FROM THE EDITOR
Nick, Julie and Trevor on a chilly evening in Sydney
Here’s some good news: we’ve increased the Summer 2009/20 issue of the magazine by an extra eight pages. Here’s some better news: we had to do that because we had so many advertisers for this issue and we didn’t want to compromise the editorial content. And here’s some even better news: we’re sending all of our subscribers an exclusive annual planner booklet. But the best news of all is that all of this added entertainment comes to you AT NO EXTRA COST! If you’re a subscriber, the annual planner booklet will be in your letterbox in mid-January. It’s like a diary, with snippets of information on collecting and prices and some lovely images, but its most important feature – other than it’s a gift from us to you and therefore is free - is that it contains the dates and details of more than ninety antiques and collectables fairs being held across Australia in 2010. That’s equivalent to a fair every four days! Which, when you think about it, points to an industry that’s doing pretty well given we’re supposed to be in the midst of a Global Financial Crisis. In the UK, too, things are getting interesting. Two months ago we told you about the cancellation of the Grosvenor House Antique & Art Fair, which had been a stalwart on the London calendar for more than three decades. The news was greeted in Britain with the general opinion that the antiques trade must be about to die its final death (again. This is a recurring theme in the UK trade). Well, if a day is a long time in politics, a couple of months can be an eternity in the antiques trade; there are now four major antiques events scheduled for June 2010 in London. Whether or not there’ll be the patronage to support all four remains to be seen, since all are at the upper echelons of the trade. Things are also hotting up in England at the middle to lower range of collecting, where the Big Three fairs – Newark, Swinderby and the new Swinderby – continue to operate within the same week. It’s an incredible situation in which literally thousands of dealers congregate to stand at one of the two Swinderby fairs – they are held within miles of one another, on the same two days – and then exhibit at the Newark fair up the road just two days later. The success of all three fairs must surely point to a recovering trade, because thousands of dealers are not going to front up to a fair, with all the attendant expenses, if they’re not making a profit. The other exciting news we have is in relation to our art column. From the Autumn 2010 issue onwards we’ll be including information and advice from Alison Harper, who is the editor of the quarterly magazine Australian Art Market Report. Now we know that art isn’t a major interest of most of our readers. However! You do need to put something on your walls, and if you’re going to buy art we think you should be as informed as possible. Art Market Report covers the entire Australian and New Zealand market, with critical analysis and unbiased editorial. We think you’ll find Alison’s columns both interesting and helpful. And speaking of interesting, this issue we have an editorial on the New Zealand antiques scene. It was compiled by Annette Hanham when she was travelling around with photographer Willie Mobbs, the two of them getting all the details for the compilation of the first-ever New Zealand Antiques Price Guide. It’s being published by Alan Carter, and it will be on sale in Australia and New Zealand in early February. If you turn to page 106 (the last page in the magazine) you’ll see that we’ve taken a leaf out of the weekend supplements with a new interview section (next issue we’re hoping to profile an Aussie celebrity who collects) and a 20 Questions quiz. We really hope you enjoy these little innovations, because they were great fun to compile! Julie Carter, Editor.
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