NEW YORK.- The International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show, Brian and Anna Haughton’s flagship fair, will again bring together the top dealers in the world from October 16th-22nd at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue at 67th Street, New York City.

Since its launch in 1989 the fair has occupied a place among the world’s finest art and antiques fairs, thanks to a stellar exhibitor list featuring many of the most prestigious art and antique dealers in the United States and Europe. The sensational works of art are among the finest and rarest on the market.

Optimism and confidence prevail among the exhibitors who have once again chosen to participate in this celebrated international showcase. Despite global economic concerns, “quality sells,” comments Brian Haughton, who organizes the fair and exhibits as well. “The fair’s enduring strength is validation that the market for quality is strong and resilient. We are delighted that the IFAADS remains in a leadership position as the top international platform in America today.”

Staggering Variety: This glamorous showcase brings together exceptional works of art, among them many that are of museum quality. Furniture, paintings, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, glass, clocks, watches, arms, armour, rare books, manuscripts, jewellery, silver, antiquities and ethnographic art, are all among the many different categories included and for sale. The rare and beautiful are commonplace. Prices start from as little as a few hundred dollars but rise into the millions.

Setting the Standard: At its launch The International was the first fair in the United States to introduce vetting; a stringent set of guidelines designed to maintain the highest standards of quality and authenticity in the works of art on view and for sale. The great value of vetting at art and antiques fairs, whereby all items on sale have been examined by specialist committees for quality and authenticity lies in the safeguards and reassurance it offers to buyers. The vetting committees themselves combine both academic and commercial expertise in their impressive membership, which includes distinguished museum personnel as well as other eminent specialists.

The Annual Preview Party for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center:The fair opens with a glamorous Preview Party for The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on the evening of Thursday, October 15th, which also inaugurates the Fall social season in New York. A glittering charity event, the Preview Party routinely attracts over 1000 guests drawn from among the cream of New York society, and at the same time raises over $1m for the Society and for the volunteer organization, whose mission is to promote the well-being of patients and cancer research.

The IFAADS welcomes five new exhibitors to its superb line-up for 2009. These are: Ariadne Galleries (New York) specialist in classical antiquities, Galerie Lefebvre (Paris) specialist in 20th century decorative works of art; Galerie Bernard Steinitz (Paris) specialist in European antiques, 17th-19th century furniture and decorations; Bernd Goeckler Antiques (New York), specialist in Continental furniture, fine art and objects from 1920-1970; Erik Thomsen LLC Asian Art (New York), expert in Japanese art including ceramics, paintings, screens and vessels.