The successful sales of post-war and contemporary art in New York last week were palpably connected to a couple of days of upticks in the credit and stock markets. The previous weekend, when the collectors were trolling the previews at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, there were tight grins plastered on the auction house professionals. They were all haunted by the 36 per cent decline in Sotheby’s stock that week after a disappointing, but not disastrous, impressionist and modern sale. When, a few minutes into the Christie's sale, a broad smile grew on Amy Cappellazzo, the international head of post-war and contemporary art, it was clear that the feared "correction" was not here yet.

The success of the Christie’s sale nicely primed the febrile buyers and the now-giddy auctioneers for a contemporary sale the next evening at Sotheby’s, which turned out to be the biggest in the firm's history. The previous record was set 17 years ago, at the height of the yen-bubble-fuelled impressionist mania ... remember that?