Freya Mitton returning to her stand with two pieces of sold art wrapped up for the new owners to take home.
The ninth iteration of the event, organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited, from May 17-19 was held on the grounds of Petworth House and Park with almost 60 dealers in attendance.
Visitors to the fair, entering at 11am on the Friday, had clearly come prepared to buy. Morgan Strickland Fine Art made its first sale before 11:02am - an Art Deco lamp that went for a £2000 price tag. Another early Art Deco success story was at the stand of Jeroen Markies Art Deco, which was staffed by Jeroen and his son Jacob. They sold a £1800 Art Deco stool and Vera Jefferson oil on canvas, Pear Tree, for £1500 within the first few hours of the fair’s opening.
Mark Goodger also sold an Art Deco biplane figure, c. 1930, within the first hour for £1100. This was not his only early sale and from his sewing boxes collection, he sold an Anglo-Indian Sadeli Sewing Box, c.1810 for £4000.
Richard Price sold three items to new clients within the first two and a half hours, including a French clock that sold at £2500. Price intends to keep coming back to stand at this event, describing it as “a lovely fair, great location… and much more traditional buyers”.
David Hickmet also enjoyed a buoyant opening, selling a number of animal bronzes early on. He says Petworth is “the best quality outside of London”.
Andrew Muir in front of his stand after a busy opening in which he sold over 10 items before lunch.
Andrew Muir had also had a busy time, selling three pieces of Galle between £1500-3000, five pieces of Clarice Cliff between £1000-6000 and a couple of Arts and Crafts lamps before lunch. He says that the fair attracts “ a really good crowd of people who genuinely like to see and buy nice things”.
Richard Price with the French Clock that sold for £2500 to a new client.
Marcus Adams from Millington Adams had changed his normal stand for the fair. A dealer who usually comes with period furniture and mirrors, he brought more smaller items and there was a lot of early interest in his watches. Before lunchtime on the first day, he had sold a Cartier medium sized automatic Santos watch for £2200.
Paul Pfanner of Timewise Watches also had a successful first day sale; a Rolex Prince White Gold going to a new customer from Bristol for £9000.
That is not to say that larger items fared less well. Sean Clarke from Christopher Clarke Antiques had customers return throughout the fair. A couple that had purchased some smaller items on the Friday, returned on the Saturday and purchased the English Walnut Campaign Chest, c.1870, which was featured in ATG 2642 ahead of the fair. William Cook also had success with furniture, with a George III original chest of drawers, c. 1760, going for an undisclosed sum to a new client within the first hour.
The sale successes continued throughout the event’s three-day run. Freya Mitton finished as strongly as she had begun. She sold five items in the first few hours, priced by £350 to £7000 and by the end of the first day an oil on canvas by Mary Fedden, Fritillaries, sold for £19,500. Toward the end of the fair she also sold her centrepiece work by Ivon Hitchens, Divided Landscapes, for a high five-figure sum. “I’ve honestly never had a fair like that before,” she told ATG afterwards.
Callum Jackson from Jackson Antiques describes the fair as “a must-visit in the calendar” and he achieved success throughout the fair, all from new clients. Two stand-out pieces selling on Saturday and Sunday were a Japanese Satsuma Natsume signed Kinkozan for £2400 and a large pair of Japanese Satsuma vases moulded in relief by Arai for £2000.
Another Sunday success was on the stand of Nick Waters Art, which sold a William Gear watercolour and gouache on Arches paper from 1950 for in excess of £2000. Waters is opening a pop-up gallery in Petworth shortly to continue to display his selection of British art & design locally.
The tenth edition of the Petworth Park Antiques and Fine Art Fair has already been set for next year running on May 16-18, 2025.
