The sale of American art held by Christie's New York on May 19, 2005, totaled $40,669,200, with 182 of the 217 lots finding buyers, or 84 percent, a new record for a various-owner sale of American art at Christies. Six paintings sold for more than $1 million, and several new auction records were set.The top lot was Robert Henri's portrait of an elegant Jessica Penn in Black with White Plumes (1908), which was purchased by an anonymous buyer for $3,600,000, well above the presale high estimate of $1,500,000. The painting was from the collection of Helen and David B. Pall, the same source as the record-setting Edward Hopper lot, his late Chair Car (1965), which sold on May 12 for $14 million to Berry-Hill Galleries.
