THE ESHER HALL ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey Friday 12 to Sunday 14 October 2012

Now a firm date on the fairs circuit, the highly anticipated Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair returns for the fifth successive year to Esher Hall, Sandown Park Racecourse, Portsmouth Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9AJ from Friday 12 until Sunday 14 October 2012. Organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited this event has won itself an enviable position in the Surrey social calendar. New this year is the fair’s association with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Sunningdale, who will be lining up their latest range of cars in front of the entrance to Esher Hall.

The fair is strictly vetted and brings together 30 or more dealers from all parts of the UK showing an impressive choice of paintings, furniture, silver, glass, jewellery, ceramics, carpets and rugs, antique books, sculpture as well as many other decorative works of art. Whilst attracting collectors, interior designers and avid fair-goers from across the south of England and up through the Midlands it is also an ideal opportunity for those living in London to spend a happy day hunting out the best of every discipline on offer.

Fine art is well represented within the fair and highlights include the original painting by Paul Kidby for the front cover of Terry Pratchett’s latest novel, ‘Dodger’, priced at £7,000 from Art of the Imagination. Highly topical, as ‘Dodger’ is on general release in all the bookshops this month. Baron Fine Art is bringing a Victorian watercolour by Harry Sutton Palmer (1854-1933) entitled ‘The Pool, Wotton, Surrey’ for £3,500. Wotton is a small village between Guildford and Dorking. For those who regularly visit Sandown Park for the racing, Haynes Fine Art of Broadway is showing a pair of oils by equestrian painter George Wright (1860-1942), ‘Clearing the Fence’ and ‘After the Race’, £18,500 for the pair. Two Surrey-based dealers sharing a stand, Kaye Michie and John Robertson are bringing ‘On the Hilltop’, a large oil by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) priced at £35,000.

New faces to the fair include Richard Price & Associates, well known on the BBC Antiques Roadshow circuit. Amongst the many clocks on the stand is a magnificent Louis XVI bronze and ormolu mantel clock, c1775-1780, priced at £22,500 and an English Regency mantel timepiece, c1830, signed by ‘Coleman, Westmoreland Street, London, no 1797’, for £7,950. From the West Country are two new faces, Heritage Argyle Antiques of Salisbury bringing an impressive late 19th century Italian armoire in walnut and bird’s eye maple with a price tag of £6,875 and The Swan Gallery of Sherborne with Victorian and Edwardian paintings, antique maps and prints.

An allegorical depiction of Venus as a beautiful maiden in gilded bronze named ‘Etoile du Berger’ by Henri Levasseur, c 1894, price £7,895 is one of the highlights on Garret & Hurst Sculpture’s stand. Furniture dealers returning to the fair include Melody Antiques from Cheshire, S & S Timms Antiques, Nicholas Arkell Antiques & Walton House from Dorset and W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd of Witney, the latter bringing a fine George III mahogany camel back settee, c1780, price £10,000, a very stylish addition to any drawing room.

Amongst the antique jewellery and objets d’art in the fair is is an unusual 18 carat gold yellow diamond and diamond flower pendant, worn either as a pendant or a ring, c 1895, £10,000 from T Robert . More choice is on hand from Plaza, bringing a platinum and emerald ring, handmade in Ireland and dating from the 1920s, priced at £12.500 and St James/Authentiques.

The majority of the exhibitors are members of either the British Antique Dealers’ Association or LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers. This year the fair is supporting two charities, each having a presence at the fair - the Art Fund, helping museums and galleries buy art for everyone to enjoy and The Poppy Factory, working to help wounded, injured and sick ex-Service men and women find meaningful and sustainable employment in the communities where they live around the UK.

The main prize in the prize draw is the chance to win dinner, bed and breakfast for two people, generously donated by Gravetye Manor, the luxury 17 bedroom Relais & Chateaux Country House Hotel near West Hoathly in Sussex.