Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sotheby’s and Christie’s International are offering $31 million of Russian art in separate sales amid signs that the country’s billionaires are returning to the auction rooms.

Christie’s in London hopes to make as much as 13.6 million pounds ($21.6 million) today and tomorrow with a sale that includes a porcelain dinner set owned by Russia’s heir-to-the- throne, Grand Duke Paul, which may fetch 300,000 pounds. Sotheby’s will offer about $9 million in Russian art on Nov. 2 at its first such autumn sale in New York.

This week’s event is the first major Russian-art auction since June, when total takings at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and MacDougall’s in London were half that of 2008. The Russian economy shrank by about 10 percent in the first half of 2009 after a decline in the price of commodities such as oil. The number of Russian billionaires dropped from 110 in 2008 to about 35 today, said Forbes.

“Wealthy Russians and Ukrainians account for more than 90 percent of the market, and many have had a difficult 18 months,” said William MacDougall, co-director of MacDougall’s in London. “Some are struggling, but many appear to be past the worst. The mood is improving. There have been reports of healthy private sales in Moscow and Kiev as wealthy people look for safer homes for their money than stocks.”

Paintings, Porcelain

Christie’s today auctions part of the one of the largest private Russian-art collections in the West, assembled since 1920 by Galerie Popoff of Paris.

While Christie’s usually sells Russian art in London in June and at the end of November, it said the Popoff Collection’s size, quality and rarity merits a separate event.

“In my 25 years, I’ve never had such a great single collection,” said Alexis de Tiesenhausen, Christie’s international head of Russian art. “There is nothing comparative in terms of quality and historical significance.”

Paris dealer Alexandre Popoff benefited from refugees arriving in France from the Soviet Union. Some were aristocrats who had to sell their valuables. Popoff’s clients included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; Mstislav Rostropovich, the Russian cellist; actress Greta Garbo and composer Leonard Bernstein.

The 550 lots, mostly with estimates of less than 50,000 pounds, include 18th- and 19th-century porcelain; 19th-century paintings and watercolors; gold and silver items and textiles. The top lot is the 1778 Berlin-made dinner service that was a gift from the Prussian ruler, Frederick II, to Grand Duke Paul.

Faberge, Icons

The Sotheby’s auction on Nov. 2 has 122 lots, including 19th-century and early-20th-century paintings, Faberge works, silver and Orthodox church icons.

“We’ll see strong bidding for top works because of their quality and rarity,” said Sonya Bekkerman, head of Russian art at Sotheby’s in New York.

The sale is led by 20 paintings from the Schreiber collection, which Sotheby’s calls “one of the finest groupings of modern and avant-garde Russian art assembled in the U.S.”

These include Natalia Goncharova’s “Tournesols,” (1920s), a still-life inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” and Konstantin Korovin’s “At the Window,” (1923), a portrait of two women. Both have estimates of $600,000 to $800,000.

The auction also includes one of the first medals of honor made in Russia with an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. The early-18th-century medal, with a portrait of Peter the Great surrounded by diamonds, is one of only six, said Sotheby’s. It was found in an American collection after 60 years.

A year ago, about half a dozen top lots at any Russian auction would have had estimates of more than $1 million. Now, as demand has decreased, auction houses have dropped estimates.

“The auction’s conservative estimates are key,” said Bekkerman. “It’s important to manage the market’s expectations.”

(John Varoli writes for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: John Varoli in New York at jvaroli@gmail.com.

Last Updated: October 11, 2009 19:00 EDT