Sanford Smith is becoming famous for holding antiquarian book fairs in NYC and New York City art shows such as the Park Avenue New York Armory art expo.

He created the first All American Antiques Show at the Pier in 1980, when both the idea of an entirely American fair and any fair held at such a remote venue were nearly unthinkable. His second show, Modernism, was seminal; at that time, no other show had presented design material from 1860–1960 as a collecting category.

The fair enjoyed a successful run for over 25 years and spawned many number of shows exhibiting material from that period, but Modernism was undisputably the first. Works on Paper followed, presenting a wide variety of watercolors, photographs, prints, drawings and pastels from Old Master to Contemporary. Again, Smith was the pioneer in the field which also generated more shows and even a magazine on the subject.