Monday 29 January 2018

Antique Fair ....in Miniature!

Sometime in December I picked up a free local advertising magazine and cut out a voucher for £1 off the entry to a rare event for Suffolk............An Antiques fair (there are a few regular small indoor posh events but no biggish outside ones).
It was at The Suffolk Showground yesterday.

A trip to Aldi was needed anyway so I thought I'd combine the two things.
What a disappointment, there were less than a dozen stands outside and not many more inside. I looked round but didn't see anything interesting except a T.G Green Ceramic Measuring jug, but as the man wanted £25 it was left on the stall. Had to smile at how much someone wanted for some small Kilner jars, same size as the ones I paid 99p each for at a boot sale, on sale Sunday for £3.99 each. Wonder if they had to take them home again?

These two photos are the sum total of the outside stands!



A waste of £2.50 entry charge, except I did see my cousin but he didn't have anything interesting on his stall either. I came home through the town and wished I hadn't as there were roadworks and roads closed all over.
Altogether a frustrating morning out....... I shall now stay at home for the rest of the month!

Thanks for comments on Saturday

Back Tomorrow
Sue


22 comments:

  1. What a shame. I know these people have to make a living but they would be better off selling at a good price and making something rather than take it home and then have to drag the same stock around week after week.

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    1. The jug would have to have been a LOT cheaper for me to buy it!

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  2. The weather wouldn’t have helped. Looks grey and a bit miserable. Better off at home with a good book and a cup of tea.

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    1. The weather wasn't too bad, mild and not too windy

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  3. The weather dont look to great there so i soppose that can affect the turn out of traders....but i agree,they ask stupid prices for things that they have picked up in a charity shop for a pound! If they kept their prices more realistic,they would sell alot more.The only people who gain are the event organisers who maybe charge £60 plus for the traders to stand.Hope that you and Col have a good day and the sunshines for you!.It was a lovely day yesterday here in the Midlands.I even managed to get all my washing hung out and sit in the garden with a coffee for a while.Hope that Spring is on its way!!,Debi,xx

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    1. I should have know really as we went to a fair there about 4 years ago and it was just as underwhelming!

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  4. Well, it was an antiques fair. What exactly did you expect? Even the flea market in Norwich has everything at silly prices.

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    1. Yes I should have known better. Seemed a good idea as I was in Ipswich anyway but............

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  5. What a shame. People watch too much Antiques Roadshow and Flog It nowadays, I reckon!
    I think you're right - I bet they took most of their goods home again and maybe they wished they hadn't been so greedy. I hope so, anyway.
    J x

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    1. We watch bargain hunt where they go to antique fairs with several 100 traders

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  6. Better stick to the car boots! The weather looked pretty uninviting. x

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  7. Perhaps if they make the fair an annual deal there will be more stalls. Sorry the offerings weren't more.

    God bless.

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  8. How disappointing.
    I've never been to a proper Antiques Fair even though there is one quite regularly at the county showground near Stafford.
    Hugs-x-

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  9. Mind you it does look absolutely dismal weather.

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  10. I can't imagine it was much fun on either side of the stalls! I used to enjoy a good old Jumble Sale, especially the White Elephant and Book Stalls. I haven't been to one for quite a while, my elbows don't seem as sharp as they need to be to get into the bargains these days.

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  11. How annoying. A museum near us sells donations they can't use, with the donor's permission. Lovely stuff and reasonable prices.

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  12. Gosh, not many standing at your Fair but the weather wasn't too conducive was it? We had Bargain Hunt filming at the Botanic Gardens again, on both days, and I had a lovely chat with presenter Eric Knowles, who came across to talk about a piece of glass I had on my stand. Lovely man, very down to earth.

    I think people who go to Antique Fairs and think something is expensive, don't realize that most items - when it is in the china line - have a sort of set value. Yes, you can put your piece out at a bargain price and then another dealer will come by, buy it up, and put the price up! Sometimes more unusual pieces are hard to price and we put a sort of average on it. There are large outgoings for having a stand at the Fairs though (we have just paid £175 for ours last weekend) - you have to sell a lot before you even start to cover that, and it's not profit - just turnover. Actual profit comes later, and we still have to factor in the fuel costs of going to the Fair, of going out to buy the stock to start with, auction costs - hammer price plus at least 15% commission, and were we to buy at our local auction, plus 23% - that is nearly a quarter more on the cost of buying it. At some Fairs, people just aren't buying and we are the "freeish entertainment" and so we might go home having not even covered the cost of the pitch. That's what makes prices higher than at a car boot (where quite often folk don't know the value of something and just want rid).

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  13. That was jus a general comment of mine by the way, not directed at anyone in particular, although I certainly wish I could buy MY stock from charity shops at a pound a hit. The only things I get from charity shops are clothes and the occasional book. Round here the charity shops put anything worth having on Ebay.

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  14. Goodness £175 for a pitch and 23% buyers premium at the auction - very expensive. The man who had the jug that I would have liked if it hadn't have been £25 lives in Aldeburgh and used to do car boot sales where we lived before. He would always be first in the queue at any jumble sales too and very Grumpy!

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