coulbourn, who chairs this year’s fair, is underlining its greater ambition by showing a red lacquered George II chinoiserie cabinet, priced at £275,000, and a Chippendale bookcase at £58,000. Such pieces might well attract the eye of those traditional collectors of 18th-century English furniture, the Americans.

The most expensive item at the fair will undoubtedly be the “Portrait of a Gentleman on a Grey Hunter” by George Stubbs, once owned by the great American collector of British art, Paul Mellon, which Cotswolds dealer Trinity House is offering for over £2m. It will hang alongside works by Constable, Gainsborough and Seago. Simon Shore of Trinity House says the fair is “consistently good. The people of Chelsea see it as their fair. It must be the only major fair without a car park.”

Silver ‘Ocean’ vase by Ndidi Ekubia

The BADA fair is very much a British fair, which regularly attracts around 18,000 collectors committed to British taste. They know what to expect and will not be disappointed by such items as a watercolour of Venice by Samuel Prout, on the stand of John Spink; a Munnings equestrian painting at the Willow Gallery; scenes of Chelsea and Fulham by Richard Gardner, at Campbell Wilson; a George III mahogany automaton musical table clock, playing five tunes, at Rafferty & Walwyn; a Chippendale giltwood side table from Harewood House, at Frank Partridge; and a box made from timbers of HMS Victory and once owned by Captain Hardy, at Timothy Millet.

The British love of celebrity is served by the loan exhibition, “Heroes or Villains?”, consisting of items owned by the famous, ranging from the cigarette case given by Lord Alfred Douglas to Oscar Wilde to Elvis Presley’s sapphire ring.

But BADA is no substitute for Grosvenor House and the importance that the UK antiques trade attaches to fairs in London during the June season, when the capital attracts rich overseas visitors, is apparent in the quick and successful attempts it has made to plug the Grosvenor gap.

The most imaginative is newcomer Masterpiece, which has just been given planning permission to erect a semi-permanent structure in the grounds of the old Chelsea barracks from June 24-29.

The brainchild of three major furniture dealers, Apter Fredericks, SJ Phillips and Mallets, its aim, according to Harry Apter, is to “showcase the best things on the market, both ancient and modern”, presenting classic cars, wines, watches and haute couture alongside Georgian furniture and Old Master paintings. It hopes for 170 exhibitors and is attracting big names (and former Grosvenor House regulars), such as Leggatts, Asprey, Peter Finer, Steinitz, and Wartski.

Another newcomer is Art Antiques London, which will occupy a marquee next to the Albert Memorial in Kensington from June 9-16. It is being put together by veteran fair organisers, the Haughtons, and will absorb their oldest venture, the Ceramics Fair, alongside around 70 international antiques dealers. It aims for connoisseurs; has a full lecture programme; and has linked events with the Victoria & Albert Museum and Waddesdon Manor.

The traditional rival to Grosvenor House, the large and populist Olympia fair, will be presenting a very different face this summer, from June 3-13. It has been acquired by the leading American fair organiser, David Lester, who plans to push it up-market, making it smaller, just 200 stands, but more international. The hope is to bring the prestige of the Maastricht fair to London. This, along with higher rents, has upset many excluded provincial dealers who saw the fair as their annual London showcase. For them help is at hand from highly active fair organiser Caroline Penman, who is organising a fair for middle-range dealers at Kensington Town Hall from June 3-6.

www.bada-antiques-fair.co.uk
www.masterpiecefair.com
www.haughton.com/international-fairs
www.olympia-antiques.co.uk
www.penman-fairs.co.uk