Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A sculpture by Alberto Giacometti last night became the most expensive work of art sold at auction as wealthy collectors battled for rare works by 20th-century artists at the biggest auction held in London, Sotheby's said.

The life-size bronze of a walking man, being sold by Germany-based Dresdner Bank AG, fetched 65 million pounds ($103.4 million) with fees. U.S.-based Sotheby's said that it used the HSBC midmarket exchange rate, giving a figure of $104.3 million, therefore just exceeding the $104.2 million for 1905 Pablo Picasso's "Garcon a la Pipe," which it sold in May 2004.

The statue, which fetched a record price for the artist, was one of three works in Sotheby's 39-lot auction of Impressionist and modern art that had estimates of more than 10 million pounds. The others were a Gustav Klimt painting that made 26.9 million pounds and a still life by Paul Cezanne that fetched 11.8 million pounds.

"It was a crazy price," Alex Lachmann, a Cologne-based art dealer, said after he watched the bronze sell for an artist- record. "You only need two people to push things high."

The estimates and prices indicated that buyers have renewed faith in auctions as a way of selling high-value art, said dealers. While auction prices for contemporary art dropped as much as 50 percent in the crisis, values of the most desirable classic modern works were still rising, they said. Sotheby's said the auction made a total of 146.8 million pounds, the most for a sale in the U.K. capital. The event had been expected to raise 69.1 million pounds to 102.1 million pounds.

David Fuller's view I have mentioned the return of more aggressive bidding at auctions on several occasions over the last year. In my observation, mainly of sales at Sotheby's and especially Christie's, this has occurred at all price levels and across most items. Sotheby's latest major sale shows that the selling squall currently experienced by stock markets and commodities has not spilled over into artworks. I do not think it will, unless markets fall much further, reviving deflationary depression fears.