London Contemporary Sales -- Precursor to NY

Update 10/25: Sold for $9,400,000

It seems my curiosity about the NY sales are right on track - as reported below by Judd Tully for ArtInfo on October 15 (which also includes a wonderful photo gallery of some of the pieces auctioned this week in London). Sales results to follow:

LONDON—Given the chaotically gloomy status of the global economy, it seems almost foolhardy to assess relative value in the art market right now. That said, the world’s top auction houses made their bets early this past summer on what contemporary property would fetch in October during Frieze week in London. The acid test begins Friday evening, October 17, at Sotheby’s and continues over the weekend with further sales, including at Phillips and Christie’s.

While there are no safe bets — not even blue-chip works — in this incendiary climate, the one thing we know is that no matter what unfolds, the London sales will set the psychological tone for the much larger New York sales taking place in November.

Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon (Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Sale, London, October 19, Estimate 5,000,000 - 7,000,000 GBP)