Auction houses eye record prices in NY

With prices for top-tier works of art at an all-time high, records for paintings and sculpture appear certain to fall at upcoming spring auctions in New York by Christie's and Sotheby's.

Christie's scored a one-two punch this season, landing a Pablo Picasso painting and a Alberto Giacometti sculpture, with each expected to sell for $130 million or more, before a commission of just over 12 percent is tacked on.

The $140 million estimate for Picasso's Les femmes d'Alger (Version "O"), a cubist work last auctioned in 1997 when it nearly tripled expectations, is the highest presale price ever accorded an auction offering.