A World War II airfield in the part of England known as Robin Hood’s legendary home has become one of the largest antiques markets in the country, indeed, in all of Europe. The most recent gathering, April 4-5, featured more than 2,000 exhibitors dealing in antiques and vintage collectibles.

Swinderby Air Field, Newark, Nottinghamshire, is about 100 miles north of London in an area of gently rolling hills with farm animals and new housing subdivisions as neighbors. Six times each year Arthur Swallow Fairs arranges for the site to be the three-day home and shop for the 2,000 businesses, with more than 4,000 workers offering to sell their collections that they have gathered from throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and some of the nearby northern European countries. In fact, the very first dealer on the line was from the Netherlands, with an 18-wheel truck and trailer loaded with household furnishings and furniture for the fair.

Dealers line up as early as Sunday night for the organized release to the selling areas on Monday at 11:30 am, or as show owner/manager Peter Burgoin said, “half eleven.” As far as Burgoin knows, there is no such person as Arthur Swallow. He began this show 11 years ago as an alternative to dmg world media’s nearby Newark Antiques Fair. At the time, he figured it would “be ‘ard ta swallow,” and thus he and his wife, Heather, came up with the name. Burgoin said there are many who still think his name is Arthur and he is so used to it, he does not correct anyone.

The first fair had 56 dealers selling on a part of the airfield that has subsequently become a housing development. As the bigger Newark Antiques fair had chosen to schedule dealer setup on Sunday with Monday and Tuesday as selling days, Swinderby was selling on Saturday and Sunday. Last year dmg changed its date pattern to Thursday through Saturday, so in December Burgoin announced the change of Swinderby’s pattern to a Monday setup with Tuesday and Wednesday as selling days.

Clair Fuller, Horncastle

Just as with the Newark Fair, Swinderby is conducted sixtimes each year on the days immediately preceding the dmg event.

Offerings at this affair are diverse, with antiques from the Fifteenth Century all the way forward to the mid-1950s Modern, and there are some reproductions allowed in pine furniture and ornamental cast metal furniture for the garden. Large, semipermanent tents were the first to fill up, as the dealers in the four interconnected units were generally offering small antiques, which they brought with a few trips on push carts, dollies and hand trucks. Christine Laurence from the Needham market in Suffolk was offering dishes. Her collection had English porcelain from the last three centuries and also some from China and France. Laurence’s collection was especially strong in Royal Doulton and Spode dishes, but she also offered some silver and silver plate.

Just a short distance away was a dealer who when asked if the merchandise was his silver, promptly replied, “I have no silver.” When pressed, he said “this is plate,” meaning silver plate, post-1845. The English are very specific on three words or terms to describe articles make containing silver. Old Sheffield, or Sheffield plate, is the silver bonded to copper made from about 1740 to 1845. Sterling refers to articles made of silver with 925 parts per 1,000 silver or more, which has been available since the Seventeenth Century and plate is electroplated nickel silver made after 1845. In any case, the dealer was filling three tables with his wife’s extensive collection of silver pieces for the dining table.

Nautical navigation and engineering equipment were the motif of the next booth in the tent. Green from Shropshire was offering shelves filled with pewter articles. There were tankards, graduated measure sets plates and platters. Frank Goddard, Doncaster, has been a collector of radios for most of his life. He said his inventory with dozens from which to choose were all in good service, for he restores them to working order and when necessary fixes the cases as well.

Mickey O’Mara, Portsmouth

The tents were on one old runway of this inactive airport,which met another at right angles with a third beginning at thesame junction and bisecting that right angle. This intermediaterunway was filled with dealers in their own tents. They are regularvendors and some of the tents are erected by contractors in advanceof the show so that dealers can unload quickly. Jeff Young fromSterling, Scotland, said he obtains most of his merchandise onhouse calls near home. This gives him great variety in hiscollection, which this time included some porcelain dishes,furniture and what he identified as a Tibetan thangka. This smalltextile, about 18 inches wide by 30 inches long, was a depiction ofthe wheel of life, he said.

Kickshaws Antiques had two tables filled with early door hardware. From Essex, the hardware included thumb latches in iron from the Sixteenth Century. The Lampman, Boston, which is about 40 miles away, specializes in glass oil lamps from the Nineteenth Century. All its lamps are ready to use, and a selection of shades are offered for many of them. There was also a vast array of chimneys for replacements.

In one of these tents, there was a large collection of furniture, mostly Georgian. A.T. Ballantine, Lytham St Anne’s in Lincolnshire, was offering a bachelor’s chest for the equivalent of about $1,200. The chest was in excellent original condition and it sold on the first day. A Sheraton sideboard, mahogany veneer on oak and pine underwood, was available from Donna Fernyhough from Tamworth, Staffordshire, for $787. She also had a set of Art Nouveau chairs, eight in all, which she identified as Thonet from the Viennese furniture maker of the last half of the Nineteenth Century.

Caroline Rowan, South Wales

A worktable was found in an unstaffed booth with a price tagreading $165, and that was without asking for the best. Clegg andJohnson were filling a double-sized tent with furniture from theEighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. There was a tent filled withold maple workbenches and four-wheeled garden carts. Theworkbenches were selling in quantity at $227 each and the carts for$100. Mickey O’Mara from Portsmouth was selling another big load offurniture, including a Georgian lowboy in original finish for under$1,000. Ian Warner said he has “sent many loads to America from mybig barn in Kidderminster.” Among the pieces of furniture at thisshow he was offering a monk’s bench in elm, circa 1750, withintricate carvings for $460.

One runway was for “casuals,” which are dealers who simply line up when the weather forecast strikes them as being favorable. They have no commitment prior to the show, so they pay upon arrival for their space. One such dealer, Nick Major from Bolling Brook, had a stone surround from a very early church window – Fifteenth Century, he said – on his trailer. The price was $1,225 and he had three more at home for the same price.

Prices quoted have been converted from British pounds to US dollars.

The fair is largely an outdoor affair with tents both large and small housing the dealers. It should be added, however, that rain in England, while frequent, is usually light and not long lasting. The English have a habit of dealing with the rain and simply carrying on in spite of it. That said, the December and February shows are the smallest, while summer dates can reach as many as 4,000 exhibitors.

The next outing will be May 30-31, then August 1-2. For information, www.arthurswallowfairs.co.uk or +44(0) 1298 27493.