The Height of Luxury

Antiques entrepreneur David Lester is setting up his million-dollar tent for a return engagement next week of a design spectacle worthy of P.T. Barnum.

It’s the second annual Beverly Hills International Art & Antique Fair, an Oct. 29-Nov. 5 event that combines serious shopping for collectors with an elegant show for window-shoppers.

“Everyone is into collectibles and discovery,” said Lester, noting that antique shows are booming across the country, and 14 million viewers a week watch the PBS series “Antiques Roadshow.” He thinks it’s a reaction to the mass-marketed world around us. “People are looking for individuality.”

He predicts between 16,000 and 18,000 people will visit the fair’s International Pavilion tent--35,000 square feet of temporary space transformed into an elegant museum setting.

“Of those visitors,” he said, “only about 2,000 will be potential buyers--meaning they could afford to spend from $5,000 to $5 million--and only about 200 will buy something.”

Those odds are enough to lure an estimated 55 international dealers who will bring a fortune in rare furniture, sculpture, diamonds, medieval swords and Old Master drawings to the fair, hoping to attract wealthy collectors.

Lester, president of the Florida-based International Fine Art Expositions, who has been producing antique fairs for 10 years, says the undertaking is a sign of the times. No longer can antique dealers sit and wait for customers to appear. New fortunes are being made, and the emerging young moguls in fields such as entertainment and technology value time more than money.

“It’s all about proximity,” Lester said. “We started doing fairs in convention centers, but nobody would schlep downtown. The fair needs to be within 10 to 15 minutes of your client base.”

Dealers come from New York, Paris and London for two reasons, he said: to sell their wares and to create relationships.

“They want the client as much as they want to make a sale,” he said. “It takes awhile to build these up, but there was enough business done in Los Angeles last year to interest dealers in returning.”

Although no official figures are available, Lester estimated sales here last year at between $10 million and $15 million.

Lester has fine-tuned this year’s format, including the site of his tent pavilion, which was located last year in the parking lot of the Robinsons-May department store at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. This year’s tent has already been erected in Century City at Constellation Boulevard and Century Park West, which offers more parking.

An opening night fund-raiser, which benefited the Huntington Library in San Marino last year, has also undergone changes. This year’s gala Vernissage, or “First Showing,” next Thursday, will benefit the Rose Tarlow-Dr.Arnold Klein Fund for Breast Cancer Treatment at UCLA Medical Center. The year-old fund benefits women who cannot afford treatment. The fund’s namesakes are co-chairs of the event with New York designer Mario Buatta.

Interior designer Rose Tarlow opened a shop on Melrose Place in 1975 and has been designing furniture for 10 years. She began her career as an antiques dealer and says antiques are still her first love.

“This is a top antique show,” she said. “It’s very pared down, and not just a tent full of stuff.”

For the novice, who wants to learn more about antiques, she suggests the show’s items be viewed as one would view items in a museum.

“Take your time, and look at everything,” she said. “Ask questions, enjoy it.”

Among the dealers offering a spectacular array of furniture, paintings, jewelry and rare books are Odermatt/Vedov and Galerie Jacques de Vos from France; Marks Antiques and John Mitchell & Son from England; and Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Martin Katz and Tim Wright Master Drawings, from the United States. Each dealer will have a showroom in the pavilion, which is equipped with its own climate control system, lighting, carpeting, columns and fabrics.

“It’s basically a ridiculous idea when you think about it,” Lester said of the project. “But it’s also fun to create something world class from the imagination. And when opening night arrives, and you come to the fair, it’s magical--like a giant play.”

* Beverly Hills Art & Antique Fair, Oct. 29-Nov. 4, Pavilion at Constellation Boulevard and Century Park West; Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission, $12. (310) 277-2926. Opening night Vernissage, Oct. 28, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., $150 and $250 per person, (310) 206-0500.

* Connie Koenenn can be reached at [email protected].