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The 213 exhibitors of this prestigious art fair suffered from the absence of American buyers and feared that the longstanding crisis they were facing would last for many more months.

However, there were some big buyers who did not fail to show up, notably Prince Saud of Qatar, the banker Michel David-Weill or the Belgian businessman Albert Frère.

Some dealers recorded some good deals, such as Philippe Denys from Belgium who specialises in Art deco pieces.

There were however not many rare pieces shown at the fair, except for a 17th Century terracotta modello by Bernini, a study for the fountain of the Piazza Navone in Rome, which was sold last July in London for £ 2 million by Sotheby's.

Antique pieces from Roman times and pre-Columbian and African art works sold well during the first days and most dealers were at least satisfied to record some welcomed sales though they usually had to lower their prices considerably.

The Maastricht fair is usually the realm of Old Masters but this time only a few good pieces were available, a sign that the market has suffered a slowdown. Several well-known dealers had to bank on their eyes and knowledge to make some useful discoveries on the market, especially in auction sales. Jean-Luc Baroni had to the luck to lay his hand on a work by Il Cavaliere d'Arpino depicting Cleopatra, which was sold in the Drouot salesrooms as from a Florentine school work.