Newark, U.K., International Antiques & Collectibles Fair

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, U.K.

:Newark, a village in that part of England known as the home to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, has, in the last 20 years, become host to thousands of antiques collectors and traders six times a year. Jokes and similes aside, Newark International Antiques and Collectibles Fair is a treasure trove of antiques for Europe and The West (as they like to refer to the United States). It is the place where American collectors and dealers come to find that special piece or to load a container the size of a truck with the Georgian table, a set of Chippendale chairs, a Jacobean pewter cupboard and all the silver and dishes they could use or resell. It happens six times a year on the first weekend of each even-numbered month.

Antiques and The Arts Weekly was there for the December 1-3 fair, and found the winterlike weather was no deterrent to the shoppers or sellers at this 4,000-booth event. The renewed strength of the US dollar against the British pound was also a factor in increasing the sales at the show.

Visitor traffic was surprisingly good for the weather; early December in this northern part of England is very uncomfortable - cold, damp and with little sun and frequent light showers. Moreover, the fair, as it is called, is outdoors or in buildings which for the most part are unheated. That said, there was an outstanding supply of antiques and some collectables and also - as can be found at all such big shows today - some new reproductions of the old work.

Thursday morning, December 1, there was a gray and overcast sky; it looked like one of those days that in the United States would end up as a wash out. Here, however, that is the regular look for a late fall day so it did not slow down activity or diminish the crowds. Entry was at 9 am for dealers to begin setting up their stalls, as they are called.

The show has three main categories of rental exhibit areas. First near the entrance is a series of tentlike structures set with semipermanent metal frames and vinyl covers called the arcades. Stallholders, the term for dealers, take spaces, which are about 8 feet wide by 20 feet deep, fill them with their wares and begin to sell. Beyond the arcades surrounding the perimeter of the site are many buildings, where the spaces are approximately 8 feet wide by 5 or 6 feet deep, usually with a table or two filled with small antiques such as dishes, silver or small collectables. Finally there are the pitches; this is the vast grassy field in the center of the fairgrounds where dealers erect their own tents in spaces about 8 by 20 feet then unload their collection.

By the 11 am starting time, the dealers have organized their antiques either into room settings or simply as displays filled to the brim with early items. By 11:15 the place was filled with the anxious customers, in a fever pitched buying frenzy.

In the back of the 43 acres the Crocker and Sheldon buildings were so busy with the searching public, it was similar to Filene's Basement on its special sale days. These two buildings were filled with small collections, dishes and dolls, pewter and silver, even shelves and tables covered with household brass items. Sales were good, and not just to overseas buyers. The locals were buying for themselves and for inventory in their shops elsewhere. Several dealers from London's Portobello Road shops were spotted stocking up their inventory.

Helen Mills of Suffolk was dealing in small watercolors and silhouettes, offering more than 200 such pieces in her small stall. Prices were attractive; low enough that several American collectors and dealers in the vicinity were considering several pieces while Miles was waiting on another customer. James Dovie from nearby Grantham was offering a wide variety of small antiques, including a blue featheredge charger for 45 pounds, which during this week converted to around $77. And that was just the asking price!

The British pound in February 2005 was at an exchange rate of $2.08 but by the first of December, it was just $1.72. That drop in the pound is a big boost in the ability of Americans to make good deals for themselves, and then add in the factor that the British are pleased to negotiate a sale for their market has been and continues to be sluggish.

Also found in the buildings were many tea caddies, tobacco and cigar humidors and small boxes. There was no uniformity in the pricing for them. Tea caddies are those tabletop-sized boxes, frequently mahogany, with one or two compartments, and very carefully made. They were a source of some pride in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century England, which the lady of the house would show off while making the afternoon tea for family and guests. Found at this antiques fair were some from a dealer who boasted about how he had "personally restored and refinished all [his] caddies to have them pristine" and had very high prices for them. Nearby another dealer had just as many in "as found" condition, most very good but with prices attractive to a reselling dealer.

Pewter and silver were available in great quantity. Daphne Garland of Bristol had a 16-inch pewter charger in very good condition, with a rich patina and Eighteenth Century London markings for just $69. An Ipswich dealer, Graham Catts, was offering all early metals, with some pewter tankards and a variety of iron and brass objects.

There were many dealers with samplers, those linen wall hangings decorated by young girls with sage sayings on them. Prices were strong; for example, Mary Cooper, Harrowgate, had one signed and dated with a price of $1,500. Another was found made more primitively but also for $1,500.

Moving from the back buildings to the pitches, those tents erected by the individual dealers, there was more variety in the offerings. These spaces are much larger and so furniture was there in great abundance. Memory Lane Antiques, from Mid-Wales, the town of Breckon, had a large collection of pine furniture. A set of five chairs was priced at $284 and nearby were two country tables for $450 and $290 each. These prices seemed to be very good value for the overseas market. The onsite shippers generally give buyers the guidelines that one and a half time the cost of the furniture is good estimate for the total cost of purchase, including packing and shipping and taxes or duty for customs. It is an estimate that shoppers use to begin their considerations until a final bill is in hand.

More examples of furniture available included three pine chests found for $170 to $215 also from Memory Lane Antiques; four chests in mahogany veneer over pine and oak, Hepplewhite period for $585 to $1,175 and a similar Sheraton piece for $1,025 offered by John Warren of Leiston; a butler's wine chest, with a tall center section for the bottles of sherry, brandy and port, in mahogany for $1,300 was found at Mile Stone Antiques of Yorkshire.

"There were enough good deals in furniture that I had to leave some of them for the others," said an Ohio antiques dealer with a wincing look for the pain it gave her to not buy all of them herself. The humor was not lost for it was indeed the dry humor the English display themselves. Wormersly Antiques sells art glass from Italy circa 1930. The dealer said, "Mostly the buyers come here from Italy to buy it back!"

This show is also for collectables of some special interest and generally good value. There was the dealer selling Royal Worcester figurines from the 1980s and 1990s. Another had extensive doll collections from throughout the Twentieth Century. Sporting and fishing gear and some early electric trains were available as well.

The show will be coming up again Thursday through Saturday, February 2-4, and also April 6-8. Each month many of the buyers enter on the setup day, there called Trade Day, for a premium admission fee of twenty pounds, about $34.40 at the current exchange rate.

For information, www.dmgworldmedia.com, or Antiques and The Arts Weekly calendar.