March 4 (Bloomberg) -- The world's largest art and antiques fair, beginning this week in the Dutch city of Maastricht, puts $1 billion worth of paintings and other works up for sale in the year's first test of demand from buyers outside the auction rooms.

Organizers of the European Fine Art Fair, known as Tefaf, are hoping to exceed the $500 million of art sold last year, even after growing concern about a recession in the U.S. This year the items include a Vincent van Gogh picture valued at more than $30 million.

``Maastricht is where the highest caliber of collector finds the highest caliber of work of art,'' said Geoffrey Munn of the London-based Russian-art specialists, Wartski, who will be exhibiting a Faberge enameled gold miniature ``salt'' chair at about 2.8 million euros ($4.3 million).

Last year, 305 private planes landed at Maastricht airport, a 45 percent increase on 2006, said Tefaf. At the same time, visitor numbers dropped 15 percent to 71,000. Organizers said they wanted to restrict admissions to increase sales. The entrance price was raised to 55 euros, the same this year, because crowds ``threaten the fair's reputation for quality and exclusivity,'' said a Tefaf press release.

`Right People'

``It's good to weed out the window shoppers,'' said exhibitor Rupert Wace, a London-based antiquities dealer. ``This is a fair where you see the right people and there's a lot of crossover buying.''

He will be among 220 dealers from 15 countries at the 21st fair when it opens on March 7.

Old Masters, particularly 17th-century Dutch paintings, traditionally provided the backbone of Tefaf. Anna Maria Trubrig, Tefaf's London-based press officer, said there were 46 Old-Master dealers at the fair.

``We meet different clients at Maastricht,'' said Robert Landau of Landau Fine Art, Montreal, who also exhibits contemporary works at the Art Basel fair. ``We often sell 20th- century paintings to people who originally came to buy Old Masters.''

Landau said he would be offering Rene Magritte's 1948 surrealist canvas ``Les Graces Naturelles'' at about 10 million euros, making it one of the most expensive works at the fair.

Van Gogh's $30 million ``The Child with an Orange'' was painted in June 1890, during the last weeks of the artist's life. The 20-inch-high painting is being offered by the London dealer and agent Dickinson and has been owned by a Swiss family since 1916.

Old Masters

Old Master highlights will include the 1625 panel painting ``Portrait of a Man With a Skull'' by Jan Lievens, priced by London dealer Johnny van Haeften Ltd. at 4.85 million euros and the circa-1840 Eugene Delacroix canvas ``Seated Oriental,'' offered by Galerie Eric Coatelem, Paris, at 1.1 million euros.

``There are now far fewer buyers in the Old Master market,'' said New York-based Tefaf exhibitor Richard Feigen, who deals in art spanning seven centuries. ``Not enough people are aware of the discrepancy in price between early things and contemporary. The prices for Old Masters haven't changed materially in 20 years.''

Wace said today's buyers were often attracted to the ``modernity'' of ancient sculpture, such as the 2nd millennium B.C. Egyptian serpentine stone statue of an official, ``Inyotef,'' that he will be showing at 195,000 euros.

``Because we're next to the modern section, we find we're selling around 10 percent of our antiquities to contemporary-art dealers, collectors and even artists,'' Wace said.

Auction Houses

Auctioneers Sotheby's and Christie's International will be represented at Tefaf through art dealerships that they have acquired.

Last year, Christie's New York-based private-sales team, exhibiting under the name King Street Fine Art Ltd., was allocated a stand opposite Noortman, the Maastricht Old-Master dealership that had been bought by Sotheby's in June 2006.

This year, Christie's will be represented by the London contemporary-art dealers Haunch of Venison, whose Mayfair gallery was acquired by the auction house in February 2007. Haunch of Venison will be showing Bill Viola's 2005 video ``Isolde's Ascension (The Shape of Light in the Space After Death)'' and Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 acrylic on canvas, ``Red Skull.''

Last year, Haunch of Venison was excluded from Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach and Frieze, seen by dealers as the world's most important contemporary-art fairs. ``Galleries that are affiliated to an auction are not selected,'' said Peter Vetsch, spokesman for Art Basel events, in an e-mail in October 2007. Haunch of Venison was not among the exhibitors at last year's Frieze art fair.

Noortman Fine Paintings, whose former director, the late Robert Noortman, was one of the founder exhibitors at Tefaf, will be showing a variety of paintings ranging from the 16th to 20th centuries. A 1632 Rembrandt self-portrait at 18 million euros and an 1876 Monet Argenteuil garden scene at 8 million euros will be among the more highly valued items, Noortman said.

Tefaf Maastricht runs from March 7-16. For more information: http://www.tefaf.com.

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: March 4, 2008 05:19 EST