LAPADA

Art, antiques, wine, classic cars – pension hopes disappear

But they will bring benefits for the industry, expert advises

CLARION NEC have announced a link-up with LAPADA for their National Fine Art & Antiques Fair, the third of which will be held at the National Exhibition Centre from January 18-22.

LAPADA have organised a free legal seminar for members in conjunction with the City law firm Withers to take place at 5.30pm on Wednesday, November 30 at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, 1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1.

LAPADA will launch a new London flagship fair next year when LAPADA@TheRoyalAcademy opens from May 4 to 7 at the Royal Academy.

LAPADA have appointed Rebecca Hossack of London’s Rebecca Hossack Gallery (RHG) as a director. The Australian-born dealer in Contemporary pictures, sculpture, jewellery and decorative arts is the first Contemporary specialist to join the association’s board.

LAPADA are to target young dealers in a membership drive after their latest survey shows hardly any existing members are aged under 35.

Edinburgh dealer John Dixon of Georgian Antiques has joined the LAPADA board of directors.

COMPLETING this year’s LAPADA survey carries an additional incentive – the prospect of a week’s holiday in Jamaica.

HAVING staged fairs with varying success in Birmingham and London, LAPADA, our largest trade association, enters a new era this month with the launch of a new event at a new venue – The LAPADA Autumn Antiques and Fine Art Fair which will run at The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire from October 21 to 24.

GRAHAM Smith of Graham Smith Antiques in Jesmond, Newcastle has joined LAPADA’s board of directors. He started his own business in 1999 after 27 years working with Owen Humble Antiques.

LAPADA have abandoned Claridge’s as the venue for their London fair but plans for the launch of their LAPADA Autumn Antiques & Fine Art Fair are well advanced and well received by members of our largest trade association.

SARAH Harvey, chief executive of LAPADA, has given her backing to the concept of a marketing campaign in support of the whole antiques industry.

LAPADA have introduced an interest-free credit scheme to the portfolio of benefits on offer to members.

More than half of those of who responded to the latest LAPADA survey have reported a decrease in turnover in 2003. The annual survey sent out in December by the UK’s largest antiques dealer’s association, was this year completed by 158 members – 25 per cent of the association’s membership. Last year, it was 151 members, or 22 per cent, which indicates that the association has lost a net of 54 members – eight per cent – over the past year.

LAPADA have named their new chief executive as Sarah Harvey, a former auctioneer at both Phillips and Sotheby’s. She will take up her post on March 29.

FAR from mourning the demise of the January LAPADA fair, which ran for 13 years at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, the trade seem to have embraced its successor, The National Fine Art and Antiques Fair, which will be launched at this favoured venue from January 28 to February 1.

WELSH period furniture dealer Ian Anderson of F.E. Anderson & Son has joined LAPADA’s board of directors. Mr Anderson’s business was started by his great-grandfather in 1842 and he still works from the original four-storey premises in the High Street of Welshpool, Powys. “We were one of the original members when LAPADA was set up,” said the new director, who joined the family firm upon leaving school in 1966.

JOHN Newgas has announced his decision to step down as chief executive of LAPADA, the Association of Art and Antiques Dealers, at the end of December.

LAPADA have set up an email alert system to warn members about fraudsters after an indepth investigation by the association led to a serial offender being caught and jailed. John Alderson of Seattle was convicted in the USA and has just been sentenced to 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He must also pay restitution of $146,000 to victims.