The bidding war Christie’s had hoped for came a bit later when Francis Bacon’s brilliantly distorted Three Studies for Self Portrait from 1975 (est. on request; in the region of ₤10 million) elicited a firestorm of bids, driving the petit objet to a whopping ₤17,289,250. The work finally sold to a telephone bidder, though there were several determined contenders, including London jewel magnate Laurence Graf.

"Prices are going to heaven," said Graf as he exited the salesroom alongside an entourage of friends. He happily confirmed that he had successfully nabbed Andy Warhol’s eerie Skull from 1976 for ₤657,250 (est. ₤400–600,000), adding: "I’m putting together a group of [skulls] and have bought several during the last few auction seasons."

The heavy firepower didn’t materialize, or so it seemed, for the evening’s cover lot, Lucian Freud’s full-length Naked Portrait with Reflection from 1980, featuring a reclining model on a torn and much-used sofa, with the artist’s feet strangely visible in the mirrored background. The work sold to the telephone for ₤11,801,250 (est. ₤10–15 million), which made it the second most expensive Freud to sell at auction.

There were, however, plenty of episodes of serial bidding for hotly sought-after property, including a battle for Gilbert and George’s To Her Majesty (1973), an early installation of black-and-white photographs, which sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for a record ₤1,889,250 (est. ₤400–600,000), proving the market’s capacity to stretch high for important work. The result crushed the duo’s previous mark set last February at Sotheby’s London when Bad Thoughts no.2 from 1975 made ₤636,500.

Christie’s, or perhaps its over-greedy consignor, miscalculated the interest in Lucio Fontana’s fantastic and multi-punctured celestial egg from 1964, Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio (est. on request; in excess of ₤8 million), which was bought in after a chandelier bid of ₤8 million. The work last sold at Christie’s London in December 1996 for ₤397,500.

“The best thing about this market,” said Brett Gorvy, international co-head of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary department in a post-sale interview, “is that people are making the right choices.”

Sotheby's
Sotheby’s capped the week of evening sales on July 1, turning in the week’s highest result, a buoyant £94,701,550 ($188,741,196), just missing the pre-sale high estimate of ₤96.6 million.

The sale featured a total of 75 lots, a noticeably larger lineup than Christie’s, and of those, only four lots failed to find buyers, a remarkable feat for a 2-½ hour marathon sale, which visibly fatigued star auctioneer Tobias Meyer. Twenty-seven lots made over £1 million, and 48 topped $1 million. More impressive yet, the average lot value was a whopping £1.33/$2.66 million, the highest contemporary average for the firm in Europe.

Once again, Francis Bacon shined. His small-scale 14-by-12-inch Study for Head of George Dyer from 1967 (est. on request; in excess of ₤8 million) was the evening’s top lot, selling for £13,761,550. The seller bought the painting from Marlborough Fine Art in London back in March 1967 for £2,000, according to Marlborough head Gilbert Lloyd.

Of the ten artist records set, Richard Prince, the subject of several current exhibitions in London, including a survey at the Serpentine Gallery, saw another of his seemingly endless "Nurse" paintings, Overseas Nurse from 2002-03, sell to fashion giant Valentino for ₤4,241,250 (est. ₤4–6 million). Jose Mugrabi was the underbidder.

Mugrabi also came in second for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1982-83), which sold for £5,081,250 (est. £4–6 million) to a commission bid executed by the auctioneer.

Prices for women artists also hit the roof as Marlene Dumas’s tough streetwalker composition, The Visitor from 1995, shot to a record ₤3,177,250 (est. ₤800,000–1.2 million), making it the most expensive work by a living woman artist at auction. Bridget Riley’s wavy optical abstraction Chant 2 from 1967 also hit a record, selling for ₤2,561,250 (est. ₤2–3 million). New York private dealer Nancy Whyte was the underbidder on the record Dumas.