The catalogue entry accompanying another record-breaking lot, Edvard Munch’s sensationally seductive Vampire, 1894 (unpublished estimate in excess of $30 million), included the same horseshoe symbol, which in this case the house insisted was a typo. The preview audience was abuzz with speculation that the misprint defense was covering up the defection of a third party who got cold feet. But it proved to be much ado about nothing: There was fierce competition — driven by, among others, the Russian-speaking Gagosian director Victoria Gelfand, who sat next to her boss in the salesroom — for Munch’s eerily romantic depiction of a red-tressed woman biting the neck of a subservient male victim. It ultimately went to the phone for $38,162,500.

Sotheby’s had a tougher time dispatching another guaranteed item, Edgar Degas’s emblematic Danseuse au repos, a pastel and gouache on joined panel done around 1879 (unpublished estimate in excess of $40 million). The consignor — reportedly the takeover magnate Henry Kravis — had acquired the work at Sotheby’s London in 1999 for a then-record price of £17,601,500 ($28 million) against an estimate of £5 million to £7 million ($8-11 million). As activity palled in the subdued salesroom, Meyer made the disarming announcement that he would sell the Degas at $30 million. His words prompted another round of bids, and it sold to the phone for $37,042,500, a record for a Degas.

The market for masterpieces is alive and well, affirms the Sotheby’s vice chairman of Impressionist and modern art worldwide Emmanuel Di-Donna, but when it comes to more ordinary works, "there needs to be a readjustment of prices. It’s just a question of finding this new level."

Two nights later, Christie’s suffered a bust with its unluckily timed and ill-conceived Modern Age auction, a stand-alone sale of two separate American single-owner collections, from the Hillman family and Alice Lawrence. The pretentiousness of the session — whose matching hardcover catalogues weighed like cement boots on a drowning market — might have worked in a frothier current, but with the Dow dropping like a stone after the U.S. presidential election, the bizarrely organized sale also sank fast.

Luckily, at least for the Christie’s bottom line, none of the Hillman works carried guarantees. The conservative group got off to a decent start, as Georges Seurat’s Maison carrée, 1882-84 (est. $800,000-1.2 million), fetched $1,082,500 from a telephone bidder. The New York gallerist Helly Nahmad was the underbidder on two pieces that performed respectably: Jean Dubuffet’s evocative Vue de Paris, quartiers résidentiels, 1944 (est. $3-4 million), which brought $3,666,500, and Giorgio de Chirico’s shadowed Composition métaphysique, 1914 (est. $6-8 million), which brought $6,130,500. Buyers’ energy evaporated halfway through the collection, however, with its star work, Édouard Manet’s Fillette sur un banc, 1880 (est. $12-18 million), flopping under a chandelier bid of $10.5 million.

The postwar works and Art Deco objets from the chock-a-block Alice Lawrence collection — which Christie’s guaranteed across the board — did not revive enthusiasm. There were several bright spots, including the small but glowing René Magritte gouache L’Empire des lumières, 1947 (est. $2-3 million), which sold to the Long Island dealer David Benrimon for $3,544,500, and Alice Neel’s brilliant oil portrait Robert Smithson, 1962 (est. $300-400,000), which shot to a record $698,500. But the most expensive offering, Mark Rothko’s dark and stormy No. 43 (Mauve), 1960 (est. $20-30 million), capsized at an imaginary bid of $16 million.

The climate improved at the various-owners sale the house held the next night. Although the overstuffed, 82-lot session ended up with the most unsold works of any evening auction since November 2000, all the guaranteed pieces found new homes. The cover lot, Wassily Kandinsky’s color-charged Expressionist oil and gouache Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909 (est. $15-20 million), brought $16,882,500 from a telephone bidder. And a new record was established for Juan Gris, whose Cubist masterpiece from 1915, Livre, pipe et verres (est. $12.5-18.5 million), was grabbed by the New York dealer Franck Giraud for $20,802,500. "I was surprised there was competition," says Giraud, explaining that he acquired the painting for an American collector who had long coveted it. "It just shows the market is intelligent and there’s a lot of competition on the rare things."