While last Tuesday's Contemporary Art auction at Sotheby's was lackluster, Alexander Rotter, head of the auction house's Contemporary Art Department, still categorized it as a strong showing considering global economic woes.

''Are we used to seeing 90 percent of the art sold? Are we used to seeing prices above the highest estimate? Yes,'' Rotter said. Clearly that didn't happen at last week's auction.

But Rotter said, ``Given all the headlines we've been reading for the last three months, this has to be considered a success.''

Among the attendees at the standing-room only event was Krauss, who travels to Miami Beach every year to help high-end clients navigate Art Basel. She said the auctions' results showed buyers were finally coming to their senses.

''A lot of things that sold for less deserve to be sold for less,'' she said.

Pieces by Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol either failed to sell or came in below estimates.

Krauss said her buyers, who largely remained on the sidelines at Basel last year, will likely be looking for bargains. ''A lot of my clients did not buy last year because prices were too high,'' she said. ``They went around finding out how much their art was worth and were very happy.''

Poor results at recent auctions were made worse by the fact that presale estimates, and guarantees, were set before the worst of the economic meltdown hit in September.

BETTER DAYS

Yet even as the financial crisis began to seriously shake global markets, much of the art world proceeded unaffected.

On Sept. 16 and 17, as credit markets froze and the Dow plunged, British artist Damien Hirst sold $200.7 million worth of new works at a Sotheby's auction in London, breaking the record for a single-artist auction. ''The art market has remained surprisingly strong in light of the extraordinary economic circumstances,'' Friedman said.

But, in general, the London auctions were also disappointing. In October, Christie's postwar and contemporary sale in London raised less than $55.5 million, barely half of the presale estimate of $100 million to $132 million. Worsening matters, 21 of the 47 lots failed to sell.

Also in October, Sotheby's contemporary sale in London raised $38 million, well below the presale estimate of $54 million to $75 million. The most discussed lot, pop-art paintings of human skulls by Andy Warhol, sold for $7.5 million, below the estimate of $8.7 million to $12.2 million.

The upcoming 22 satellite fairs surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach also are expected to feel the pinch of recent pricing trends.

Helen Allen, executive director of Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, which will bring together 110 galleries for the show in Miami's Wynwood district, said she still expected sales, albeit in a more sober buying environment.

''I'm not expecting the kind of frenzied buying that we've seen in the past few years,'' Allen said. ``People are feeling nervous. Obviously these are tougher economic times, but I don't think it's as dismal as people make it out to be.''

Miami Herald business writer Jim Wyss contributed to this report from New York.

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