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- Editor’s
Note:
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- This
column is a regular feature in the Wayback Times in which my
husband takes interesting people out to lunch … and sends
me the bill.
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- (It's
a tough job, but someone has to do it!)
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- Send
us an e-mail if you have someone in mind for one of Peter Neilly's
interviews over lunch.
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- Peter Neilly is Out
to Lunch
- Breaking bread with
interesting people
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- Out to Lunch!
with Peter Neilly
- Today's Out To Lunch guest was
actually an Out To Dinner guest. Jeff Gadsden and I were
both checking out the Odessa Antique Show so it was the perfect
time to meet for dinner later on at Bistro Stefan at the Best
Western Fireside Inn in Kingston. It turned out to be an excellent
choice. The filet mignon I ordered was the best I've had in a
very long time. Wendy Gadsden was, unfortunately, unable
to join us due to a prior commitment with a very important young
lady named Sofie, their little grand- daughter. The Gadsden Promotions
team of Jeff and Wendy Gadsden is one of the top antique show
producers in Canada. Their shows are well known and are greatly
respected by both dealers and collectors alike. They produce
many outstanding events including the Christie Antique Show,
the Muskoka Show in Port Carling, the Best of The West Antique
Show in Abbotsford, B.C. and Spruce Meadows Antique Show in Calgary.
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- Peter: Thanks for meeting with me Jeff. How did you
and Wendy get started in the antique business?
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- Jeff: Wendy and I got married in the early 70s and
we didn't have a lot of money. We
started going to farm auction sales looking for items for our
apartment. Wendy’s mom had always gone to auctions and she
got some great buys. One of the first things we purchased was
a brass bed and I think at the next auction we got an lovely
oak table. I believe it only cost about $40. That got us interested
in antiquing. In a roundabout way we kind of inherited an old
hotel in Cape Breton. Wendy’s dad had originally purchased
it and had lost interest in it. He offered it to us if we would
take over the mortgage payments, so we did. I remember we drove
down over the Easter break in the mid '70s. It was a two-story
hotel with 10 rooms on the upper level and it was full of old
hooked rugs, decent china and lots of old furniture. Back in
Ontario, we went to more auctions and bought more pieces and
hauled them down east that summer and opened our first shop in
the hotel. Being a teacher, I had the summers off, so for nine
weeks we sold antiques. We did the same the following year, but
finally decided that it was too far to travel. We then started
selling on Sundays at the outdoor Harbourfront market in Toronto.
We did that for several years.
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- Peter: How did that evolve into producing antique shows?
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- Jeff: One summer, John Ford, who was a good
friend of ours, was up at our place and was telling us how he
and Tim Potter had started a flea market in Kingston.
He explained that they had booked an arena and then rented out
tables to people telling them they could bring whatever they
wanted to sell. They charged a dollar admission and at the end
of the day had a large pile of one dollar bills. So, John and
I sat down after a few "wobbly pops" and discussed
how this could be applied to the antique business.We figured
it couldn't be that different. That's when Wendy and I decided
to try our first show. My mother was a member of the curling
club in Cookstown, in fact I think she was president that year.
I called her to see when the building was available to rent,
picked a date and began advertising the show. At first, it was
slow signing up vendors, but we had great support from the people
we knew at the Harbourfront market. People like Linda Howard,
Anne Davey, (who is no longer in the antique business),
and John Simpson gave us credibility. That was October
5 and 6 in 1980 and the show did reasonably well. We had decent
crowds and enough sales that the dealers encouraged us to do
it again the following year.
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- Peter: It sounds like you both got off to a great start.
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- Jeff: Things went fairly smoothly for that first show,
but I do remember Wendy being
annoyed at one of the dealers. The World Series was on and a
vendor had smuggled in a small TV late Saturday afternoon and
had it in the back of his booth where it was being watched by
a himself and few other dealers.
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- Peter: How many shows do you and Wendy produce now?
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- Jeff: Currently, we have 12 shows but really only 10
calendar dates.We have merged the Vintage Style Show and the
Toronto Vintage Paper Show into one combined show this fall.
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- Peter: Is there a difference in the merchandise being
sold at your shows in Western Canada and the antiques sold in
Ontario?
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- Jeff: There is quite a difference in what dealers sell
in the west. You do not see a lot of Canadiana, like refinished
pine furniture, out west. Much of the furniture is of the 1910
to 1930s vintage and you see more collectibles.At the shows in
Calgary, you find lots of petroleum related products, like gas
and oil memorabilia and car parts. Cowboy collectibles are also
huge in Calgary. Things like chaps and spurs, anything to do
with cowboys. Stampede posters from 30 years ago can bring up
to $300 each. At the Vancouver show, you see lots of native related
pieces, like Haida art, decorative masks, various types of clothing
and totem poles.
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- Peter: Gadsden shows have earned a reputation among
dealers and collectors for being of the highest standards. That
must require a strong commitment and effort by yourself and Wendy.
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- Jeff: We decided early on that we were going to try
and focus on developing a reputation for quality. Part of that
included making sure there weren't any reproductions allowed
at our shows. And we still abide by that policy. It's an important
clause in our contracts with our dealers that if some kind of
reproduction
shows up in your booth we will ask you to put it away and if
you don't, you are asked to leave the show. It's frustrating
because I know some reproductions and new products show up at
Christie at times, but it's such a large show that we can't get
around to every booth to police it all. I get on the P A system
and remind the dealers about the rules and we send them a pre-show
newsletter which states right at the top "No Reproductions
Allowed." I've had to throw dealers out of shows lots of
times. If you don't, it's not fair to the other dealers who are
selling authentic antiques.
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- Peter: With 300 dealers at the Christie shows, that
must require an incredible amount of preparation and planning.
How many people does that show attract?
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- Jeff: Our best Christie show had an attendance of 12,000,
but we usually average around the nine to 10,000 mark. Bad weather
can lower the count. The show requires a lot of staff and the
expenses are high. Just having the police directing traffic into
the show costs over $1,400.
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- Peter: I have heard from a lot of people at shows that
something needs to be done to
attract younger people (buyers and sellers) into the antique
business. Do you have any suggestions?
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- Jeff: I don't know the answer. I've tried a few things.
For a few years, we did a show in downtown Toronto called Antiques
Canada and offered a “Twenty Something Discount”. People
in their twenties with proper identification were allowed in
free after 4 p.m. We advertised this feature two years in a row
and we were disappointed
in the results. I only had one dealer who said he benefited from
that ad. He had sold an engagement ring to a young couple. I
hope that eventually young people will see the intrinsic value
in quality antiques. Good antique furniture right now represents
a great value for the money. I hope they will see antiques can
not only be a good investment, but also a lot of fun. Wendy and
I have a showcase at home that we
have filled with fun things like Dinky toys and old kids’
stuff that I didn't want to lose track of. Sofie, our granddaughter,
loves them and always wants us to open the showcase door. The
Christie Show seems to be attracting a younger crowd, so maybe
that’s good news for the future.
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- Peter: Is there anything new coming from Gadsden Promotions?
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- Jeff: We have a new show coming up in November in Oakville
that we are very
excited about. We have a fantastic line up of dealers for it
and we feel its going to be a great show. It's not very big,
but we have assembled a great selection of high quality dealers.
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- Peter: Jeff, you were a great dinner guest and I really
enjoyed our meal. I just wish
Wendy could have joined us. Thanks again for your time and good
luck with your newest show and all your other events. Jeff and
Wendy's calendar of upcoming
shows can be viewed on their website at www/antiqueshowscanada.com
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- (Don't forget Christie on September
8.)
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- For the past eight issues of
this paper, I have had the honor of meeting and dining with eight
very interesting people and I have learned something important
from each one of them.
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- From Rene Huard, I
learned about dedication to one's dreams;
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- From Lee Caswell, I learned
the importance of one’s knowledge of antiques;
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- Macgregor Roulston taught me about courage and dedication
to one's country;
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- Mike Filey showed me the relevance of our history;
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- Pam Ferrazzutti taught me that the antique business
can be lots of fun and still be profitable;
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- Les Brittan taught me the importance of a having
a sense of humour as an auctioneer;
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- Janice Griffith showed me how dramatically important
the canoe was to our country’s history and development.
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- Jeff Gadsden has reminded me just how important one's
reputation and integrity is in this business;
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- And finally, my wife Sandy (The
Warden) has taught me how important it is not to leave "Out
To Lunch" receipts in my shirt pocket on wash day.
- Out to Lunch Archives:
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