NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - Strong sales at the auction houses this month may not yet signal a broad recovery for the art market. The art community was pleasantly surprised when sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art at New York's top auction houses, Sotheby's (BID) and Christie's International, brought in about $596 million combined. It represented a 46% increase over spring sales in May.Leading the sales was Andy Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills," which was last sold for $385,000 at Sotheby's in 1986 and was estimated to sell at $8 million to $12 million. The Warhol painting was sold for a shocking $43.8 million.

Looking past the sales figures, however, reveals a less convincing picture. Baird Ryan of Art Capital Group points out that the auction sizes, and price estimates on the artwork, were noticeably reduced from years past.

"These moves down have allowed the market to catch its breath, create a bottom and encourage people to step in and regain some comfort in participating," he said.

While the buying may mean the market is bottoming out, art advisers caution investors and collectors from jumping fully in just yet.

"Many of our clients were sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the dust to settle. Now, collectors who had moved to cash are starting to feel more confident and are tiptoeing back in," said Suzanne Gyorgy, head of Citi Private Bank Art Advisory.

Gyorgy says one factor that could tempt collectors back into the market is artwork's usefulness as a hedge against inflation, something many of her wealthy clients are increasingly worried about.

Still, she and other art advisers aren't advocating that collectors go on a buying spree or chase auction items. The recent auctions, they feel, are an indication that the time is right for more research into which fresh pieces are hitting the market and how new artwork might fit into a collection.

"There's time left to step into the market, it's not going to run away tomorrow," Ryan said. As in the stock market, he added, the timing of an investor's entry is crucial.

Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills" is an example of the kind of pieces investors should be looking to purchase, Ryan said.

"Not only is the Warhol a rare, special object, it combines the greatest qualities of an asset class: a market leader for the artist's work, for the broader pop genre and for the art market as a whole. A piece like this will not only go down the least when the market goes down, it will also go up the most when the market goes up," he said.

After a 32% decline in the Mei Moses Annual All Art Index at the end of the third quarter versus a year ago, the art market has reverted back to 2003 or 2004 levels, said Michael Moses, co-founder of Beautiful Asset Advisors LLC. The index tracks 15,000 repeat-auction sales of the same works. Moses added that sales now resemble those seen before the steep run-up later in the decade.

He suggests buyers always think of art as a long-term investment. "Extending the amount of time you hold a painting works to a collector's benefit by reducing the risk," Moses said.

(Shelly Banjo is a Practice Management and Getting Personal columnist who writes about wealth management and philanthropy; she covers topics including the business of financial advisers, investment strategies and charitable giving. She can be reached at 212-416-2242 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)