BRUSSELS—The Antiques and Fine Arts Fair of Belgium (Antiekbeurs van België), which runs this year from January 18 through 27, has been an institution for 53 years, but it’s only in the last five that it has exploded in size and importance, making Brussels a hot wintertime destination. What changed? The fair moved from the Palais des Beaux Arts to the early 20th-century Tour & Taxis, in the city center, and opened its doors to international dealers, who in this edition outnumber local participants. Among the showstoppers at the 130 exhibitors’ booths: New York– and Geneva-based Phoenix Ancient Art’s Egyptian New Kingdom 19th-dynasty black stone head of a king, circa 1293 to 1185 B.C., priced at €280,000 ($416,000); The Payment of the Tithes, by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, with an asking price of €1.4 million ($2.1 million), from Parisian gallerist Florence de Voldère; and a pair of Roman terrestrial and celestial globes,1644, at Perrin Antiquaires, also of Paris, priced at six figures.

"Winter Wonderland" originally appeared in the January 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's January 2008 Table of Contents.