Masterpiece, 2022: Summer in London
As the heat broke on Thursday morning, we dodged the rain and packed our exhibits for Masterpiece. Then, on Saturday, we arrived early to begin installing our stand. As ever, minor adjustments were made, but by and large the placements…
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The Winter Show, 2022: the same, but different…
Faced with familiar (if unseasonal) sub-zero temperatures, we have spent the last couple of frigid days setting up our stand for the Winter Show, here in New York. This year we are in the old Barneys department store building on... Read More...
The Winter Show: postponed until March 2022
The organising team behind the Winter Show has worked strenuously and successfully since the last fair to maintain enthusiasm for this year’s event. Sadly, the fair has now been postponed until March. A series of online panel discussions in advance... Read More...
Some memories of Christie’s in the 1970s
A recent correspondence in the Antiques Trade Gazette about how the art world has changed over the past forty or fifty years brought back happy memories. The following note is based on my own contribution. *** While I had the... Read More...
Speaking from Experience: Legacy firms on Navigating Marketplace Ups and Downs
This note appeared as part of a series of ‘interviews’, conducted by Laura Beach, at the end of a front page article celebrating ‘The Liverants of Colchester: Thoughts on Turning One Hundred’ published in Antiques and the Arts Weekly, 18 September…
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Museums and Mentors, Scholarship and Friendship: Stories from the world of fine ceramics dealing
The organisers of Masterpiece rose to the challenge of keeping this year’s cancelled fair alive through a much admired online programme. If you missed it during the fair, you might enjoy these entertaining anecdotes from four leading dealers in ceramics,…
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News from London
2020 will be a year we shall never forget. As I write from the relative comfort of my home, it is impossible not to reflect on the millions so less well placed to cope with this pandemic, even in the…
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TEFAF, Maastricht, 2020: a celebration of Regency design – and more
For three generations, H. Blairman & Sons has enjoyed a reputation for Regency design. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Prince Regent’s accession as George IV, we are devoting a substantial part of our stand at TEFAF, Maastricht…
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New Address: 15, Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9BU
15, Queen Anne’s Gate is a distinguished early eighteenth-century house in one of London’s most charming streets, to the south of St James’s Park and just a short walk from Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. The house was…
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Kelmscott Manor: Past, Present and Future
Nearly five years ago, the Society of Antiquaries of London organised a small fund-raining auction to kick-start an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to secure the future of Kelmscott Manor, William Morris’s ‘heaven on earth’. Last November, the Society…
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Masterpiece, London, 27 June-3 July 2019
It is with pleasure that we are, once again, exhibiting at Masterpiece, London. The elegant architecture of Sir Christopher Wren’s late seventeenth-century Royal Hospital forms an appropriate backdrop for a fair that brings a rich and varied display of works…
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TEFAF, Maastricht, 2019: a full two-day installation
We have been flattered and delighted by the response of our colleagues to this year’s presentation. But none of this would have been possible with out our team: K-Pak for transport and Nicky Aubury and colleagues for creating a more…
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English Arts & Crafts design at the Winter Show
During the day on Tuesday, the team made light work of turning tool boxes, lighting tracks and crates containing furniture and works of art into an elegantly decorated black box. One day, perhaps, I’ll arrive on a stand believing that…
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As 2018 draws to a close…
Benin bronze on display at the British Museum [Credit: Son of Groucho/Flickr] On the big global issues, 2018 is drawing to an uncomfortable close. And on undoubtedly more parochial matters, of cultural significance, the zeitgeist seems to be driving us…
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PAD London, 1-7 October 2018
London is the next stop for the the international art market circus, with big tops for PAD in Berkeley Square, and for Frieze Masters and Frieze in Regent’s Park. As ever, October in London is the place to be. Our…
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Masterpiece, London, 2018
However well we plan in advance, it is always daunting to arrive in a half-built hall, surrounded by machinery, pots of paint and lengths of uncut timber, all of which need to be negotiated by precious works of art. As…
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