Wanted: New owners for Faberge

Agence France-Presse

"The most valuable things always find a buyer," New York dealer Adam Patrick confidently told AFP on Thursday, on the eve of the public opening of the Tefaf art fair near the Netherlands' border with Belgium.

Patrick was representing the gallery A la Vieille Russie, which has put up for sale a fan fashioned by Russian jeweler Carl Faberge in 1895 from Brussels lace, mother of pearl, platinum and gold.

The 22nd European Fine Art Fair will host 234 art and antique dealers, mostly from Paris, London and New York, exhibiting their finest works to an expected 70,000 visitors.

Paintings, furniture, jewelry, sculpture, books and china will all be shown in a 30,000-square-meter area, the size of six football fields.