Christie’s sale was a drawn-out affair but a lot of business got conducted mostly by dealers and advisers:

• Paris-based dealer Thaddaeus Ropac paid $962,500 for Warhol’s seagreen portrait of the late actor Dennis Hopper, which was being sold by the actor’s estate along with a $5.7 million untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. (Crow)

• Five bidders went for the sculpture, from the artist’s “Celebration” series, executed between 1995 and 2000. It had been estimated to bring $12 million to $16 million, and was bought by Amy Gold of L&M Arts, the Manhattan gallery, for $15 million, or $16.8 million with fees. (Vogel)

• Lichtenstein, “Still Life With Palette” (1972), sold to a telephone bidder for $6,802,500 against an estimate of $5.5-7.5 million. It last sold at Christie’s New York in November 1986 for $418,000. (Tully)

• Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato),” a small painting from 1962 — it measures just 20 by 16-inches — that was estimated at between $6 million and $8 million but sold to Florence de Botton, a former Christie’s expert who is now a private dealer, for $9 million. (Vogel)

• “Dos Cabezas, a double portrait by Basquiat from 1982 that depicts the artist standing next to his idol Warhol, was also being sold by Mr. Wynn. Estimated at $6 million to $10 million, it sold to Manfredi Della Gherardesca, a London art dealer, for $7 million. (Vogel)

• Works by Alexander Calder, of which six were offered, also went sky high. An untitled circa 1949 hanging mobile, in painted sheet metal and wire, estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, sold to San Francisco dealer John Berggruen for $2.4 million. (Tully)

• California painter Richard Diebenkorn also drew fierce competition, with his 1966 painterly abstraction, “Berkeley #39” (est. $4-6 million), selling to New York dealer Jack Tilton for $4.3 million. (Tully)

Strong Prices for Warhol, Lichtenstein Cap Christie’s $272.8m Sale (Wall Street Journal)

Lichtensetin Tops Warhol in Auction at Christie’s (New York Times)

Ohhh… Christie’s Mints $273 Million in Contemporary Art Sale, and a Koons Balloon Does Alright (ArtInfo.com)