The 56th edition of BRAFA — the Brussels Antiques and Fine Art Fair — ended on Sunday having offered a heady mix of the old and the new and having seen some strong sales. With 132 galleries from 13 different countries, the fair offered an eclectic assortment of wares, from tribal artifacts to comic book history.

"Everyone agreed that the level of the fair has increased," said Beatrix Bourdon, the fair's enthusiastic director. "We've had even more sales than the last two years." Bourdon added that Belgium "is a country of collectors" and that, personally, she was "tempted by a 20th-century bronze mask at Jean-Jacques Dutko's booth."

For the past eight years, BRAFA has taken place at a trendy industrial Brussels site called Tour & Taxis. For this edition, the fair loosened its requirements on the antiquity of the objects shown, allowing one piece 50 years or younger in each booth, according to Bourdon. She believes the fair's variety is a major draw. "Someone who comes just to see porcelain can discover drawing, for example," she said.

Among the new developments this year, comic books appeared at four different booths. Champaka and 9ème Art both brought a wide panorama of Franco-Belgian comic art, from 1909 strips by Winsor McCay to the mixed media of Moebius (who recently showed his work at Paris's Cartier Foundation).

9ème Art sold a two-page spread by Moebius in various inks for €130,000 ($180,000) — a higher price than the artist's work usually fetches at auction. Gallerist Bernard Mahé was pleased that the first strip from the American cult series Steve Canyon was purchased for €30,000 ($40,000), calling its illustrator, Milton Caniff, "the Rembrandt of comic strips." The gallery also showed a fun piece by Julliard, "Heroes' Square," which depicted all the major Belgian comic strip characters together. It sold for approximately €10,000 ($14,000).

As for painting, Philippe Seghers brought work by many 20th-century masters to the fair, including Warhol and Picasso. Seghers told ARTINFO France that he had several editions of "Shoe" by Warhol, but that the one he brought to the fair was a particularly original one and was priced at €145,000 ($200,000). He expected it to be reserved before the fair's end. The dealer also had several tambourines by Picasso, one of which sold for €50,000 ($69,000).

Seghers had a particular fondness for his 15 or so works by Marcel Mariën that were priced between €2,000-10,000 ($2,750-13,750), saying that the artist's work — which was once a source of inspiration for his close friend René Magritte — is "still affordable, and new collectors like it. I think his prices are definitely going to rise." The gallerist also offered several etchings by Belgian artist James Ensor that were priced between €1,000-10,000 ($1,375-13,750).
Pieters Gallery said they had a good year at the fair, selling, for instance, an unusual piece by Wim Delvoye with images of Disney princesses tattooed onto pig's skin.

View Slideshow: Fetishes and Superheroes Join Forces at the BRAFA Fair in Brussels

There were some nice surprises among the tribal art offerings at the fair. Didier Claes had announced that he would bring a selection of tribal masks, but instead displayed a single piece: an amazing fetish with an expressive face and a torso covered in nails. The gallerist told ARTINFO France that "the masks were a red herring! I wanted to create a surprise... the buzz started right away." He described the piece as "a kind of fetish of fetishes. It's a sculpture covered with charms that features two reliquaries. It was to allow contact with the beyond." The late 18th-century Congolese piece is in extraordinary condition and was acquired by a Belgian collector for an unspecified price.

Could the power of the sacred objects displayed at Mermoz Gallery's booth explain the sales miracle that occurred there? A collector fell in love with the gallery's display of pre-Columbian artifacts and purchased the entire contents of the booth. "He wanted all this in his living room — even the stands!" gallerist Santo Micali cheerfully told ARTINFO France. What was the price? The gods, it seems, have sworn Micali to eternal secrecy.