EAST HAMPTON, N.Y.—A number of dealers left this weekend’s Scope Hamptons fair (July 24–27) a little disappointed, certainly in terms of sales. There are all kinds of code words for slow business, and most of them are being uttered today: “Lots of interest,” Seth Adams of Michael Steinberg Fine Art told me; “Lots of traffic, in fact more than anticipated,” said Carry Clyne of China Square; “super-busy,” according to Anna Shen from Sundaram Tagore. But ask for specific numbers, and people turn philosophical: Despite saying that “a number have pieces have been reserved,” Clyne pointed out that “with the economy the way it is, people aren’t buying on impulse. They’re going away and thinking about it.” “We made extraordinary contacts,” Shen told me, “but a lot of sales don’t actually happen at the actual fairs anyway.” Toronto’s Katharine Mulherin said she was looking forward to “stuff coming down the pipe,” but admitted that “there’s not too much business at the moment.” Another out-of-town dealer, who declined to be identified, said simply: “No big sales, sadly.”

Even entry-level dealers like New York's Lumas are feeling the pinch. Representative Stephanie Yovino told me she couldn’t claim the fair had been any better than “o.k.” She added that this has been the “common trend” for the gallery's outings to other recent fairs such as the Affordable Art Fair and the ICFF as well. “Still, we’re lucky,” she said. “We’re holding steady. At least we’re not losing business, like some people are.”