Monthly Newsletter November 2009
William & Mary ebony basket top bracket clock by Jacobus Hassenius, London - c1690
Queen Anne walnut & feather banded fold-over top bachelor chest - c1710
Thomas Sidney Cooper R.A. - Sheep in the Highlands - c1870
George III carved & pierced oval giltwood mirror - c1765
George II laburnum kettle stand - c1740
George II carved mahogany foot stool - c1740
A pair of Regency ebonised & decorated window seats - c1810
George II mahogany bracket clock by Jonathan Hasler, London - c1685
Regency kingwood, ebony & brass mounted card table - c1815
Robert Watson
Cattle in the Highlands
dated 1904
George I walnut & cross banded kneehole desk - c1725
William IV mahogany bergere library chair - c1835
Queen Anne walnut & feather banded bureau - c1710
Regency rosewood & brass mounted centre table - c1810
A pair of George III mahogany candle stands in the manner of Ince & Mayhew - c1780
A Masterpiece is launched
After the unfortunate demise of the Grosvenor House Fair on its 75th anniversary, a phoenix arises from the ashes. Masterpiece, the brainchild of a select group of organisations including Mallett, Apter-Fredericks, Ronald Phillips and Asprey.  Quoting from a recent press release: "Masterpiece London will be a global barometer for elegance, quality and sophistication. Fusing the traditional and the contemporary, the event is aimed at an international audience of collectors and connoisseurs with the world’s leading dealers participating.
Grosvenor House evolves into Masterpiece - a "global barometer for elegance, quality and sophistication".
The event will incorporate every element of the luxury world, from art, antiques and contemporary design to fine wine, classic cars and jewellery."The fair scheduled to be held at Chelsea Barracks, London SW1 from 24 to 29 June 2010 with the Preview on 23 June and will be organised by Nicola Windward the previous Assistant Fair Director of The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair. The event will certainly give Mr Lester's new Summer Olympia team something to think about, as the venue dates are that close to those of Olympia that many dealers possibly considering the Kensington venue; may now consider pinning their colours to Masterpiece instead. At Millington Adams we are going to wait for a little bit and see how things develop, it would be very nice to think that we may be considered for exhibiting at Masterpiece, that is of course if it turns out to be the event that we think it maybe, that is a re-incarnation of Grosvenor House with a wider spread of interests and disciplines. Watch this space!
 
LAPADA's new Berkeley Square event off to a flying start.
Having exhibited at the first three LAPADA Fairs in London, held in the cramped confines of the Royal Academy's Burlington Gardens, moving to a tent in Berkeley square, whilst not sounding enticing was a welcome relief. Sarah Percy-Davies and her team did an excellent job of arranging an event which seemed to exude quality and elegance. With few minor hitches that can easily be ironed out for future stagings, the fair ran like clock-work and was enjoyed by both visitors and dealers alike.

The arrangement of marquees took over approximately half of the ground area of Berkeley Square, with the squares immovable London Planewood trees neatly incorporated, forming elegant decorations through various parts of the fair.
LAPADA's new London Fair location in Berkeley Square in central Mayfair was a
resounding success.
Good floral arrangements and a spacious entrance hall added to the classy feel, with perhaps the only negative comments being about navigating around the stand layout. Most visitors were unsure of their bearings, however this did make them take 2 or 3 trips around trying to find the stand they were looking for - good for dealer exposure I'm sure!! Well I suppose what you all want to know was how did we and the other exhibitors do? The answer - very nicely thank you! Millington Adams had a very good fair and I think many of our colleagues did as well, with a very good buzz on the opening night and a plentiful stream of visitors throughout the remaining days of the event. Certainly one to put on our calendar next year and hopefully one you will be adding to yours if you did not make it this year, it really is worth a visit.

Whilst Harrogate still feels the effect of the credit crunch...
Harrogate in the Autumn is normally a buoyant fair, not so this year.
A week later we found ourselves at our regular provincial event, the Harrogate Fine Art & Antique Fair. Normally this proves a very successful event for us, but unlike the same event in 2008, this year's outing was somewhat pedestrian. Many of the regular faces did not show up, and despite some pre-conceived headline sales from a couple of London picture dealers, things on the whole for most were best described as average.

Perhaps it is a slightly delayed reaction to the credit crunch? We found that business died off in London during the last quarter of 2008 picking up again in the Spring of 2009. On the other hand Harrogate was still going strong last Autumn and due to the more traditional nature of the clientele and nature of their businesses, we think that the north is still feeling the full effects of the recession. We will have to see what happens in Harrogate next spring!


The Millington Adams Autumn Catalogue
We have taken the time to publish our very first catalogue. Produced entirely in-house, the 60 page publication will contain a selection of our current stock of fine period furniture, clocks and fine paintings. Our website millingtonadams.com will of course have our full inventory.

To save many trees and obviously the high printing costs "Autumn 2009" will only be available on the internet, yet in a traditional catalogue format where you can just leaf through the pages at will and if so desired link directly from the catalogue to our an website to check availability and pricing. We think that it is a great addition to our portfolio for customers who would rather browse traditionally instead of looking through a website.

Just click on the adjacent image to view our Autumn 2009 catalogue. We are aiming to bring you future versions every quarter or so, we hope you like it and would welcome any suggestions you may have to sales@millingtonadams.com

The Winter Olympia Fine Art & Antique Fair -16th to 22th November 2009
As Autumn progresses into winter, we are out again at the winter Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fair, held at Olympia, Kensington, London from the 16th to the 22nd November 2009.

Held in conjunction with both trade associations, BADA the British Antique Dealers Association and LAPADA, the event again promises for the collector and discerning visitor to be an un-missable event in the fair calendar. Not as glitzy and international as the summer event the winter fair is more traditional with mainly, but not exclusively, British dealers with high quality offerings right across the spectrum. We will be on our normal stand E23 on the ground floor and will have some exciting recently acquired fine period furniture, clocks and paintings. Should you require an extra ticket, then please call 07957 382381 on the day and we will leave one on the door.
In case you do not receive a ticket from us by post or by e-mail, you can click on the adjacent invitation to print out a ticket for 2 people valid from the 16th to the 22nd November. We look forward to seeing you at Olympia.

What's on TV?
Rather embarrassingly I found that Online Galleries, the company that organises and hosts many of the trade association websites, was at the LAPADA Fair in Berkeley square, talking on camera to some of the dealers about their business and items of their stock. Being on the target list, I suddenly found myself being filmed and before I knew it we were "in the can" .... what happened to rehearsals? I am grateful to Online Galleries for giving us permission to put this video clip on our website for a week or so, just so our regulars can have a giggle!
Seriously though, we may use this facility in the future to show in more depth and talk about special pieces that we may have from time to time; any comments would be most appreciated!

Recent Acquisitions
Along the left hand side of this newsletter are shown our most recent acquisitions, these have been added to our web site www.millingtonadams.com since our last newsletter in August. Most of the pieces shown here we hope to have at Olympia in November. Click on any picture or the text below it to go to our site and view the piece in more detail, with full descriptions, pricing and zoom-able pictures. We will be adding more pieces as they become available over the winter, keep an eye on the site for more information.

The M.D's Blog
Marcus Adams, our M.D. has now has a blog with an offbeat look at the antiques trade and other things happening in the world. You can comment with your own views on any article by clicking on the comment "balloon" to the top right of each article. I hope you find it interesting and comments would be most welcome. You can find Marcus's blog at www.marcusadams.eu.
This newsletter is produced by Millington Adams Ltd, if you would like to unsubscribe please click the link below, if you require any further information on any of our current stock then please e-mail sales@millingtonadams.com and we will answer any questions you may have. Visit our web site via any of the links included in this newsletter or all of our most recent acquisitions can be viewed by clicking here.

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