dmg sells West Palm Beach Antiques & Collectibles Show

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The long-running West Palm Beach Antiques & Collectibles Show has been sold by dmg world media, according to an announcement issued on Friday, Dec. 12 by dmg Senior Vice President Richard Lewis. The show’s new owners are veteran show promoters Kay and Bill Puchstein, and Yvonne and Jim Tucker.

The name of the show will be changed to the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival. Both the ownership and name change will take effect with the next edition of the show, which is scheduled for Jan. 2-4.

None of the show’s 2009 dates will change, including the Feb. 6-8 Annual Spectacular Show. Held on the first weekend of each month from November through June, a total of eight shows will be presented in 2009. The show’s venue – currently the Americraft Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds – will remain the same.

In July, dmg sold back the Florida show known as ‘Palm Beach – America’s International Fine Art & Antiques Fair’ to its original owners, the Lester family. The show had been a dmg property for seven years, but in a press release issued on July 28, 2008, dmg’s chief operating officer Michael Franks stated that “dmg world media was ready to leave the high end antiques and fine art market in Palm Beach.”

Last month dmg announced it had sold its British antiques trade newspaper, the Antiques Trade Gazette. Franks made the comment that antiques niche publishing – which he referred to as a “very specialized business” – was “no longer strategically aligned with [dmg’s] long-term objectives…”

dmg’s U.S.-based trade papers, AntiqueWeek, Antique West and Auction Exchange had been under offer to a potential buyer, together with another special-interest publication, Farm World. The sale did not eventuate, and the publications remain under dmg ownership.