£258m At London Art Sales

Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the top two art sellers, raised a record 258.8 million pounds ($451 million) at their London winter art sales last week amid signs new art collectors are bidding up prices. The winter auctions, featuring artists from Edvard Munch to Francis Bacon, were London's biggest ever, exceeding 1989 totals before art prices last crashed. U.S. and Asianart buyers pushed sale totals 5 percent above auctioneers' top estimate of 245 million pounds. Last February's total was 170.6 million pounds. Star artists were Anthony Caro, Chaim Soutine, Egon Schiele and Munch. Some Andy Warhol prints took four times their estimates in another sign that so-called 20th-century art classics are attracting wealthy first-time buyers. Contemporary art values have nearly quadrupled since 1995. Most art sold last week will wind up in private collectors' hands, auctioneers said. Sotheby's and Christie's hold their next big art sales in New York in May, followed by June auctions in London.