Palm Beach County Jewel

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:

We're delighted by dealers' strong, positive reaction to the news that we are assuming ownership of the Delray Beach Antiques Show. Committed to the show are:

  • Patricia Barger
  • Brass 'n Bounty
  • Coco House & Company
  • John Dennsion Fine Art
  • Escutcheon Antiques
  • The Federalist Antiques
  • J&M Antiques
  • Lyons & Harper
  • Elinor Penna Staffordshire
  • Howard Price Fine Art
  • Patricia Anne Reed
  • Katherine Stevens
  • Nula Thanhauser
  • Vintage Poster Art
  • Charles L. Washburne
  • Ed Weissman, Antiquarian

Our Delray Beach Antiques Show is an ideal way for dealers to reach antique-lovers in Palm Beach County. It’s an enchanting and high-end boutique event that will attract several thousand shoppers at the height of the winter season. Booths are still available.

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No Fakes Allowed

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:


Fakes are a pox on the antiques business. Every honest soul in the trade worries about the harm they cause to all dealers' credibility.

To keep them out of my shows, I ask dealers who exhibit to sign a contract that expressly prohibits them from displaying fakes (not that any would be so inclined). Simply put, no fakes may be displayed on the show floor.

But I never gave much thought to expressly prohibiting fakes from entering my shows. Until last week. With a number of antiques shows around the Greater Washington area that are attractive to socially prominent and well-to-do people, I have decided to institute a new policy. Beginning with the upcoming Historic Annapolis Antiques Show, not only are no fakes allowed on the show floor, but no fakes are even permitted to enter the building.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi, this means you.

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Not Your Grandmother's Antiques Shop

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:


The Greenhabilitator, who contributes to the Denver-based blog The Green Phone Booth ("Where Ordinary Women Become Eco-Heroes"), muses about her unusual Black Friday. She spent the day clerking in her mother's antiques shop and was struck by the patrons' coolidity quotient. "If you haven't been into an antiques store lately, forget what you know about them," she says. "There are just so many 'previously loved' items you can find that come with a history other than 'Made in Taiwan.' I can't tell you how pleased I was yesterday to live first-hand the things we've been blogging about lately with regard to community and supporting local business."


According to Boston Consulting Group, while tens of millions of consumers regularly factor "green" into their shopping decisions, many don't buy green products because they lack information and guidance. Among other concerns, shoppers worry about "greenwashed" products (eco-sensitive products that don't actually reduce the carbon footprint, like the organic raspberries at Whole Foods that have been flown in from Chile on a 747).

In contrast to typical green products, antiques have a distinct advantage because they represent reuse. Reuse is cool because it simultaneously answers the call for waste reduction while sustaining a comfortable lifestyle and supporting a productive economy. Specifically:
  • Reuse keeps materials out of the waste stream
  • Reuse favors source reduction
  • Reuse preserves the “embodied energy” originally used to manufacture an item
  • Reuse reduces the strain on valuable resources such as oil and water supplies
  • Reuse helps safeguard wildlife habitats
  • Reuse creates less air and water pollution than making a new item or recycling
  • Reuse produces less hazardous waste
  • Reuse saves money in disposal costs
  • Reuse generates new business and employment opportunities
  • Reuse creates an affordable supply of goods that are often of excellent quality

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Unemployment Picture Improves

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:

Armacost Antiques Shows today announced that it is able to reinstate the firm's executive vice president, corporate administration and technology (EVP-CAT), Mr. Berkeley C. Ramsey.


Mr. Ramesy had been "fur"loughed by the corporation at the beginning of Q2 2009, as part of a series of cost-cutting efforts undertaken by the firm.

Beginning December 1, Mr. Ramsey will resume performance of his prior duties. Those include, in addition to oversight of all administrative and information systems, extensive research, development and testing of a wide variety of chairs and couches owned by the corporation.

Mr. Ramsey was unavailable for comment following the announcement.

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Fewer Dealers Means More Sales

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:

According to The Wall Street Journal, high-end jewelry retailers around the nation are expecting better sales this holiday season than last. That's not because shoppers are eager to spend--in fact their rather shy about high-end purchases--but because a massive industry shakeout during the past 12 months has reduced the number of fine jewelry retailers by 1,500. The demise of the weak retailers will provide an automatic boost to the surviving ones.


No doubt the same opportunity awaits antiques dealers in 2010. This year has seen countless dealers shutter their businesses, many after 20 and even 30 years of operation. While no cause for celebration, the disappearance of so many dealers will have a positive impact on the trade. The antiques dealers who have ridden out the storm can only stand to increase sales in a smaller playing field.

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Appraisers Report Recovery

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:

The Palm Beach Appraisers Association reports that the art and antiques market is recovering.

"We're excited to see that the collectors, dealers and antique enthusiasts are beginning to reinvest in estate and antique pieces. Many collectors had to sell their prized possessions due to the global credit crunch and collapse in confidence among lenders," says Chris Hayes, president of the association. "As a result, many estate aficionados are beginning to invest in the one-of-a-kind finds that are now available on the market through antique and estate shows, auctions and galleries around the world." Evidence of the market improvement:

  • Action on the auction e-platform Artfact has increased in recent months.
  • Website Artnet claims that the steep declines seen in the market in 2008 through summer of 2009 have begun to level off; fall auctions have seen many lots exceeding estimates.
  • November's Miami Beach Antique Jewelry & Watch Show announced increased attendance and brisk sales.
  • United Van Lines has seen an increase in the transportation of valuables.

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Bad Pennies

Author: Bob James, President, Armacost Antiques Shows / Labels:

File this post under "Thieves and Scoundrels."


There are dishonest people in every trade. The honest folks tend to worry that the dishonest few tarnish all the others, but I don't believe that's true.

During the past two years, my firm has been defrauded by three antiques dealers. That record isn't bad, considering I worked in that period with nearly 150 different antiques and fine art dealers.

So you know, the three swindlers are:
  • Olivier Fleury, who never honored a bad check for $2,072, written for the booth occupied at the 2008 Denver Antiques Show & Sale.

  • Mimi's Antiques, who never honored bad checks totaling $2,400, written for the booths occupied at two shows, the 2009 Historic Annapolis Antiques Show and the 2009 Delray Beach Antiques Show.

  • Alan & Kathy Stacey, who never honored a bad check for $2,000, written for the booth occupied at the 2009 Naples Art & Antiques Show.

Rigorous collection procedures didn't succeed with these companies and I have chalked up the various amounts as bad debt, as painful as that is.

Like bad pennies, these dealers are back, operating Web sites and exhibiting at other promoters' shows.

When assessing risk, professional credit managers look at four factors affecting a customer's ability to pay a debt. "Character" is one of those factors. By character, they mean that quality most people would call "reliability," "trustworthiness" or "integrity." Whatever you wish to call it, some people got it, and some don't.

Full disclosure: I stated above that the three dealers defrauded my firm. In fact, they defrauded both my firm and the charities that sponsored each particular event, because the charities in every case but one absorbed the losses either in whole or part. That means these dealers cheated not only a for-profit company, but an opera house, a preservation group and a church. Nice, huh?

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