Charity auctions are often billed as an opportunity to buy a work at a lower cost by either taking some tax deductions or because some of the transaction fees have been weighed. In practice, they tend to be events geared to those who are not regular auction-goers. The healthy numbers at David Zwirner’s Artists for Haiti sale—along with the number of actors and sports stars bidding in person—held at Christie’s last night ought to have confirmed the idea that this sale was for celebrities but eagle-eyed Judd Tully saw some real pros snapping up pictures:

• Raymond Pettibon‘s large-scale work on paper of a giant wave from 2011, sold to New York dealer Philippe Segalot for $760,000 (est. $200-300,000). Lot 14, a second Pettibon wave painting offering, “No Title (But the sand…)” (2011), fetched a record $820,000, selling to New York private dealer Guy Bennett (est. $300-500,000). Acquavella Galleries was the underbidder.
• Segalot got back into the action and outbid a posse of contenders including Acquavella Gallery, Christophe van de Weghe, and Christie’s Robert Manley to win Urs Fischer‘s 96-by-72-inch milled aluminum panel and silkscreen image of a woman, “Tomorrow” (2011), for $920,000 (est. $300-400,000).

Ben Stiller and David Zwirner Exult as Christie’s Star-Packed “Artists for Haiti” Sale Tops $13 Million (Artinfo)