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Olympia in June

by Lita Solis-Cohen

The Fine Art and Antiques Fair at Olympia in West London in June is big. It is a long show too, running for ten days. This year it ran from June 6 through 16, with a day off on Monday, June 10. More than 400 dealers (408 to be exact) filled two huge airy carpeted halls. The dealers' booths and stands were arranged with wide aisles between them.

On Thursday through Sunday, Olympia shared the gallery of National Hall with the HALI Antique Carpet and Textile Art Fair, and in a nearby hall was the ABA International Book Fair, which attracts lots of people. According to the press release, 35,000 people came to Olympia this year. The fact that each dealer gets 300 free tickets swells the gate.

Does everyone who comes buy? Not necessarily.

This year's Olympia Fair was deemed the most elegant in its 30-year history. It had a new look with the introduction of the National Hall, an area with huge stands, several of them two stories tall. Two Portuguese dealers, Jorge Welsh of Lisbon, who also has an office in London, and Luis Alegria of Porto, filled their huge stands with cases of Chinese export porcelain of extraordinary quality. London dealer Ciancimino Limited had an elegant display of Art Deco, and Michael Franses of The Textile Gallery, London, offered works of art ranging from Asian textiles to Bolivian blankets.

There was a lot more. About 20 dealers exhibited contemporary and modern art and designs. There was a wide selection of prints, half a dozen stands had portrait miniatures, silhouettes, and watercolors, and there were dealers in ceramics and glass from every century. There was a wide range of furniture in all styles. One dealer offered only English Windsor chairs, a few had painted country furniture, and there was a good selection of oak, walnut, and mahogany. Many stands catered to the decorating trade.

Plenty of dealers offered Georgian silver, and some silver dealers specialized in later wares. Jewelry dealers were scattered throughout the fair, and there were a number of specialists in clocks and some with only barometers. Three exhibitors were dealers in medals. There were posters for sale, and three stands had reference books.

There were several stands with rare textiles, and more dealers in Asian art than ever before. By far the largest contingent, 40%, are dealers in furniture—fine, rare, and decorative English and Continental of all periods.

All items for sale are vetted "for datelines, for quality and fairworthiness," according to the catalog. The summer fair used to be set up in layers. Upstairs was the "gold section," the cr<138>me de la cr<138>me, where pieces had cut-off dates of 1830 to 1850, in line with the British Antique Dealers' Association guidelines written in the 1930's. (Nowadays antiques are 100 years old according to customs and excise rulings, making anything made before 1902 antique!) In the old days, downstairs was the "silver section," where items could date up to 1940. Under the gallery was the "bronze section," where there were no date limitations, but the articles had to be genuine, not copies of earlier periods or fakes made to deceive. It was the only area of the fair not vetted. It was a great hunting ground. In time, the bronze area was dropped.

Now there are 30 separate vetting committees, and more than 150 committee members pass on the "fairworthiness" of the merchandise for sale. The "gold" and "silver" dealers are integrated.

There are, in fact, three Olympia fairs each year. In addition to the summer fair, there is a winter fair (the next one will be held November 11-17) and a spring fair, which has no cut-off dates for the items offered. The next spring fair is scheduled for February 26-March 2, 2003, and the next summer fair is scheduled for June 5-15, 2003.

The splashiest stands were in the National Hall, reached by the Hammersmith Road entrance, and they were impressive indeed. Those who arrived by cab, however, were taken to the Olympia Way entrance at the side of the complex, which used to be the only entrance. They entered the Grand Hall where the stands were not quite as grand, even though the items for sale were just as compelling.

The dealers on the balcony overlooking this hall are a well-known, hardy bunch with good furniture, ceramics, and paintings. This year they included three Americans: New York City ceramics dealer Paul Vandekar; Guy Bush, a dealer from New York City and Nantucket who deals in mostly American furniture but offered British Colonial and English furniture here; and well-known New York City dealer Elle Shushan. Shushan showed her English portrait miniatures on the stand she shared with London dealer and British Antique Dealers' Association president, Jonathan Horne, who offered English pottery, a few pieces of English furniture, and medieval works of art.

The floor below, known as the Grand Hall, is so vast it takes more than one day to see it thoroughly. Collectors leave frustrated, knowing that they missed more than one treasure, especially in the smaller stands along the outer walls. There is not time enough to talk to specialists in Windsor chairs, or early textiles, watercolors, or silver.

More than two-dozen Olympia dealers show at U.S. fairs such as Modernism, the New York Ceramics Fair, the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show, the Asian art fairs, and the New York Winter Antiques Show. There is a better chance of chatting with them there.

American show promoters Caskey-Lees, Diane Wendy, David Lester, and Leslie Hindman were seen recruiting for this season's American shows.

Irene and Leanne Stella did not come to the fair, but soon after the fair closed they announced their network had recruited several British dealers for their Gramercy Park Antiques Show at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue and 26th Street, New York City, to be held October 18-20. The list included period furniture specialist Hallidays, Wallingford; Dinan & Chighine, Richmond-Upon-Thames, with botanical prints; and Oonagh Black, Gloucester, an exhibitor at Olympia, with country furniture and textiles. The Gramercy Park show runs at the same time as the Haughton's International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show at the Seventh Regiment Armory at 67th Street and Park Avenue. Fairs are increasingly global.

There is a great deal of competition at Olympia because so many dealers bring first-rate material. Some sell well, and others suffer. Selling at all levels has been hit or miss for the last year. Many complained that not as many Americans were there as in years past.

"The couples on holiday were missing—where the wife says, `I like that,' and the husband says, `I'll buy it for you, darling,'" said John Howard of Woodstock, England, a specialist in Victorian Staffordshire figures.

American decorators arrived—Mario Buatta of New York City; Bennett and Judie Weinstock of Philadelphia; Stiles Colwill of Lutherville, Maryland; Ida Mannheim of New Orleans; and Hayslip Design of Dallas, among others. Reportedly, sales were made, and other sales are pending. One dealer in French country furniture reported sales amounting to <156>50,000 from one American decorator.

Oprah Winfrey came twice. On Sunday by special arrangement, she arrived at 8 in the morning before the fair was open and shopped until nearly noon, reportedly buying from 15 different exhibitors. Among her purchases was a giant circa 1920 comedy and tragedy mask made of glazed stoneware from a Milanese theater for <156>18,000 from Michael Jones of Artemis Decorative Arts on Kensington Church Street, London. London furniture dealer Robert Young sold her a pair of Swedish console tables with original painted surfaces.

Winfrey bought a fireplace and overmantel from Wakelin and Linfield, Billingshurst, then picked out a stunning Neoclassical 89-piece Coalport dinner service with orange and gold borders for <156>34,000 from Charles Plante Fine Arts. Plante is a Virginian living in London. He said that with this sale he had his best Olympia ever. He also sold a group of four watercolors by Paul Sandby, circa 1790, for around <156>15,000 and an important flower picture by Camille de Chautereine, signed and dated 1847, for <156>16,800.

The American trade made the rounds. Litchfield, Connecticut, and New York City dealer Peter Tillou was there, and so was New Hampshire auctioneer Ron Bourgeault. "I'm here to network," said Bourgeault, "and you see things here you see nowhere else."

New York furniture dealer Bernie Carr of Hyde Park was there; New York City Asian art dealer Joel Frankel was shopping. Diana Bittel and Amy Finkel shopped early in the week and went home before Grosvenor House opened on June 11. William Stahl of Sotheby's didn't miss it.

Olympia gets a second wind after Grosvenor House opens, when those who come to London for the most elegant and expensive of all the fairs check out Olympia too. "The day after Grosvenor House opens, Olympia sales provide a barometer for the trade," said one dealer.

When Olympia was over, American collectors had bought contemporary paintings, contemporary furniture, and jewelry. Matthew Flowers of Flowers East, London, sold two three-dimensional paintings that played tricks with your eyes to Americans for prices between <156>35,000 and <156>52,000. Weiss Gallery, London, sold a large 17th-century Dutch family group for $300,000 to Americans, and Archeus Fine Art, London, sold a still life by William Scott for around <156>100,000 to Americans.

Marc Weaver of Guinevere Antiques Ltd. on King's Road, London, sold two pieces of Paul Evans furniture, made in New Hope, Pennsylvania, in the 1960's, to an American trade customer. "I bought them in America, and now I am sending them back," he said. Paul Carter Robinson of FCR Gallery on Kensington Church Street, London, said he sold his Joseph Hoffman Sitzmachine to an American private collector. London Pimlico Road dealer Anthony Outred reported selling a pair of mahogany serving tables to an American trade customer for around <156>50,000.

New Jersey collector Peter Pfaffenroth was at Olympia with his daughter, Catherine, shopping for mirrors and brass candlesticks. He said he found the mirrors at Olympia mediocre and the prices high and that he found more and better brass candlesticks at American shows.

Dealers count on selling to Americans living in London. Robert Young sold an 18th-century Irish Georgian bookcase in original paint to an American collector living in London for around <156>28,000.

Museum curators check out Olympia as well. Schutz Kunst & Antiquitaten, Linz, Austria, specialists in Jugendstil and Art Deco, sold a circa 1920 Austrian lamp by the architect Adolf Loos to a British museum. The lamp was priced at <156>30,000. Elle Shushan sold an Anglo-Indian miniature portrait on ivory to William Sargent of the Peabody Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts.

At Olympia one could see a broad spectrum of antiques. The only categories missing were children's toys and games and 20th-century machine-age design. You could, however, buy a circa 1910 automaton of a standing rabbit playing Tosca on the violin by Decamps, Paris, for <156>4000 or a 1920's hippopotamus skull for <156>2000. There was a stand with Victorian and Edwardian pianos and another with nude portraits of Madonna for <156>150,000 and a portrait of Henry VIII for <156>55,000.

It was hard to judge exactly how much business was done at such a large fair. Some dealers said they sold very well, others said business was slow. All complained that when the football games were on, and England was competing for the World Cup, the fair was empty, and some dealers were gone too. There was a good crowd on the last day of the fair, a Sunday. Although Americans did not come to the fair in great numbers, some who came bought. Dealers said more sales were made to American decorators and the trade than to American private collectors.

The Fair at Olympia in June is still a good reason to go to London, but plan to give it more than one day and have some money in the bank. There is plenty to tempt even the most reluctant buyers.

The show catalog is a fine compendium of sources. It is arranged alphabetically, and there is an index to dealers by category that gives both stand numbers and the page number of their catalog advertisement. In the advertisements you can find good color photographs of a special object and the name of the proprietor, as well as the name of the business, its address, telephone number, e-mail, and Web site. Moreover, the catalog is a handy size, 8 inches x 8 inches and about 1 inches thick. (American show managers take note!)

For more information, call Clarion Events Limited at +44 (0)20 7370 8234; Web site (www.olympia-antiques.co.uk).