Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Christie’s International sold for 10 pounds ($15.40) an artwork earmarked to fetch 2,000 pounds at its auction of Russian art in London, summing up the mood at yesterday’s sale which missed the low forecast by almost half.

Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky’s hand shot up when auctioneer James Bruce-Gardyne, exasperated by the salesroom’s cold response all day, gestured toward the piece “Troika Leaving the Farmstead” and asked, “Will anyone give me 10 pounds?”

“It was the bargain of the century,” said a triumphant Lobanov-Rostovsky, 73, a prince and one of the most prominent Russian art collectors in Europe whose collection with former wife Nina was bought by a Kremlin-controlled foundation in St Petersburg earlier this year. In addition to the hammer price, he paid a 3-pound commission on the undated ink-on-paper picture by an unidentified Russian artist.

Christie’s couldn’t confirm if it’s the cheapest lot the company has ever sold.

Lobanov-Rostovsky’s new purchase was one of 117 Russian 19th- and 20th-century artworks, or 55 percent of lots offered, that Christie’s sold for a combined 7.9 million pounds yesterday. The company’s presale low estimate was 14.5 million pounds.

The auction caps one of the most dismal weeks of Russian-art sales in London in nearly a decade, marked by unsold lots and missed targets. Dealers say the results show the nine-year boom in Russian-art prices, spurred by billionaires like Viktor Vekselberg and fuelled by record oil and metal prices, is over.

Christie’s total for the week was 10.93 million pounds, compared with its own low estimate of 18.86 million pounds and last year’s 39.1 million pounds. Sotheby’s, Christie’s biggest rival, tallied 25.2 million pounds this week, against its presale forecast of more than 30 million pounds, and last year’s 38.7 million pounds.

Goncharova ‘Watermelons’

The priciest lot at Christie’s auction yesterday was Natalia Goncharova’s undated modernist painting, “Still Life With Watermelons,” which went to a Moscow collector in the salesroom for 1.55 million pounds, against the low forecast of 1.5 million pounds.

Most lots that sold went for less than or near the low estimates. Works that didn’t sell include Goncharova’s “Abstract Composition With Palette,” with a low estimate of 400,000 pounds, and Konstantin Somov’s 1938 “Open Door on a Garden,” which had a low estimate of 500,000 pounds.

“If you still have money, now is the time to buy,” said Natalia Kournikova, a Moscow dealer and collector, who bought several top lots this week. “There are bargains to be had. A lot of fine art works went for inexpensive prices.”

Tselkov’s ‘Balloons’

MacDougall Art Ltd., an auction house that only sells Russian paintings, said the most-expensive item it sold at its sale of Russian postwar art yesterday was Oleg Tselkov’s 1988 “Boy with Balloons,” which fetched 238,000 pounds, against the low estimate of 200,000 pounds.

MacDougall’s declined to release a figure for the percentage of lots sold, though buyers who stayed for the entire sale said no more than 20 percent found buyers. Its sales totaled 1 million pounds on a low estimate of 3.5 million pounds.

“Buyers are putting money into 19th- and early 20th-century art as a means of safekeeping, whereas postwar art is considered a bit risky,” said Mark Kelner, a Washington D.C.-based contemporary-art collector and dealer.

Dealers and collectors say auction houses have unrealistic estimates that don’t reflect the current economic weakness.

“The market is dictated by the buyers and not by the sellers,” said Alexis de Tiesenhausen, head of Russian art at Christie’s. “Considering the new financial reality, estimates will certainly be lower next time.”

Christie’s may lower the estimates on the pieces it offers at its next Russian art auction in New York in April by up to 20 percent, said de Tiesenhausen.

(John Varoli writes for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: John Varoli in London at jvaroli@gmail.com.

Last Updated: November 27, 2008 04:08 EST