There is a maxim in the art market that in troubled times there is a flight to quality.  The August round of auctions which included sales at Sothebys, Bonhams and Goodman and Deutscher and Hackett certainly had a good smattering of quality offerings.  However, with the limited availability of stock to sell due to nervous or reluctant vendors, the auction houses needed to be bullish in their estimates in order to persuade owners to part with their artworks.  Consequently the issue in this round of sales was The Price.