Palm Beach Show Group's Fall Show in New York City
November 20th, 2015
New York Art, Antique & Jewelry Show, New York City
The Palm Beach Show Group’s fall show opened in New York City the Friday before Thanksgiving. Eighty-five art, antiques, and jewelry dealers filled the Park Avenue Armory with their wares, hoping to take advantage of the beginning of the holiday season.
As at many shows, some dealers did well, some covered their costs, and some couldn’t wait for the show to be over. A four-day show, opening on a Friday evening, seemed to be too long for many dealers, especially when foot traffic was slow. Some dealers said their clients had already gone away for the weekend or for the Thanksgiving break when the show opened on November 20, 2015.
Dealers offering collections of antique, estate, and contemporary jewelry made up a quarter of the exhibitors, and many women walking up Park Avenue stopped in to take a look at the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires that filled the cases. Jewelers came from Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, France, England, Florida, and New York.
Lion Heart Autographs, New York City, had a busy booth.
The PBSG, which runs ten art and antiques shows around the country, is expanding its headquarters in Lake Worth, Florida, to include a 25,000-square-foot permanent exhibition space for dealers. “There’s nothing like this in the Palm Beach area,” explained Scott Diament, president and CEO. “We’re five blocks north of the South Bridge into Palm Beach and just south of Antiques Row,” added Rob Samuels, vice president. There will be space for 20 to 40 dealers, with an emphasis on furniture and art, room for 55 cars, private meeting spaces, and an on-site café.
“It will be the ultimate group shop,” remarked a veteran antiques market observer.
Galerie Frédéric Got, Paris, offered these sculptures by Spaniard Carlos Mata (1949-2008). The horse, 30" x 18", was priced at $29,000; the cow, 30" x 22½", was $28,000. The gallery also has locations in Saint-Paul de Vence and Courchevel, France.
Jared Fitzgerald, an American-born artist who lives in China, opened a gallery in New York City for contemporary Chinese ceramics and paintings. Seen here is one of his porcelain vessels, Landscape, 2013, 20 7/8" x 20" x 20". He asked $7500 for it.
The Palm Beach Art, Antique & Design Center will be open six days a week in season, and booths will have cameras so dealers who are not on site can Skype with customers. It is scheduled to open in March, said Diament.
Sales at the New York show included paintings, antiques, and jewelry from Marion Harris of New York City; flags and a game wheel from Jeff R. Bridgman, York County, Pennsylvania; a turn-of-the-19th-/20th-century French red fire engine from Sundial Farm, Greenlawn, New York; beaded antique handbags from Nula Thanhauser, New York City; an antique tennis racket from TJ Antorino, Oyster Bay, New York; and a pair of mid-century leather sofas and decorative arts from Glen Leroux of Westport, Connecticut.
Georg Jensen, the Danish design house, had a booth filled with flatware, hollowware, and jewelry. A copy of a chandelier designed by Johan Rohde in 1918 for Jensen’s shop in Copenhagen was brought over for the show and was available for $1.1 million. Jensen was sold three years ago to Bahrain-based Investcorp and is buying back its vintage pieces and offering them in its “Heritage Collection.” Silver dealer Gregory Scott Pepin, who has lived in Copenhagen for over 20 years, is a managing director of Jensen and was at the show. “All I do is buy vintage Jensen,” he said. He has traveled recently to Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Beijing, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York buying for the collection. The pieces seen here, however, are new and include a melon set priced at $1700; a bread knife for $420; a pair of mammoth tooth chopsticks with rest for $2000; ebony chopsticks, $550 for four with two rests; and a champagne saber, priced at $3000.
According to a New York Post report on December 28, 2015, the Palm Beach Show Group’s contract with the armory for 2016 was not renewed. Quoted on Page Six, Scott Diament said, “There’s no space for the event in 2016” because the armory’s management is concentrating on filling the space with performance events.
The captions illustrate the show. For further information, go to the websites (www.nyfallshow.com) and (www.palmbeachshowgroup.com).
Kendall Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia, asked $55,000 for Boating in Central Park by Edward Potthast (1857-1927), a 19" x 23" oil on panel.
Father and son Jaap and Rob Thalen in their booth filled with their contemporary silver designs. Thalen & Thalen is in Belgium and Palm Beach, Florida.
Lillian Nassau, New York City, sold this Tiffany Studios “Elizabethan” lamp in the 1960s for $400, said Arlie Sulka. “It came back recently after being in a house where four boys grew up.” The circa 1910 lamp with a ribbon candy base “has a contrast of purpley-blue against mottled orange with glass jewels that look like rubies,” said Sulka. It was priced at $275,000.
Sherry’s of Boca Raton, Florida, designs custom jewelry. These necklaces ranged in price from $3900 to $16,000.
Originally published in the February 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest
