Todd Merrill (right) at the booth of Todd Merrill Antiques, New York. Simms even cajoled the fast-rising Manhattan dealer Todd Merrill to join the fair, which is considerable feat. With the pound sterling now hovering at $2-plus and shipping costs approaching stratospheric levels, for Americans dealers showing in London is proving to be more financially challenging than ever. Merrill is definitely ready for his moment in the spotlight. Rizzoli is publishing his book, Modern Americana: Studio Furniture from High Craft to High Glam, the first-ever definitive examination of studio furniture masters working between 1940 to 1990, which is set to hit bookstores this October. Thus Merrill may well take on the high-profile mantle of Leslie and Leigh Keno, the blond twins of Antiques Road Show fame who popularized our colonial furnishings. Paul Evans sideboard at Todd Merrill. Sold off Merrill’s stand was a Samuel Marx bombé chest in silver leaf for £40,000, a pair of Gio Ponti commodes for £25,000 and two matching James Mont upholstered chairs. Mont was designer to the mobster elite, chaps like Bugsy Siegel, and his work is now sought by Russians, no less. "Clients like the edgy history of Mont; his gilt, his glamour and his gangster, slightly womanizing, boozing past," said Merrill. A Paul Evans 1977 bronze sideboard with a raised abstract sculptural front, with some elements enameled brilliant orange, others chalky blue and gold, was pegged at £180,000. Work by Evans, a member of the New Hope school, is now the hottest design commodity. Even rocker Lenny Kravitz snared one of Evans neo-Brutalist pieces of furniture from Merrill a while back. So watch for Evans’ prices to soar further.