So…

“Late Friday afternoon Sotheby’s…reported that it had lost $28.2 million from guarantees at its contemporary art auctions last week. That brought its total losses to about $52 million this fall, all from guarantees. Executives at Christie’s…also admitted to having lost millions of dollars.”

Francis Bacon, Study for Self-Portrait, 1964. This painting, up for sale at Christie’s with a pre-sale estimate of $40 million US, failed to sell, despite the fact that a 1976 Bacon triptych went for $86.3 million in May.

However…

“Seasoned collectors…sat out the boom years and were now returning for what seemed like bargain prices. The Los Angeles financier Eli Broad, for example, could be seen near the front of the Sotheby’s salesroom last week and bought more than $8 million worth of art by Jeff Koons, Donald Judd, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg at an auction he called a “half-price sale.”

American collector Eli Broad, who got some ‘bargains’ at auction recently. It’s a buyer’s market.

Read the rest of Carol Vogel’s excellent article in the New York Times, right HERE

More HERE from Bloomberg.com.