Vetting

All items for sale at the fair are vetted for authenticity, date and condition - the details given on each item’s label are also checked. Sold stock is replaced daily and fresh items are vetted before each morning’s 11am opening.

Vetting is carried out by a team of 100+ experts drawn from many parts of the UK, they include dealers (some exhibiting and some not), restorers and auction house specialists, split into 32 committees.

Datelines

The Vetting Committee ensures that the exhibits are within the datelines for the fair. In some disciplines, there is a twenty year buffer zone from which items can be exhibited as long as the artist and his/her work satisfy the following criteria:

1. They are internationally recognised and established and/or
2. They are represented in internationally renowned museums and collections and/or
3. They belong to an established school or art movement, and the work of art has been created in the period in which it would appear to have been created and/or
4. They have a proven market value and/or They are represented in the relevant literature.

It should be noted that although an item may be outside the dateline of its material, if it is stylistically Art Deco, Art Nouveau or Arts and Crafts, and is of the period, then it can be vetted under the dateline of 1940. Equally, if an item is stylistically of the 1950s or 1960s and was made during that period, then it can be vetted under the Post War Modern Design dateline of 1969.

Vetting regulations for exhibitors.

It is strongly recommended that applicants read the full version of the Vetting Regulations. For any queries about vetting, please contact Kate Dilnott-Cooper or call +44 (0)20 7370 8033.

Visitors should note that any item shown on the virtual gallery will be vetted at the fair in the normal way but not before that time.