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The Winter Show, formerly known as the Winter Antiques Show, begins one week from this coming Friday. It is at the uptown Armory between 66th and 67th Streets with the entrance on Park Ave. I think that most days the fair opens at 11 AM which is a very good time to come as there aren't that many people and it is easy to ask dealers who are properly caffeinated and ready to spiel on any relevant questions. Although late afternoon might be the time for the best deals as dealers are thinking of dinner and will agree to just about anything to make the clock run faster. Fairs, shows, expos, whatever you want to call them, are essentially pretty un-fun as we wait in anticipation for the client that is going to make our day, week or month or year. I will say that the fair I least liked doing was Palm Beach as you were let out of the building in the dark after a day of artificial lighting and you felt, no matter whether you did business or not, that you had wasted a day. Complaining about such things is a little like complaining about the weather. It is what we all do--if we had wanted to be outside all day, we should have been on a road crew or become a professional golfer. So my complaints aren't really complaints, they are my work and, for sure, my pleasure. Remuneration is not just in selling, but in the artistry of what you sell. I couldn't imagine a better way of making a living.
As someone who was not born into a family of antique dealers, I have not had the "what not to buy" lessons that second and third generation dealers have--the blind alleys of dealing. I know some of the things I shouldn't buy, but certainly not all of them. For example, I bought a circa 1745 prie-dieu, essentially a chair that you kneel on to pray, that had some of the finest mid-18th century carving that I have ever seen. I was reminded of that prie-dieu when I was in London in November when I saw a pair of table globes in a noted gallery on Bruton St. The style of carving of those bases was almost identical to the carving on the prie-dieu. I no longer have a photograph of the prie-dieu and the globes are not on the dealer's website. The carving notwithstanding, however, it is the buying of a prie-dieu where I transgressed. No one uses a prie-dieu anymore as praying is no longer a kneeling activity, at least at home. There isn't even one kept around for pretending that you might kneel and pray at home. The passion I felt about the carving transcended any internal monologue about the futility of buying a non-utilitarian object. To finish the story, however, I have to admit to selling the prie-dieu within a year to someone who understood the quality of the carving just as I did. Two lost souls together, you might say, but alive in the belief of great carving.
By the way, anyone wanting to visit my booth this year will find that I have moved. I used to be on the 66th St. side in the middle of the Armory and now I am closer to the 67th Street side on the second aisle off the wall, in a slightly smaller booth next to Hirschl and Adler. I am not crazy about the booth I have moved to and hope to move on again for 2026. The show is an important event in my calendar, but even more important is for me to feel comfortable in the booth that I am in. If you need a ticket, please let me know.
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