At New York dealer Paul Kasmin's booth, director Nicholas Olney said the mood had gotten very good, indeed. They had sold a painting by Ian Davenport and another by Walton Ford. Paul Kasmin chimed in, "It's definitely much quieter, but things are slowly but surely working out." Works tended to sell at the £50,000 price point; the Davenport was roughly that price, and many collectors had inquired about commissioning a piece from sculptor Petroc Sesti, whose commissions run at about £55,000. Sesti’s sculpture, which looks like a large crystal ball, fronted Kasmin’s booth. 

At another New York gallery, Lehmann Maupin, Rachel Lehmann said it was "definitely quieter, but we won't really know how things are going until tomorrow." She was able to report several sales, however. A Hernan Bas painting and collage piece sold to a U.S. museum, and a sculpture of a shark by Ashley Bickerton went for between $400–500,000. Lehmann had sold several works by Mickalene Thomas, and others were on reserve. A piece by Teresita Fernandez was also on reserve. Lehmann pointed out that the gallery is giving clients more time to pay.

Established London dealer Leslie Waddington brought older secondary market blue-chip works by Richard Hamilton and others, but the works that were selling in his stand were on the more affordable end of things, such as two paintings by Ian Davenport. On his way out for the day, Waddington commented that for the first time in many years, "I really don't know what will happen, and I don't think anyone else knows either." Like many dealers, he said that this year buyers know they have time to make up their minds. 

Paris-, New York–, and now London-based dealer Yvon Lambert ended up having a relatively good day, selling a new painting by Carlos Amorales for $45,000 to, as director Cornelia Tischmacher put it, "an important American collector," among other sales. Tischmacher said the fair this year was less about making contact with and doing business with "eager new clients" and more about selling to familiar, dedicated collectors.

But what was happening in the lower price registers? New York gallery CRG has a booth full of new color photographs, modeled on Maoist propaganda images, by O Zhang, a young Chinese artist based in New York. Smaller pieces were priced at $6,000, while a larger, unique one was offered for $18,000. Director Alex Dodge said that they had sold four or five of the smaller ones. They had also sold some things from their back room. Dodge reported seeing some important American collectors and said dealers were "doing well. Not great, but well enough to afford to be here."

"When the market drops, then makes a huge gain, you don't know what to think, or how it will affect the art market," he said. But so far, things seemed fine. 

"Dealers were nervous yesterday, talking about what would happen," said the laid-back San Francisco and New York dealer Jack Hanley, sitting in an enclosed room in his booth filled with works by young artists. "I got here late today, and by that time collectors were fighting over stuff." Behind him were 18 drawings by American artist Ajit Chauhan, some priced for as little as $600. They had all sold to the same London collector.

Lorenzo Rudolf, onetime director of Art Basel and presently director of Shanghai's ShContemporary fair, said after a half hour at Frieze that it seemed to be going better than people had predicted. "Top quality works at reasonable prices are selling," he observed. 

Miami- and Paris-based dealer Emmanuel Perrotin found the mood better today than he thought it would be. Placed prominently in his booth was a one of Duane Hanson's hyperrealistic sculptures from 1990 of a woman selling art and books. Next to her was a Murakami painting from his Louis Vuitton series, this one in camouflage. "She's selling it," Perrotin joked. In fact, he had sold it, today, for $600,000. And yet, sitting on the other side of Hanson's woman, and part of Hanson's artwork, is a cardboard box that reads "Books and Art 1/2 off." Perhaps a sign of things to come.