Featured Antique Show Admittance Fees

At first glance I read that as ' Fair organisers should encourage football.' I'd pay to watch that !

 

Not all outdoor shows are flea markets. The outdoor show I attend regularly does allow crafts along with antiques and collectibles. It does not allow new flea market goods. There are others I know of that are even more restrictive. There are plenty of knowledgeable dealers with vetted merchandise. There are also those less knowledgeable but still carrying antiques. This is where the bargains are often to be found.

 

I rarely paid anything at paid entrance shows, I just I just gave them a business card and said 'Trade'. Sometimes trade would be allowed in an hour before the public, in which case you'd have to pay whatever the first look charge was.
Sometimes if I did not have a card of my own, I'd give them some other dealer's card I happened to have with me.
For some major fairs like the NEC, all exhibitors got a small wad of complimentary tickets to distribute, it was usually easy enough to blag one of these from a dealer friend who was standing.
This applied to the UK, no idea if the same trade go in free convention applies to anywhere else.

 

I didn't see anything in the original post by Joe saying that he was talking about specialty shows. Where was that information?

 

Gee Wiz, I am guessing we won't be seeing many antiquers.com members at the Americana Winter Show in NYC every January, i think the min. ticket price is $25.
Well worth the price in my view to examine some of the best examples of american antiques in pretty much all collecting fields.

 

I'm with James. Americana is worth every penny for the learning and eye candy. We used to go every year and now our son and daughter in law are regulars. They have some beautiful things being shipped this year.

All the shows I've been involved in were for charity. Any entrance fees went to appropriate charities. Dealers paid for space. A reasonaly price lunch was offered.
Patd

 

Hi James,
I used to go every year have been 1977 to 1999. Only bought one item in all the years, Sorry I did not buy three others. One was a shagreen French desk. It was 3 thousand dollars and I hesitated since it was one of the first things I saw. When I went back at 1PM it was sold. Saw it in a catalogue a year later for 135 thousand went for 177 thousand.
So many beautiful items and saw so many famous people. Shared a cigarette break with Paul Newman on a fire escape. I loved the Winter show.
greg

 

You Tricky Divil, You!!!!!!

 

I don't mind at all ,they only come once a year ,it's a day out and i might find a treasure someone missed ,also they hire an appraiser to come in, and for a fee ($20 ) they will price your item(s)(oral only ) .I stole the show with my Picasso chair lol ,people were listening to the appraiser ,and asked me if they could take pics of it .

 

"Trade" would get you nothing in the U.S., especially since most shows are to benefit a charity. Letting in people for free does nothing to help them raise money because they get the gate.

Here antique shows are just vintage and antique items, no mixing with art or crafts. They are completely different audiences. Plus here buyers at craft shows are looking for cute little wooden items with hearts and sayings like "Home Sweet Home" for $5. It's hard to interest those buyers in quality antiques.

There is one antique show that I have had to give up, it is held to benefit a historical society. Unfortunately the historical society likes to sell a large amount of donated items at tag sale prices. Most historical societies have a table, this one has a building. The last time I did the show someone came into my booth, said "These are nice glasses, but I just bought a set just like them over there for $8". Mine were priced at $45 and that is a reasonable price for those stems. I have been watching what goes on at that show for years, the better dealers are no longer returning and the buyers are increasingly there for the tag sale

But most of our outdoor shows are quite good, not flea markets. We are in a tourist area so summer is prime for all kinds of outdoor shows.

 

He didn't. I'm saying to me an Antique Show is usually a more specialized event as opposed to an outdoor Antique Fair of flea market.

We have very few outdoor Antique Fairs left here in CA. Many have gone the mix of arts and crafts which eventually morph into Mexican leather and Chinese stuff.
A few are trying a comeback. We have two, once a month flea markets in the area where new items may not be sold. Those are the places you go to to find the bargains.

 

Like AF said, if you know dealers at the Antique Shows, they often have complimentary tickets to give out to friends and good customers.

Flea markets don't have free passes to get in.
And in some cases you do have to pay a higher entrance fee to get the early picks.

Antique Fairs tend to be once or twice a year events in which a down town area is cordoned off. Open to the public with no entrance fee.

 

I used to attend all the high-end shows in Chicago and Indianapolis. Most are not even operating any more. I also semi-regularly attended the Arts and Crafts Conference show in Asheville, NC. I no longer have the clientele for any high-end merchandise, so no longer attend. Want to go back to Asheville for the eye candy some time.

 

Yeah, very nice little place, Asheville. Whenever i get visitors here in Charlotte that's ALL they seem interested in, ASHEVILLE! aka Biltmore house!!!!

 

Oh we had such a great time there!
Really enjoyed seeing that.

 

LOL, yeah, see what i mean? After a half dozen visits or so i have become weary of it but no matter, that's where everyone wants to go.
I have tried to steer them to the coast, there's golf! great seafood! wonderful 18th century buildings & antiques! the ocean!
NOPE! We wanna go Asheville!

 

Well when you've never been, why not.
From there we headed over to Tennessee and spent the night in Gatlinburg, skipped Dollyville, went to several potteries and spent 3 1/2 hours in Smokey Mt Knife Works. Stopped in Cherokee before heading back to my aunts. Oh and there was a lookout somewhere along the route. My husband walked way out on the bridge.
Does that make you feel better?

 

lol, no, not really! I'd still rather go to the coast! But, i get it, Asheville markets their stuff very well and if you've never been, worth the trip for sure.

 

Has anyone else read Denise Kiernan's The Last Castle (The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home; Touchstone, 2017)?

It was a decent read, and I learned all sorts of stuff about both the house and the family that I hadn't known before! Well worth a look.

 

No, hasn't but, interesting house & family, the Vanderbilt's were Dutch farmers i think, settled in New Amsterdam (aka NYC) in the late 17th century. Made their fortune in railroads i think & poster children of the Gilded Age. That's about all i know about them except Gloria, one of the grand daughters made a pretty big splash in the fashion & art world in our time.