LONDON— The 36-year-old Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, being held from June 5 through 14 in the far west of the city, may be poised to overtake the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, which is staging its 75th edition from June 11 through 17 on Park Lane. The former now has big guns like Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art, of the Netherlands, and Pelham Galleries, of Paris and London. In addition, it has a new patron, Sir Timothy Clifford, formerly director of the National Galleries of Scotland, who has been instrumental in attracting such prime exhibitors as the Leeds-based Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, which will feature an 18th-century Italian bronze bust of Dionysus. By filling its huge space with 260 exhibitors, however, Olympia can’t expect to be as discerning when it comes to quality as Grosvenor, with its 90 participating dealers.

At Grosvenor, Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cornwall, is patron of the Charity Gala Evening this year. London’s Mallet, which has been showing its exceptional English furniture there since the beginning, is bringing a George III mahogony secretaire press by the Lancaster firm Gillows, which was active from 1730 to 1840. The piece is priced at around £300,000 ($441,000). Meanwhile, newcomer Reel Poster Gallery, of London, has a vintage King Kong poster priced at £60,000 ($88,000).

Three important Old Master pictures dealers with London premises — Konrad Bernheimer, Fabrizio Moretti and Johnny Van Haeften — are not returning to Grosvenor. Their departure leaves the grande dame looking wobbly. Bernheimer and Van Haeften explain that it simply makes more sense for them to be part of the inaugural Master Paintings Week from July 4 through 10, during which 23 dealers will be showcasing their stock at a London-wide open house.

The concurrent Master Drawings London has 11 dealers. Among them is Trinity Contemporary, which has Gavin Turk’s Margaux, for around £4200 ($6,200), and Graham Gussin’s Control Panel (Cockpit), for about £3,600 ($5,300).

"'Tis the Season" originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2009 Table of Contents.