Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The contemporary-art market took another beating when Christie's International failed to sell 45 percent of works at its October auction tonight in London.

Collectors are delaying purchases in the worst financial crisis since the Depression, dealers said. The evening sale, which included works by Francis Bacon, Lucio Fontana and Lucian Freud, followed auctions at Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury & Co. that also fell below expectations. Christie's 47-lot auction took 32 million pounds ($55.3 million) with fees, below the presale low estimate of 57 million pounds.

``It was bad, but it wasn't terrible,'' said New York dealer Alberto Mugrabi, whose family owns one of the largest Andy Warhol collections.

The London contemporary-art auctions, coinciding with the Frieze Art Fair, were the first test of the market since governments bailed out banks and stock markets crashed. The contemporary-art market has enjoyed a bull run for the past five years, with prices for artists including Warhol, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince more than quadrupling.

There was an eerie hush in a crowded room as auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen knocked down the lots in less than an hour.

Pylkkanen looked to Mugrabi for a bid when he offered Warhol's ``Nine Multicolored Marilyns'' from the ``Reversal'' series, estimated to fetch at least 2.2 million pounds. Mugrabi offered 1.85 million pounds and declined to go up to 1.9 million. The bid didn't meet the reserve level and the artwork was bought in.

`Old Prices'

``These are old prices,'' said Mugrabi, explaining why he let the piece pass. ``They would have to be readjusted. It can't be readjusted for every industry in the world and not for the art market.''

The Warhol was one of six lots on which Christie's had promised sellers a minimum price regardless of the outcome. Three of these failed to sell, including Bacon's ``Portrait of Henrietta Moraes'' (1969). The small yellow canvas flopped against a presale low estimate of 5.5 million pounds. These failed guaranteed lots were expected to fetch at least 7.95 million pounds.

``Things have been overpriced; they need to come down,'' said Glenn Scott-Wright, director at London's Victoria Miro gallery, who attended the sale. ``If Christie's had dropped the reserves by 20 percent, it would have done better.''

The sale's top seller was Fontana's black egg-shaped, glitter-dusted canvas ``Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio'' (1963), which fetched 9 million pounds against the presale estimate of about 12 million pounds. Before the auction, Christie's announced that persons with a financial interest in the guaranteed work would be bidding. There was no demand in the room and the auctioneer provided the sole bid.

Freud's Bacon

London dealer Stephen Ongpin, bidding for a collector, bought the evening's other high-value lot, Freud's 1956-57 unfinished portrait of Bacon. He paid 5.4 million pounds for the life-size face of the artist, against the presale low estimate of 5 million pounds.

As on the previous two nights, works by artists whose prices have risen rapidly in the last five years didn't attract support. At Christies, pieces in the range of 500,000 pounds to 900,000 pounds by Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ed Ruscha were deemed too expensive.

German artist Gerhard Richter didn't fare much better. Two of his abstract canvases, estimated in the region of 6 million pounds and 2 million pounds, didn't sell.

``Obviously we need to adjust our prices,'' said Ed Dolman, Christie's chief executive officer. `There isn't too much confidence out there.''

(Scott Reyburn and Katya Kazakina are reporters for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are their own.)

To contact the writers on the story: Katya Kazakina in London at kkazakina@bloomberg.net; Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: October 19, 2008 15:52 EDT