Ancient History

BRUSSELS—The annual Brussels Ancient Art Fair (BAAF), organized by the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art, runs from June 5 through 10, with 17 gallerists from Europe and the United States offering Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Near Eastern artworks. Unlike in other fairs, where dealers pack their wares into convention-center booths, BAAF’s out-of-towners have rented space in local galleries surrounding the city’s historic Place du Grand Sablon. One of the stars of the show is a foot-tall Egyptian bronze statue of a pharaoh dating to between 664 and 525 B.C. at Royal-Athena Galleries, of New York, for $975,000. “There are only four others known to exist,” says Jerome Eisenberg, Royal-Athena’s owner. Another don’t-miss ancient Egyptian piece is at London-based gallery Charles Ede Ltd: a limestone head of a man dating to about 2350 B.C., priced at £45,000 ($90,000). All indications are that the event will be a triumph, subprime-mortgage meltdown notwithstanding. One reason is the strong euro. “My biggest problem is acquiring new major pieces,” says Eisenberg, “not selling them.”

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