As a further sign of how high net worth individuals continue to pump money into art and collectables despite the credit crunch, auction house Christie’s International said it made sales of £1.8 billion in the first half of this year, a rise of 10 per cent on a year before.

Christie’s said 457 works of art sold for more than $1 million each, compared to 430 such sales achieved during the same period last year. Sales totals include private sales of £153 million brokered by Christie’s in the first half of 2008 as well as sales conducted by the wholly owned subsidiary, Haunch of Venison.

“Christie’s robust results for the first half of 2008 reflect the ongoing strength of the international art market,” said Edward Dolman, chief executive officer, Christie’s International.

For the first half of 2008, Europe & UK auction sales totalled £837 million ($1.6 billion), up 6 per cent from the same period last year; the

Americas totalled £631 million ($1.2 billion), down by 1 per cent from the same period in 2007, however. In Asia and the Middle East, sales were £179 million ($351 million), surging by 81 per cent from the same period last year as the art market benefited from booming Mideast oil wealth and rising Asian affluence.

The most expensive works of art sold in the six month period include Claude Monet’s Le bassin aux nymphéas, painted in 1919 and sold for $80,451,178, a work by Francis Bacon, called, Triptych sold for $51,680,061, and a work by Mark Rothko, called NO, sold for $50,441,000.