US Antique Shows , a major producer of antique shows in North America, reported the largest increase in attendance to its New York Antique Jewelry & Watch Show  since the show began 5 years ago. Attendance was up 25% over last year. The event, which took place at The Metropolitan Pavilion from July 22-25th, had sold all exhibitor space. 

As the New York Antique Jewelry & Watch Show  takes place in an International city, which is also the jewelry capital of the world, it is very popular with serious jewelry buyers, sellers and collectors. “There was a huge line on opening day and after that it also had the strongest attendance from the public ever”, stated Andrea Canady, Fair Director.  “We are thrilled that we surpassed last year’s numbers by a wide margin.” Great traffic on opening day and strong sales were reported by many attending dealers as well.

Paul Lubetsky of Windsor Jewelers in New York told us: “We were extremely happy with the turnout. It was almost a conclave of all the antique jewelry and estate dealers from around the world. We purchased some and sold some. Overall, we are very happy with our sales at the show."

Gus Davis of Camilla Dietz Bergeron shared with us: “Sales were great. We’re very happy with the show. We’re definitely heading in the right direction. What we saw was a demand for signed pieces. Personally, half of our sales were earrings.”

          Nancy Kesselman from Bernard Nacht & Co in New York City stated: “There was an increased flow of traffic this year at the NY show. As a result, we made new contacts for both purchasing and selling. We found that people were buying diamonds and colored stones. The people that ran the show were extremely accommodating. All in all it was a great success for us.”

Jerry Heidenreich from Jerome Hedenreich in Los Angeles reported: “We had the best New York show we have ever had. I know a lot of the other dealers felt the same. I’ve been doing shows for 25 years and I must tell you that the opening day traffic was the best I have ever experienced! In my opinion, the big difference this year was that a lot of the European dealers were back. Besides diamonds, we found a huge interest for big colored stone pieces for which buyers were willing to pay between $10,000-50,000.”

The next show on the calendar for US Antique Shows is The Miami Beach Antique Jewelry & Watch Show. The show is scheduled for October 14-16, 2011 at The Miami Beach Convention Center.