European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Christmas ideas antique fair that special something a shopper is reflected in a Mirror above. A Dolty helps a Man transport Arcy few so to a fab a Felt. Byda Edidio us Bureau looking for a Hood ornament for a 1937 Bentley How about a drawer handle for a victorian Chest or the Bottom half of a Pedestal table then again maybe you fancy a 1950s Art Deco bakelite Kitchen radio. Better still with Christmas right around the Corner would t it be Nice if you could Surprise cramps or cranny with a unique gift from their childhood Days something you d never find while fighting the Holiday mobs in the downtown department stores if so Mark dec. 6 on your Calendar for the Christmas International antique fair. If you can t find it at Newark on Trent you probably can t find it anywhere. Known simply As Newark in the Antiques Trade it Bills itself As the world s largest antique and collector s fair and with More than 3,000 stalls about half under cover it would be difficult to dispute that claim. Such is the magnitude of this event that organizers have had to limit the number of exhibitors to 3,500, after a previous fair saw a line of Sellers vans form the equivalent of a line 16 Miles Long. Six times a year the Newark and Nottinghamshire agricultural showground 125 Miles North of London is transformed into an 86-acre treasure Hunter s Paradise crammed with wild eyed Power shoppers and eager dealers each Bent upon making the Deal of the Century. Vendors and collectors from All Over the United kingdom and the continent converge on Newark to buy sell or Swap Memorabilia As insignificant As brass doorknobs or As precious As Chippendale chairs. The incredible diversity of products oozing out of the overflowing stalls clearly establishes that people will collect almost anything. Previous fairs have seen such offerings As fossils from million year old archaeological digs to fossils from a different sort of bygone Era in the form of a russian army tank. But not everything for Sale at Newark is an antique. Some vendors offer beautifully crafted reproductions of edwardian furniture at prices far below those of the real thing while other dealers prefer to speculate that today s Kitsch will be tomorrow s collectible and they Stock their shelves with things the rest of us probably threw out of the attic Only yesterday. The sheer magnitude of this event makes it impossible to see everything on display. Organizers calculate that to visit every dealer during the Public opening hours of 7 . To 4 . Would mean spending less than 10 seconds at each stall. You might As Well get used to the idea at the outset that you la Only get to see about one Quarter of the fair unless you re on roller skates. Dealers hoping to fatten their own inventories or turn Over a Quick shilling or two get the jump on the Public at a special dealers Only Day the Day before the big event itself. Much of what the dealers buy from each other turns up the next Day in their own stalls at a Little higher Price of course. Still the overwhelming volume of merchandise is such that there is plenty for everyone and virtually All visitors can find something tobit their taste and pocketbook. There is no particular pattern to the groupings of continued on Page 14 november 77, 1994 stripes Magazine 13