Guess what – the season now starts even earlier, thanks to Maastricht

We had heard about Interclassics several times before (and some of our partners have even attended the event) but we never quite took the full measure of the event ’till we visited the Brussels show (organized by the same team) last year and had the privilege of receiving a full gallery of pictures from – this itself is a classic Suixtil story – Pierre Stubbe from Belgium. How did that happen? Well, here it goes: we couldn’t make it to Paris this year – see te explanations supplied with our January newsletter if you get a chance – and therefore asked Robbert, our Dutch Ambassador and a talented photographer himself, if he could help. He, unfortunately had not made the trip either this year but, lo and behold, ever the diplomat with many fingers in many pies (wonder if that’s at the origin of the “sticky fingers” idea but, somehow – remembering the classic album cover from the Stones, doubt it – sorry about the meanderings but that’s how our mind works, or not 😂) called upon Pierre whom he knew from the Belgian Jaguar Club. And then? Well, Pierre said he would help us out of our lurch. And because he is the gentleman racer we expected he also offered to supply the results of his great travails at the last 2 events he had been to. He then proceeded to sent us a selection of over 500 shots from Maastricht that we then worked very hard to boil down to just over 40 shots we thought you’d enjoy and will give you a good view of the event.

The conclusions? There are several and we’ll try to list them in no particular order because who are we to presume we could bring a sort of sense to the prevailing chaos.

So, first of all, we are thrilled to observe that our small world of classic lovers continues to work just so much better than the bigger one out there.

Second, you can continu betting on Belgian people to always be kind and helpful – and I am not writing this because my better half is reading over my shoulder while holding a big stick (though I would be a lot more relaxed if she could let go of the stick). And we are very grateful to Pierre for the great photos he supplied and look forward to the next opportunity we will have to feature his work.

Third, we are all going to have to take a harder look at our calendars because, as we felt during the Brussels show, these smaller exhibitions are more and more becoming “must-do” shows. You get a “human-sized” experience (as oppose to a marathon one with the main shows) and can manage to actually enjoy the whole visit while not fearing you’re “missing out”. The other benefit? These venues have not been taken over (or at least not yet) by off-site auctions that pull you in all sorts of directions and away from what you really came to see in the first place. We particularly like that these are centered around well put together small exhibitions (forgotten classics, in this case) while the merchants – it’s after all what makes these work – seem much more firmly grounded than at bigger venues.

And yes, some of the “big numbers” do not (yet, at least) make it to these secondary shows – but then again, there is also pleasure, as we have long advocated, in the road less traveled.

Take a look at the gallery underneath and tell us what you think – at life speed! (and please – no need to remind us about the appointment with the head doctor – we’ve got that one down pat)….