When
working at an estate sale I am often asked ... why? The unspoken
reference is to the many years I spent working at the Winter Antiques Show.
The differences between these two events are self-evident. The parallels
between the two are more elusive.
The common link between
the two is marketing the objects at hand. In the case of the antiques show
it is your own carefully selected and culled collection; for an estate
sale the only control over the objects to be sold is to accept or refuse
the sale.
Both selling venues require
research and appraisal of items to be sold. Both require appealing
presentation to sell to advantage. Both venues have similar “highs
and lulls”. For the Winter Antiques Show opening night sales are
usually brisk; for estate sales the first hour is “make or break”.
And for both events there are the down times; a smaller audience and a
more plodding approach. They are both businesses which rely on strong sales
to stay in the game. And they are both businesses where personal
relationships with the buyers create the soul of the business. For
both venues not only what you sell but to whom becomes part of your memory
bank. Finally they are both about illusion ... what the public sees
is not the way it is or was.
I found it very easy
to flip flop between being a minor player in a major arena and a more major
player in a more minor arena. My interest in the pieces to be sold,
their presentation and the pace of these two venues was the “constant”.
Transforming an armory
gymnasium into a multi-million dollar venue for antiques in the course
of a few days is a daunting task. The Winter Antiques Show held
in January at the 67th Regiment Armory in New York has accomplished this
very feat for the last 45 years.
The Armory hosts many
antiques shows and other events throughout the year but the Winter Antiques
Show is in a class of its own, shared with the newer-to-the-scene International
Show which takes place in October. For the month of January, it defines
the social season in New York City and offers, arguably, the most
exciting display of antiques in the country. This lavish, glamorous ten
day event benefits East Side House, a settlement house in the borough of
the Bronx.
When the benefactors
and patrons arrive for the Opening Night Party, the Armory is festooned
with flowers and lit up like a jewel; the dealers are elegantly dressed,
to befit the occasion, and their antiques exquisitely presented. These
early patrons, who pay up to $1,000 a ticket, are in two camps:
the social elite who come to meet and greet, and the serious collector
who wants first refusal on the very unique antiques this show has to offer.
Had this very stylish
group arrived a day earlier they would have witnessed an Armory and show
floor in shambles.
The Armory, an imposing
late 19th century brick structure which spans four city blocks was
designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and executed by Stanford White.
Its mission was to provide an appropriate venue for New York’s military
elite, otherwise known as the “Silk Stocking Regiment”. The main
entrance on Park Avenue has a canopied double staircase which opens into
a magnificent, but rather somber, oak paneled hallway with soaring ceilings.
When dealers arrive for
the show two days days prior to the opening night, this magnificent hall
greets them. On their way to the show office, they glimpse old friends
and familiar faces. Once at the office they receive their show packet containing
rules, schedules and photo IDs for their booth workers. The hall
itself is a hotbed of activity: vast urns are being filled with flowers
and plant life, carpenters and electricians are busy implementing the hall
decorating schemes of the designer chosen to set the festive tone for the
show, and volunteers are unpacking thousands of antiques show programs.
What's more, security is everywhere.
Having received their
packets, the dealers go straight ahead to the gymnasium. At
this moment, especially for a first time exhibitor, your heart skips a
beat - or maybe two. A few booths, at the front of the gymnasium, have
basic box-like structures erected, replete with multicolored masonite walls.
But as your gaze trails further back in the gym, there is merely a framework
for the boxy-booths-to-be; still further back there is nothing more than
piles of lumber. It’s hard to walk down the three aisles. Union
workers of all affiliations are exercising their specialties and trucks
have begun to deliver merchandise from the back entrance on Lexington Avenue
to those few shell-like booths at the front.
The rest of that
day follows a predictable routine. You find the spot on the floor
which will be your booth and wait for it to be built; if you have a booth
in the back you may be in for a long wait. As you pass this time,
trucks are coming in, unloading furniture in the front booths and driving
back out the Lexington Avenue entrance; consequently the doors to Lexington
Avenue are never closed until the Armory closes at 10:00 pm. If it’s cold
- being January there’s a pretty good chance of that - the wait can be
painful.
Once you actually
find your booth location, you can get on everybody’s list.
First stop on the list is the Teamster’s Union which controls truck access
to the Armory. Outside, on Lexington Avenue, trucks containing every
dealer’s inventory are lined up for blocks. The trucks do not come
in on a first-come first-serve basis as the access is prioritized by the
the Teamsters. Next stop might be the carpenters’ union which will install
special dividers or extra beams. And then on to the wallpaperers’
union, if needed, for a border or the walls. Then the electricians,
yada, yada, yada.
Everything now has its
own life. You can’t put up the border until our booth has been painted.
The painting will go very quickly once your number comes up on the painter’s
schedule: two coats on three walls round and round; no drying
time in between. When it’s really cold, below freezing, the painting doesn’t
really dry but if the guy comes to hang the wallpaper border, you’re not
going to turn him away. You can’t risk losing your place on the list
and you don’t want to overlap the union lunch and dinner schedule
And you can’t move in your furniture until you’ve laid your carpet - and
this might require the services of the carpet layer’s union. Sometimes
even after all the careful choreography, your truck is still parked on
Lexington Avenue!
Not all dealers have
the same union requirements (indeed some dealers, for example, bring
their own carpenter) but for everyone the whole initial phase of set up
is hurry and wait.
We continue, next time, with the completion of
the set-up for the opening of the Winter Antiques Show in New York
City and some of its political wrangling.
