Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- London's Frieze Art Fair said it counted more than 63,000 visits through Sunday, up from 47,000 last year. Sales won't be disclosed this year because not all galleries supply figures, said co-owner Matthew Slotover in an interview.

Frieze, which reported almost $57 million of 2005 gallery sales, was among a few big fairs, including Art Cologne and New York's Armory, that try to track spending. Slotover, speaking over the weekend, said that the data were inexact because some galleries won't contribute information.

``The big galleries won't tell us their sales,'' he said. ``Art Basel never releases information about sales,'' Slotover added, referring to the Swiss fair run by Sam Keller.

Frieze's move comes as auction houses and a few galleries strive for more transparency in a market that analysts say may total $30 billion a year and is attracting new buyers from Asia to the Middle East. Portuguese dealer Victor Pires-Vieira, who spent at least 300,000 pounds ($558,480) at the weekend auctions, said he doesn't buy at fairs because information about sales and prices isn't clear.

Sotheby's has a rule, not always followed, obliging auctioneers to say clearly if a work is unsold. New York's Robert Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. equity-trading chief, posts prices in his booth at fairs.

Transparency

Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth, who has three gallery spaces in London, and Thaddaeus Ropac of Paris and Salzburg, discuss prices and sales at fairs. Basel's Keller, while saying he doesn't track sales, has estimated them at more than $300 million. Art Cologne Director Gerard Goodrow tracks sales by that fair, as well as by rivals. ``I believe in transparency,'' he has said.

Four year-old Frieze said yesterday it had ``record results'' from Oct. 12-15, after a day of private views. Visits rose 35 percent, it said. Ticket sales will be released later.

Last year, Frieze's total of 47,000 visits included 26,000 paid tickets. Visits aren't a good guide. The number includes fair employees coming and going, and people who go out and return, co-owner Amanda Sharp said last year. About 41,000 people came to the 2005 fair, including VIPs, museum curators, journalists and other guests who don't pay, Slotover said.

Frieze, with backing from Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, quickly overtook older London fairs that offer 20th century art, filling the previously quiet month of October with gallery shows and some $147 million of auctions, which end today. Sotheby's, Christie's International and Phillips de Pury & Co. said they were targeting Frieze visitors, and may have drawn some spending away from the fair.

``We'll be happy if our sales are the same as last year,'' said Slotover in a pre-fair interview on Sept. 25.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 17, 2006 04:57 EDT