The sale of Alberto Giacometti's 1960 Walking Man I sculpture at Sotheby's London on Wednesday night for GBP65 million (US$104.3m) has eclipsed the previous world auction price record of US$104.2m achieved at Sothebys New York in 2004 for Pablo Picasso's 1906 portrait Boy with a Pipe.

This result confirms two things: firstly that the international art market is alive and kicking for the 'right' material and secondly that there are still huge legs in the market for fresh stock by the 'right' artists.

Auction week, and the auction year, closed in Melbourne on a high note. Forthe first time in eighteen months it appears that vendor and buyer expectations have met to such a degree that a depth of bidding was apparent at all three auction houses: Sotheby's, Bonhams and Goodman and Deutscher and Hackett.  Sales rates by volume and value were the best they have been for a long time and reflected the depth of the market that appears to be peppered with a lot of new faces.

The highly reputable Frieze Art Fair (London, 14-17th October) closed on Saturday night amid reports of increased collector interest and purchases.  Numerous sales were reported by established and emerging galleries including a number above the US$1 million mark.  Last year the Fair suffered dramatically, opening exactly one month after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers.  This was in line with the concurrent 70-80% slump in volume of auction sales (Art Tactic - Sept 09).

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.