Sotheby's and Christie's International sold 62.9 million pounds ($128 million) of old-master paintings in London last week, missing their top estimate of 75.5 million pounds as Christie's pitched prices too high. Publicly traded Sotheby's took in 38.7 million pounds with commissions, compared with a top estimate of 34.1 million pounds before fees. Christie's, which is owned by the French billionaire Francois Pinault, valued its old-master painting sales at as much as 41.4 million pounds, and they amounted to 24.2 million pounds. London's twice-yearly old-master totals have slipped from 100 million pounds in July 2005, when a Canaletto image of Venice fetched 18.6 million pounds at Sotheby's. Yet Sotheby's latest results, including 8 million pounds of guaranteed art for Dimitri Mavrommatis, a member of the auction house's advisory board, indicated there is demand for earlier art at the right price. "Compared with contemporary art, this is chicken feed," said London dealer Johnny Van Haeften, who bought seven paintings at Sotheby's and at least one at Christie's. The most expensive old masters appreciated almost 22 percent this year, according to index-maker Art Market Research. A year earlier, Sotheby's and Christie's sold about 60 million pounds of pre-1900 paintings. Russian Sales London's Russian art sales, attended by billionaires, have overtaken the U.K. capital's old-master auctions. A Faberge egg owned by the Rothschild banking family sold for 8 million pounds on Nov. 28 at Christie's in a series of auctions that totaled 88.7 million pounds. Sotheby's top lot on Dec. 5 was a pair of Canaletto pictures from Mavrommatis that raised 4.7 million pounds, double their top estimate. Also at Sotheby's, the Vanderbilt family sold a watercolor by Britain's J.M.W. Turner for 2.9 million pounds. Christie's offered a Peter Paul Rubens oil sketch for heirs to the Royal Philips Electronics NV fortune at a top estimate of 6 million pounds on Dec. 6. It went to a single telephone bidder for 3.8 million pounds with fees. The auction house had guaranteed the family a minimum price. London-based Christie's old-master painting sales totaled 39 million pounds last December. Sotheby's, which is run from New York, took in 21.3 million pounds a year ago. Estimates are before fees. Sale results include commissions of 25 percent on the first 10,000 pounds of the hammer price, 20 percent on the next 240,000 pounds and 12 percent on the rest.