Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Contemporary-art sales in London rose more than 50 percent to 245.7 million pounds ($487.2 million) in February from a year earlier, figures from auction houses show, a sign the market is weathering a worldwide economic slowdown.

Sotheby's, Christie's International and Phillips de Pury & Co. said they sold 56.4 percent more contemporary art than the total of 157.1 million pounds with fees in February 2007.

Dealers and collectors saw the February sales, at a time of growing concern about a recession in the U.S. and the dollar's slump, as the first test of demand this year. The record for a series of contemporary sales is $953 million, with fees, taken by the three auction houses in New York in November 2006.

``We're seeing a pile of money coming into the art market,'' said Philip Hoffman, head of the London-based art-investment fund, the Fine Art Fund. ``The Americans are the quietest at the moment, but there's a whole lot of other people from the rest of the world who say they want to allocate $10 million or $20 million to art. They look on it as a safe haven,'' Hoffman said in an interview.

The figures don't include the last of the series of contemporary auctions today, where Phillips expects to raise a further 5 million pounds. Sotheby's and Christie's fetched an additional 271.1 million pounds from sales of Impressionist and modern art during the month, up 14.1 percent from a year earlier.

Spot Record

On Feb. 27, Sotheby's sold a total of 95 million pounds of art including commissions, a record for a contemporary-art auction in Europe. Last night, Phillips took a further 21.9 million pounds, with a 1998 Damien Hirst spot painting fetching a record 1.8 million pounds with fees. In June 2005, the same work had sold at Sotheby's, London, for 523,200 pounds with fees, according to the saleroom result tracker, Artnet.

Dealers said they view the large-volume day sales as the most likely area where the contemporary market might weaken. Christie's and Sotheby's achieved upper-estimate totals of 24.5 million pounds and 24.9 million pounds at their respective day sales on Feb. 7 and yesterday. Christie's sold 70 percent of its mixed-owner material (plus 100 percent of the Kitaj Collection), while three weeks later Sotheby's found buyers for 84.8 percent of its 295-lot auction. The take-up at Sotheby's day sale was about 2 percent lower than in February 2007.

``The day sales show the depth and the broadness of the market,'' Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby's European chairman of contemporary art, said in an interview. ``It's a different crowd. You get a lot of new collectors looking to buy work by younger artists.''

Russian Buyers

Sotheby's took 264.35 million pounds with fees for its Impressionist and contemporary auctions in February. Russian buyers, who included the purchaser of a Franz Marc ``Grazing Horses'' painting at a record 12.3 million pounds, pushed the total at Sotheby's Feb. 5 Impressionist sale to 116.7 million pounds. This was the highest total achieved for an art auction in Europe.

``Ever since the autumn, I've been continually asked when the contemporary art bubble is going to burst,' said Pilar Ordovas, Christie's head of contemporary art in London. ``These latest results speak for themselves. The market remains strong and healthily selective. It would be nice if we could move on to a different subject,'' she said in a telephone interview today.

Christie's raised 224.1 million pounds with fees for its equivalent February sales Impressionist and contemporary material.

Selling Rates

Selling rates were lower than in February 2007. On Feb. 6, Christie's 72.9-million-pound auction found buyers for 69 percent of its lots. Just under two weeks later -- for the first time Sotheby's and Christie's were selling in different weeks in February -- Sotheby's and Phillips sold 80 percent of their works, slightly down on February 2007.

Christie's and Sotheby's both offered Francis Bacon paintings with 25 million-pound price tags. At Christie's, Bacon's ``Triptych 1974-77'' sold for 26.3 million pounds with fees, while at Sotheby's the guaranteed 1969 ``Study of a Nude With Figure in a Mirror'' took 20 million pounds with fees. The hammer prices on both works failed to reach their presale lower estimates.

``The vendors tested the Francis Bacon market to its extreme,'' said London dealer Ivor Braka, who during his career has sold around 40 works by Bacon. ``But the market passed the test. The air can be thin for Bacons at the very top level, unless it's a Pope,'' he said in an interview.

Hoffman said that one European client had made an investment of $25 million in the Fine Art Fund, equivalent to about a quarter of the total value of the assets being managed by the fund.

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: February 29, 2008 11:25 EST