★ London October Auction Week

01Por que importa

October is where London's standing in the international market is measured each year. The totals are modest against New York's, but the week is the clearest read available on European demand, on the trade's appetite for material consigned from British and continental collections, and on whether the buyers who came for the fairs also bid. It also functions as the trade's autumn meeting: dealers, advisers and specialists who will not all be in the same place again until November are in Mayfair for the same three days. In our reading, the week's position has become less certain than it was. Paris now stages a major fair in the same month and the houses sell there too; London's October is no longer the only European stop, and the sales have been shortened accordingly.

02A semana ao seu redor

Frieze London and Frieze Masters run in Regent's Park across the same days and are the reason most visitors are in town; both are ticketed and open to the public. PAD London sets up in Berkeley Square in the same fortnight. The Mayfair and St James's galleries schedule their strongest shows of the year against the week and stay open late, and the walk from Cork Street through Savile Row to Bond Street is the most concentrated hour of gallery-going London offers. Nothing closes and the city as a whole barely notices; the effect is confined to about a square mile, plus the north side of Regent's Park.

03Quando chegar

Arrive on the Tuesday. That gives you the fair previews, the pre-sale exhibitions at all three houses while they are still calm, and the Mayfair openings before the crowds. Leave on the Saturday if you want the fairs at the weekend, or on the Friday morning if the sales were the reason you came.

04Onde se hospedar

Mayfair puts you inside the week — Berkeley Square, Bond Street and Regent's Park are all walkable, and Claridge's, the Connaught and the Beaumont are the landmarks people navigate by. St James's is quieter, closer to Christie's, and empties at the weekend. Marylebone is the sensible compromise: nearer Regent's Park than Mayfair is, better for eating, and less expensive. Anywhere south of the river or in the City means a car or the Underground at exactly the hours when both are slow.

05Acesso e hospitalidade

Pre-sale exhibitions at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips are free and open to the public without appointment, and the London houses are relaxed about visitors. Evening sale rooms are small and access is controlled by the houses through bidder registration and existing client relationships; seats are not sold. All three stream their evening sales publicly. Registration to bid requires identification and references submitted in advance. Frieze London and Frieze Masters are separately ticketed and tickets are sold to the public. The houses publish no hospitality packages for this week.

06Onde ocorre a actividade social

The week lives in Mayfair and St James's. Cork Street, Dover Street and Bond Street for the galleries; the hotel bars along Brook Street and Mount Street, which fill from about seven; the restaurants around Berkeley Square and Shepherd Market, which are booked out for the three sale nights and unremarkable to get into on any other. Regent's Park itself holds the fair crowd during the day. The Royal Academy and the National Gallery run their autumn exhibitions through the same weeks and are five minutes from Christie's.

07Como chegar

08Aspectos práticos

09Histórico

Christie's and Sotheby's have sold in London since 1766 and 1744 respectively, and for most of the twentieth century the city's marquee art sales sat in February and June. The October week is a recent invention, assembled after Frieze's arrival in 2003 gave the houses a reason to bring the international trade to London in the autumn. It grew through the 2010s, then contracted: sales that were once spread over a week now sit in three evenings, and some categories that used to sell in London in October now sell in New York or Paris instead. What has not changed is the geography. St James's, Mayfair and Berkeley Square have been the trade's ground for two centuries, and the week still works on foot.

10Quem está presente

Dealers and advisers from London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong; European collectors for whom this is the closest marquee sale of the year; museum curators and acquisition committees; the specialists and department heads of the three houses; and a wide public audience for the free exhibitions and the ticketed fairs. Because the week is compressed and walkable, it draws a higher proportion of trade professionals relative to collectors than New York does.