Lincoln and Newark fairs

Look forward to meeting you. None of this photographing my stall and then claiming you couldn't find me...

I don't really remember much of what's in Cedric Ford - I think there are a couple of glass stalls already (Isle of Wight, and some nouveau stuff).

Oh well, fingers crossed.

No worries , no cameras this time , just a thought though, it must be difficult selling ONLY glass items , maybe not, I don't really know but I would have thought a good mix of glass and ceramic items from the same period would have a lot more success ............thoughts?

I could do you a nice wholesale deal Nic....

I tried pottery once, a long time ago, and it just sat on my website and on fair tables completely unmolested for years. I had a nice mix of Bitossi, some very sculptural 1950s Schlossberg, lava stuff, some rare Copenhagen/B&G/Alumina, etc...

What I couldn't give to family and friends or sell for a pittance on eBay eventually ended up on the carboot.

I just don't have the eye for it, I think. With glass... I know what is good quality, and I know what looks good, but pottery all kind of looks the same to me.

I did consider taking some of my old Scandinavian lighting stock from storage, but it depends on the space in the car.

I was the same when I tried artwork. Invested a small fortune in prints by listed artists, had them professionally mounted ready for framing, and I ended up putting a lot of them up on my walls after I got bored of dragging them around the fairs.

we will do our best to educate you Nic

I would avoid artwork , certainly no money in it at fairs , ceramics on the other hand does sell , but as you say you need to have the right stuff , some folks think if it says west german on the base it's in vogue , 90% of it is pure rubbish , the studio pottery sellers ask far too much for easily got pieces , run of the mill troika and whitefriars will always sell if you can acquire the stock cheaply enough probably a lot to do with the tv plugs it gets , the WG fat lava will go through the roof when the tv progs start showing the top end pieces , it hasn't even started yet and prices have soared more than anything else , another exhibition is in Amsterdam soon and I am sure Mark will give it some more airings .

Whitefriars is easy enough to get, but there are too many stalls full of it. There's one chap who, probably after buying it in bulk during the WF peak, does the fair rounds with dozens of bark and knobbly vases on his stall. All different colours and sizes. It instantly makes the product common and uninteresting to all but ardent collectors (who will already have them all anyway).

Same goes for Troika, Moorcroft, Cliff, Lalique, and everything else that's been on the TV over the last decade...

So folk like that, who are at every fair, instantly put you at a disadvantage when selling just a few pieces. I never sold a piece of Whitefriars at the same fair as another seller hawking masses of it, even if I had rarer/cheaper items on my table.

I quite like hunting out the unusual stuff that even I'm probably not going to see again - items created for galleries rather than shops. It might make selling them a little bit harder, but it also makes it a lot more interesting for me.

I know the whitefriars guy you mean , his prices are double everybody elses and therefore ends up doing a tour of britain with the bloomin stuff , he could easily be undercut , the other stuff you mention like troika it's the same story , moorcroft appeals to the older folks IMO and is a common as can be , I think people are more savvy on the so called retro stuff anything from about 40yrs old seems to appeal and that's what they are after , I know we will see some sellers again who will have the same old stuff that they have had for years and I honestly mean years , their research on what's what is absolute Zero , I will probably buy the same type of stuff, resell on ebay and use to buy studio pieces that appeal to me .

I think my main problem is that my business is just a necessary side-effect of my buying habit rather than a burning vocation.



I'm not actually all that interested in collecting things myself, and only really like the part where I buy something that looks interesting and research it. As soon as I know what something is, I'm bored of it.

This dictates a lot of what I buy (i.e. I very rarely buy the same item twice unless it's for pennies and/or I know I can shift it without having to look at it for too long). But then it also dictates how I sell - if an item hasn't sold on the fair circuit within a year it either goes into storage for another year, or I get rid quickly and reinvest in something new.

I'd loathe to be one of those dealers who bring out the same tired stock every single time. Everything else aside, it's not really fair on the customer who has to pay to get in and look at said tired stock.

I never looked at it that way before , you are right repeat customers are being cheated in a small way , I am the same with some pieces I have for selling or keeps , but I probably hold on to some longer than others .

I can see it from the customer's side because I've been to far too many smaller fairs where I've already seen 95% of what's on offer at other fairs - or at the same fair a few months/years earlier - and have felt distinctly cheated.

I aim to be in that interesting 5%.

I just looked through this thread - we had almost exactly the same conversation about fairs Aug last year (on page 4).

We're getting old!

Wel I am , what's your excuse ?

Passive senility? It's like smoking.

Nic ,How much stock do you usually manage to take to this sort of fair ?

I only bring maybe 40-50 items (quite a few of them HUGE items). I'm not a fan of over-crowded stalls. I've a bigger space to fill this time, so will probably bring somewhere around 70 items.

When I did smaller, cheaper, Danish glass it was standard to bring 150+ items to any one fair.

I get regular comments from other dealers on how 'minimal' my stall looks - and how it's apparently a brave move to only display a few items well (40-50 items spread over my usual three tables is a bit spartan by antiques fair average) - but I've never seen much point in over-filling a stall. It just leads to a woods vs. trees scenario.

Hardly anyone looks beyond what they can see at the front of a shelf, or are prepared to sift through stacks of stock, so you can be lugging >50% of your stock around for no real reason, except on the vague off-chance you get one intreped explorer!

It was a bit of a struggle at malvern today , rain rain rain , only bought two items a cobridge vase and a Skruf glass vase , I think you might know the dealer Nic , Neal Taylor .

Name doesn't ring a bell - but then I'm terrible with 'em. I tend to remember dealers by stock alone!

Well he sells glass , some cheaper end Murano and other stuff , he knows you , I have known him for a few years now , thing is he says he's done his last giant flea and is only doing the collectors fairs , maybe sales have slumped , but by his own admission he buys too much stock .

I think I know who you're talking about... he stands a few of the fairs on this side of the Pennines, if it's the right one.

I probably would have been up to standing Malvern flea when I had more suitable stock, but I can't imagine the new stuff going down well.

To be honest the malvern fair is getting a bit tired , I suppose I know most of the sellers that used to appeal for me , but the gear being shown is really old hat now , new blood is badly needed , I hope the Arthur Swallow and Newark fairs next week are better , at £25 and £20 entrance fee (£90) plus gas and hotel I really hope so.

I was told that it is essential to get in early at Lincoln Ed