My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, if you don’t see a new post on Thursday, it’s because I was too busy, so please look for a new one the following Monday. There will be no Thursday post this week because this post was published on Tuesday.
There was a good crowd on line at the opening on Thursday
The Original Miami Beach Antique Show ended yesterday, after a five-day run from January 30 – February 3, 2014. Opening day attendance was up 20% over last year and overall attendance improved.
We sold this important Daum blackbird vase at the show
Personally our show was mediocre, compared to last year. We sold plenty of items, but the average selling price was down, resulting in lower gross sales. Of all of our categories, French glass sold best.
Some of the beautiful Tiffany and Pairpoint lamps for sale in our booth
In asking around, I got the following comments from dealers. “Much better than last year” from a southern dealer in general antiques; “As good or better than last year” from a dealer in Asian antiques; “I’m very pleased” from a dealer specializing in Austrian Art Nouveau and Deco; from a dealer in 19th Century decorative arts “7 on a 1-10 scale, but happy with what we did”; from a California decorative arts dealer, “Business was brisk, but off 20% from last year. It’s still twice as good as any California show.”; a perfume bottle and Art Deco dealer commented “Just OK. I’m seriously thinking of not coming back next year.”; from a dealer in painted lamps “OK. Not a bang-up show”; “Not over the top, but OK” was the comment from a dealer in minerals and Lalique glass; “I had a good show, better than last year” from a dealer in silver; and finally “Better than last year” from an Argentine decorative arts dealer.
Next year’s show will start on a Saturday and run through Wednesday. Not sure why, but that’s what’s planned as of now. The show will close at 10 PM on opening day, instead of the usual 8 PM, to give religious Jewish vendors a chance to sell on Saturday after the Sabbath ends. The new days and hours will be strange, but I don’t think they will hurt business. The following year, 2016, the show returns to the normal Thursday opening.
We’ll have this great Daum scenic blownout vase at the Palm Beach show
We’re off to the Naples area for a few days of R&R before we get to Palm Beach for the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show, starting on February 15. While we’re in Naples, we’ll check out the Naples Art, Antique and Jewelry Show. If we like what we see, we’ll exhibit there next year. We’ll end our southern swing with the wonderful Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference, February 21 – 23, 2014. We last exhibited there a few years ago but couldn’t exhibit again because of scheduling conflicts. This year there were no conflicts, so we’re happy to return.
Andre Gisson painting with rare balloon subject matter
Click here to view my new website and look around. We always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on our website and at every show. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps