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Russian collectors and a U.K.-based diamond dealer emerged as big buyers in this month’s record- breaking London art auctions. They battled for trophies by 20th- century artists such as Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso, pushing up prices and the sales’ total to double last year. Dealers pieced together clues on who bought a Giacometti sculpture for an artist record of 65 million pounds ($103.4 million) at Sotheby’s. Laurence Graff, chairman of Graff Diamonds Ltd, confirmed in an e-mail that he bought Picasso’s 1963 painting “Tete de Femme (Jacqueline)” at Christie’s International for 8.1 million pounds, double the upper estimate. Renewed demand from billionaires contrasted with last year, when buyers were deterred by the credit crunch and sellers put off by auction houses ending guarantees. Prices of works by some contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst dropped 50 percent in 2009 while modern works kept their value, said dealers. “The new buyers from Russia and Asia want to diversify their assets,” said the Brussels-based dealer Paolo Vedovi. “They want to own brands like Louis Vuitton, Petrus — Picasso and Magritte.” The auctions of Impressionist and modern art raised 258.9 million pounds with fees, according to Bloomberg calculations, 105 percent up on last year’s 126.5 million pounds. (Bloomberg)
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