We are days away from our first show of the year, our inaugural visit to the 40th anniversary of the Wilton house Antiques fair, March 3rd-5th , a well organised high quality fair in the grounds of a wonderful country house, near Salisbury in Wiltshire , the house has been the home of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years .
From a purely commercial perspective it can be a difficult balance when deciding what pieces , if any, should be reserved for any particular event, especially given that in todays high tech world a large majority of our customers are now supporting us from around the globe, here on our online gallery.
It remains however from my experience that listing on our virtual gallery attracts one audience , whilst carefully transporting our precious goods to a provincial fair generally attracts a different crowd , we find therefore it is usually better to list everything online, with few exceptions, whilst continually promoting our online gallery to the perhaps “slightly more old fashioned” antique show audiences, we are truly fortunate in that we get to enjoy both aspects of this wonderful trade.
We continually scour the home and world markets for high quality Japanese works of art to offer our discerning clients , and with so many of our items now sold online between shows , it is always a nervous but enjoyable time finding enough stock to satisfy demand at these relatively costly (pre booked) events , somehow we always seem to manage it , and this January/February has been no exception !
I was fortunate to be invited to view a collection of high quality metal wares just South of the Scottish borders, and came away with three world class items, whilst slightly further afield one of our regular sources in the USA uncovered a treasure trove of items that had lain in a bank vault since the 1960’s , needless to say we ended up purchasing a large proportion of these unseen hidden treasures , all of these items , together with the pieces from the North of England will appear in our gallery in the coming weeks.
As a taster we have decided to highlight this magnificent silver & mixed media Koro in our members area for March, as well as showcasing it at Wilton House, thus giving an equal opportunity to the majority of our clients !!
Simply apply for free membership to our exclusive members area.
For last minute tickets to Wilton house, and for other upcoming fairs, apply here: steve@steveslyjapaneseart.com.