Do we need a better augury of a renewed global economy than this? TMZ is reporting that our favorite spendthrift Roman Abramovich is at it again. He spent around $52,000 on lunch in New York City at Italian food restaurant Nello's. Abramovich and his party of nine others dined on truffle carpaccio, rigatoni Siciliana, truffle taglioni, filet mignon and more but what really boosted the tab was the wine. The bill which TMZ has obtained shows bottles of Cristal Rosé, Chateau Petrus and Domaine Romanee-Conti La Tache as well as some Johnnie Walker Blue. Apparently, Abramovich and his crew aren't sweets lovers, there's just one lone tiramisu on the list.

TMZ reports that the check had an automatic gratuity of 20 percent, over $7,000 but Roman and crew threw in another $5,000, bringing the tip to 26 percent. Classy move, oligarchs.

Collectors are looking and thinking. They might take action, but it's still too soon to tell. The action at Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain (FIAC) in Paris is deliberate: nobody's rushing to put their cash on the table. However, there are signs that some pricey and prestigious pieces may sell.

Last week, a painting by Piet Mondrian was put on reserve, at a price between $30 million and $40 million. One of Pablo Picasso's works was reserved, as well, at $24 million. Back in the art boom, these pieces would have been snapped up already, but dealers are saying that it's taking longer to complete sales at FIAC this year than last year. Even billionaires need convincing in this market, it seems.

Also, there's a greater desire to stay under the radar. Whether it's to maintain some privacy or hide the fact that they have the means to spend more than they like, some owners and buyers are turning to private sales. Bargains, thus, won't make it into the public record – sparing sellers the embarrassment and preventing the other holdings of all collectors from sustaining a measurable decline in value. If premiums are paid, buyers won't have to reveal that they have the cash to pay more, preventing prices from increasing broadly.

The Frieze Art Fair is drawing the right kind of people this year, even if the art market is showing little more than hope (and even that's debatable). Roman Abramovich - billionaire, Francis Bacon fan - has been seen scoping out the merchandise. Gwyneth Paltrow is at the show, too. Both were at the VIP preview (separately), and David Ganek made an appearance as well. Ganek is a hedge fund manager and art collector, and his wife, Danielle wrote a god-awful novel about the art business in Manhattan.

The Frieze Art Fair runs through October 18 and occupies 70,000 square feet in Regent's Park. In attendance are 165 gallery owners from 30 countries, all eager to take advantage of collectors excited to be at Europe's largest art fair. But, they have their work cut out for them. Auction sales are down between 70 percent and 80 percent from last year, and that's usually a pretty good sign of how the art market as a whole is doing.

There is some action at Frieze this year. Artist Jim Hodges has an exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris that's captured the attention of a museum. Stefan Edlis, Jean Pigozzi and David Roberts - all prominent collectors - have been seen at the fair. Art dealer Marianne Boesky moved 13 paintings from a new series of 15 watercolors by Barnaby Furnas that depict the capture and execution of John Brown, the Civil War abolitionist. Prices ranged from $25,000 to $30,000.

After the dismal situation at Frieze in 2008, there's a collective desire for this year to be better. While wishing for an art market recovery probably won't make a difference, the sentiment itself is comforting.

The Frieze Art Fair previews in less than a week, and London's art market players are looking to make a splash. While it's unlikely that the prestigious and well-attended event will single-handedly undo 12 months of carnage, hopes are high that it will be a turning point. Frieze is the largest art fair in Europe that's dedicated to the contemporary space.

The preview will be held on October 14, 2009, and 165 galleries will be courting the wealthy collectors expected to be in attendance – up from 151 galleries in 2008. Twenty-eight art galleries left from last year, so Frieze had to find a considerable number of new participants to make up the difference and then come out ahead.

The fair is coming on the heels of a year in which auction sales are down 70 percent to 80 percent and prices for works by many major artists are down by half.

In one of the grandest gestures the market has seen since the slump began, Gerard Faggionato, a dealer from London, will be putting Francis Bacon's "Study from the Human Body after Muybridge" up for sale at a price of $9 million. This isn't exactly what Bacon's work used to fetch, but it's still a steep price in a depressed market. Faggionato represents Bacon's estate, which is the seller.

The painting shown at right, Bacon's ' Study for the Portrait of Michel Leiris ' is being shown as part of the exhibition 'Caravaggio and Bacon' at the Borghese museum in Rome.

Art Moscow features works from 40 galleries – both from Russia and around the world. Originally, the art fair was supposed to run in May, but Expo Park Exhibition Projects Ltd., its organizer, pushed it back to hit at the same time as the state run Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. The dual event may bring a bigger turnout, but it will have to overcome a 10 percent contraction in the Russian economy.

Counting against Art Moscow ... aside from general economic malaise ... is the fact that the sale of Russian artwork is down. The major auction houses in London moved only $48 million in Russian art in June, down more than half from the same auctions in 2008.

So, how likely is a stream of cash? Igor Markin, a big-time collector and owner of the Art4.ru museum, says he "hasn't bought anything in a long time."

In addition to the military-grade missile defense system, armor plating and bullet-proof windows featured on Roman Abramovich's new 557-ft. Eclipse (above), the world's largest and most expensive privately owned yacht, the Russian oligarch has installed a high-tech anti-photo shield designed to keep the paparazzi at bay. The system relies on lasers to block any digital camera lenses nearby, the London Times reports. Infrared lasers will detect the cameras' electronic light sensors, known as charge-coupled devices (CCDs), and then fire a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record a digital image. The Times, which also claims the total cost of the Eclipse has now ballooned over the $1 billion mark, reports the yacht set off on a sea trial last week with 150 engineers and maritime experts aboard who will put it through its paces over 10 days. Abramovich, who just paid $89 million for a villa in St. Bart's, is due to take delivery of the yacht on December 22.

Last year, Vanity Fair's "New Establishment" list was hefty with art market players. This year, the magazine noted that the Wall Street folks and "big media" got their asses handed to them ... but a quick look shows that the arts got slammed, as well.

In 2008, the entire Francis Bacon supply chain showed up on the list. Bacon-inspired Damien Hirst (shown at right) filled the production link, with dealer Larry Gagosian moving Hirst's product and Roman Abramovich buying up not the Bacon-inspired but the works of the master himself. And, they wound up in some hefty positions. Hirst hit #31, with Gagosian close behind at #38. Of course, deep pockets win, which is how ol' Roman pierced the top 10 (at #8).

This year? Well, the Francis Bacon supply chain didn't fair as well. Abramovich was ignored completely, along with Gagosian. Hirst was tossed into the "Pit Stop," where he's joined by shark-loving hedge fund manager and art collector Steve Cohen, who sacrificed $750 million of his own wealth to the financial crisis.

While Cohen keeps the comings and goings of SAC Capital Advisors under wraps, we do know that Hirst had to layoff 20 employees. There's a silver lining, though. With Hirst having to do more of his own work, we probably won't have to see as much of it.

Regular Luxist readers have followed the saga of the Eclipse, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's newly launched megayacht which at 557 ft. is the largest private yacht in the world. Now anyone with $500 million to spend can top his triumph by nearly 100 ft. with the 656 ft. Everest designed by Donald Starkey. Rumors about the Everest have been kicking around for a while but it seems the ship, which ushers in a new class of "gigayachts", is actually under construction in Fort Lauderdale and is slated for completion next year, meaning Abramovich has only a few months left to enjoy his naval supremacy. The Everest will be longer than two football fields and have five decks serviced by two elevators, a helipad, a submarine and accommodations for 36 passengers in 17 apartments, including an owner's private penthouse suite on the top deck.

[via JustLuxe]

Despite the large flushing sound that's accompanied the art market this year, there are still 10 collectors worth noting. In fact, ARTnews was even able to cobble together a top 200 list this year (if they went to 300, I figure I'd wind up on the list, too, given the state of the art market right now). The names in the top 10 still represent the art collecting elite, they just happen to be in much worse shape than they were at this time last year.

Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire and art addict, takes the #1 spot. It would be easy to zero in on any one of several purchases last year and call it "defining," but the man spent a few hundred million on art. The most expensive pickup was a Francis Bacon triptych which set him back almost $90 million.

Top 10 Art Collectors (according to ARTnews):

1. Roman Abramovich
2. Debra and Leon Black
3. Edythe L. and Eli Broad
4. Steven Cohen
5. Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis
6. Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
7. Francois Pinault
8. Mitchell Rales
9. Carlos Slim Helu
10. Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali al-Thani

Okay, so you take a quick look at this list and realize that Abramovich, who requested a bailout from the Russian government, isn't the only flawed personality it contains. Steven A. Cohen, the Connecticut-based hedge fund manager, owns a dead rotting shark. While Damien Hirst's ego is built to last, his creations are more like personal computers ... planned obsolescence. Kravis, who sits atop esteemed and powerful private equity firm KKR, was not left unscathed by the current financial crisis. The precipitous drop in oil prices over the past year must have left the sheikh in a rough spot, and Slim thought he could make money by investing in a newspaper (that's just fucking stupid ... almost as stupid as paying $90 million for a 1970s Bacon, frankly).

Maybe we'll see some changes over the next year. I wouldn't mind writing about an unknown visionary busting into the winners circle at this time next summer. Now, all we have to do is find one.

Back in April we reported that despite the economic crisis Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich planned to complete work on the 557-ft. Eclipse, the world's largest and most expensive privately owned yacht. Now the ocean-going behemoth has been launched on its maiden voyage to test operational systems before the finishing touches are applied, at a reported final cost of close to $500 million according to the London Daily Mail. As the all-white megayacht glided out of the Blohm & Voss shipyard (above) in Hamburg, Germany the other day, it dwarfed a navy destroyer it passed along the way.

The Eclipse, which features a military-grade missile defense system, armor plating and bullet-proof windows, will literally eclipse the recently-debuted $350 million, 531-ft. Dubai owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai. The ship also has a submarine that can be launched underwater and dive to a depth of 160 ft. that doubles as an escape pod, as well as two helicopter pads. Abramovich already owns several other superyachts, including the 377-ft. Pelorus, the 282 ft. Ecstasea and the 160 ft. Sussurro, which cost him $25 million a year to maintain, and apparently plans to keep them all.

Few people in the world attract rumors of wealth and profligate spending like Roman Abramovich (he's been accused of buying the world's most expensive house and the first Airbus A380 both of which turned out to be untrue). The latest story has the Russian billionaire losing one of his yachts in a game of poker. A Moscow paper said that he lost a $500,000 yacht in a game of poker in Barcelona. The Russian newspaper reported that Abramovich's gorgeous girlfriend, Daria Zhukova has a problem with his gambling. Did it happen? Abramovich spokesman John Mann told AFP that the story is completely false and that Abramovich had not been in Barcelona for the Chelsea match. Abramovich does seem to have a certain love of risktaking and he did once give a yacht to one of his trusted associates as a gift so a story like this wouldn't be totally out of character which is how these rumors get started.

The Sunday Times Rich List cataloging Britain's richest people, reveals what we've seen on many other lists: people losing money. The Times says that the recession has carved £155 billion from the fortunes of Britain's richest 1,000 people, fully a third of their total wealth. In fact it's the biggest drop since they started putting the list together 21 years ago. And it now only takes a fortune of £55 million to hit the top 1,000 compared to £80 million list year.

Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has the dubious honor of being both the richest person in Britain and the person who lost the most (an astonishing £16.9 billion). He is currently worth £10.8 billion easily beating out Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who owns the second slot with £7 billion. The Duke of Westminster is in third place with £6.5 billion.

Richard Branson isn't worth as much as you might think, the Times has him at just £1.2billion. Last year's rising art markets boosted Damien Hirst's value to £235million and Lucien Freud is worth £120million. And proving that divorcing well can be as much a moneymaker as marrying well, former model Slavica Ecclestone enters the list with a fortune of £734 million after her divorce from Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone.

This year's list is also short one celebrity chef. Gordon Ramsay is off the list after a year that has seen him selling restaurants and watching his flagship London restaurant tumble out of the list of the world's 100 best restaurants.

It seems that despite a disastrous economy in which he lost a reported $20 billion, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is pressing on with plans for the Eclipse (above), the $355 million megayacht which will be the world's biggest upon completion next year. The 555-ft. ship, which includes a military-grade missile defense system, armor plating and bullet-proof windows, will literally eclipse the recently-debuted $350 million, 531-ft. Dubai owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai.

There has been much speculation over whether Abramovich would shelve the Eclipse and / or sell off some of his other superyachts such as the 377-ft. Pelorus, but the Moscow Times reports he plans to keep them all. In fact, Abramovich is said to have already purchased a berth for the Eclipse at Porto Montenegro, the new megayacht marina under construction in the former communist country being billed as "the Monaco of the Balkans" (which we reported on last year).

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, has finally unveiled the largest yacht in the world. Formerly known as Project Panhandle / Golden Star, the 531-ft. Dubai (above) was originally commissioned by Prince Jefri of Brunei. Al-Maktoum purchased the partly-constructed behemoth in 2006, and had it transported from Blohm & Voss in Hamburg to the the newly formed Platinum Yachts shipyard in Dubai for completion (renamed then Project Platinum), at a total cost of about $350 million. With eight decks, the Dubai can accommodate 115 people including a crew of 88. In addition to the swimming pool, Jacuzzis, helipad and multiple dining areas, saloons, guest and VIP suites, the yacht features two owner's suites on the sixth and seventh decks and two heli-observations rooms on the seventh and eighth decks, Superyacht Times reports.

The interior is garish in the extreme, a floating Las Vegas casino by way of the UAE. She has a maximum speed of 26 knots and a cruising speed of 25 knots with a range of 8,500 nautical miles. The Dubai may not hold its world's largest yacht title for long, however; as we reported back in October, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich commissioned an even larger yacht, the $355 million, 555-ft. Eclipse. It remains to be seen whether the economic downturn, in which Abramovich lost several billion dollars, will hamper completion of the yacht which includes a military-grade missile defense system. The Eclipse is also being equipped with armor plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich's master suite, as well as bullet-proof windows.

Dasha Zhukova, the stunning 27-year-old girlfriend of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, has been named the new editor-in-chief of hip British luxury fashion mag POP. Zhukova is the co-founder of the fashion label Kova & T, as well as the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, Moscow's largest private art gallery. Despite an utter lack of magazine experience, she'll be working in partnership with POP editorial director Ashley Heath, leading some to snipe that she only got the job thanks to her mega-rich boyfriend.

"I am tremendously excited to take on this challenge," Zhukova, pictured above at right with Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, tells the London Telegraph. "I feel it's the perfect time to be showcasing and encouraging new energy and talent. We are working hard on a complete revamp of the magazine in order to provide a broader point of view focusing also on art, contemporary culture and the globalization of all things pop-related." The magazine is being relaunched on the 1st of September.