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Phillips de Pury & Co. sold 77 percent of the lots at its contemporary-art auction last night, helped by discounts and limited supplies. The 39-lot London sale totaled 5.1 million pounds ($8.44 million) with fees, a 79 percent decline from last year, when 41 of the 91 lots were guaranteed minimum prices to sellers. Phillips and bigger rivals Sotheby’s and Christie’s International have struggled to attract high-value contemporary works since abandoning guarantees in the financial crisis. Sellers are also reluctant to consign works in a weak market. “They’ve sourced material at the right price,” Wendy Goldsmith, a London-based art adviser, said in an interview. Buyers “now focus on the available material. The market has stabilized. From now on things will improve.” Lowered estimates have improved success rates at some auctions in the first half of 2009. The average auction price of contemporary art has fallen 76.2 percent since May 2008, said London-based ArtTactic, in a report published last month. Phillips had given the sale a low estimate of 5.4 million pounds, based on hammer prices. Half of the lots sold for hammer prices of less than 100,000 pounds. (Bloomberg)
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