Sotheby's sales figures for 2009 fell by more than 50 per cent from $4.86 billion (£3 billion) in 2008 to $2.28 billion in 2009, according to figures available on its website. Full accounts for the year, including profits, will not be released for several weeks, but some investors are predicting that, after this fall, the only way forward is up. Sotheby's share price on Wall Sreet was at $23.82 yesterday lunchtime, compared with $8.86 at the end of 2008, and the 2009 low of $6.05 in March. Stock market analysts Wedbush Morgan believe that "rising global demand, better-than-expected recent auction results, and positive feedback from industry contacts point to a meaningful recovery in the global auction market. We believe the art market is poised to generate a solid rebound by spring 2010."

The Antique Trade Gazette predicts that 2010 could be "the year for saleroom bargains for those who keep an eye on the market". "I would expect to see more high-quality, mid-range pieces of furniture and works of art consigned for sale by those who need liquidity," says the industry weekly's editor, Ivan Macquisten. "If you are looking to furnish your home, you could have a fabulously crafted table, chair or sideboard for a fraction of the price of a flatpack alternative." That, of course, would only apply to those who are in the market for new homes. The boom area, says Macquisten, is for antique Chinese works of art, while there is potential in English portraits and modern British paintings and prints where many artists are still undervalued.

The London Art Fair opens at the Business Design Centre in Islington next week, with a record 113 galleries showing both tried and tested modern British art from the mid-20th century, and more experimental contemporary art. At the cheaper end is Print Now, in the Art Projects space, which is tucked away on the upper level of the fair. Run by Bearspace from Deptford, with the help of collector Kay Saatchi and a panel of critics, Print Now will show more than 100 print-based works by young artists priced from £25 to £700 each. Among them is the work below, The Country Grentlemen (deliberate mis-spelling), a uniquely collaged print by Isabel Rock. Rock graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2008, when her entire degree show was bought by UK collector David Roberts. This collaged print, which is priced at £495, is one of a series of 12 works in which the artist has taken an old agricultural print and added to it – much like Jake and Dinos Chapman did with Goya's prints. A digital version is also available at just £25.

After a brief grumble about the Government's treatment of non-doms and the pending tax rises which will inevitably affect the local art trade, St James's art dealer Chris Beetles eyes lit up to tell me about his latest signing – The Daily Telegraph cartoonist, Matt. More than 20 original drawings by Matt have been posted on the gallery's website priced at between £150 and £250 each.