Christie’s September First Open sale made $7.548m with80% of the lots sold and an average price of $38,510. That’s a good sale. The numbers show the Contemporary art market has recovered nicely and continues to consolidate from the frenzied years of the credit bubble. The charts below show that recovery as sales volume dipped to a third of the 2007 height last year.

Sales volume is up 71% from 2009 to 2010. But a much more important number is the steady level of average prices. The average price for a First Open lot in the September sale dropped substantially during the recession but has held fairly steady in the mid-$30,000 range. Yesterday’s average price of $38,510 is almost identical to the 2008 sale’s average price.