Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sale in London tonight was thin in quality but still sold 42, or 84 percent, of 50 lots for a mid-estimate of £71.5 million, or $112.9 million.

There were few gains, but a good result overall for a mediocre hand.

“Considering there were no masterpieces and Sotheby’s tomorrow has the stronger sale, this was a healthy if not very exciting result,” said art advisor Guy Jennings, a former Impressionist and Modern art specialist at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

The top lot was Claude Monet’s rather straggly, vertical Iris Mauves (1914-17), which was bought back in 1997 by Ernst Beyeler for a client for $3.85 million, and returned to auction in 2011 when it was unsold at Christie’s New York with a $15-20 million estimate.

This time, with a much reduced estimate of £6-9 million or $9.5-14.3 million, it attracted strong bidding from Russia and America, before selling to the American phone bidder for £10.8 million, or $17.1 million.

Other top lots in the sale ignited less interest. A late Pablo Picasso, Tete (1969), that was bought in 2010 for $6.8 million at Christie’s in New York now carried a third party guarantee and sold below the estimate for £4.45 million, or $7 million.

Christie’s would not have taken a loss on that, but would have done with the next two top lots which had previously been bought-in (i.e., unsold), carrying guarantees and were therefore now being sold with Christie’s stating its direct financial interest. Kees van Dongen’s Anita en almee (1908), had been bought-in at Christie’s New York in 2008 with a $12-18 million estimate and returned just £4.1 million, or $6.5 million tonight.

Joan Miro’s The Stem of the Red Flower Grows Toward the Moon (1952), had similarly been bought-in at Christie’s in London in 2013 with a £5.2-5.7 million estimate, and returned a disappointing £3.8 million.

Most lots to exceed estimates were around the £1 million mark.

A René Magritte gouache, Le Chant d’Amour (1962), sold to advisor, Mary Hoeveler, for £1 million over a £300,000 low estimate. Another Magritte gouache, Le Baiser (c.1957), showed an improvement on its last outing in 2010 when it doubled estimates to fetch £1.2 million. With an increased estimate of £1.2-1.8 million, it sold to New York dealer, David Benrimon, for £2 million.

Two other lots to breach their high estimates came courtesy of New York’s Acquavella Galleries which bought Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure, No.2 (1953) for £1.5 million, and Henri Laurens’ voluptuous lifetime cast nude, La Lune, for £1 million.

But half the sale was selling at below the low estimate. Ever the opportunist, David Nahmad snuck in a bid at 290,000 for Miro’s 1974 sculpture, Tete, which had a £400,000-600,000 estimate, and won it.

Russian bidding was evident, said Christie’s for works by Soutine, and on the top lot, the Monet. But it failed to materialize on a painting of a sailboat by Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova titled Volier, which had been bought in a Russian sale at Bonhams before the crash in 2007 for £1.7 million but now went unsold with a £1.5 million low estimate.

There was notable Asian bidding on works by Marc Chagall, Paul Signac, and Paul Gauguin, with Asian buyers accounting for a 2014 Auguste Rodin cast, Aphrodite, grand model, sent for sale by the Musée Rodin, which sold on the low estimate for £722,500 including premium, and for Salvador Dali, whose 1957 painting, Chevauchee celeste, sold for a mid-estimate £2.9 million, only slightly more, after deducting commissions, than the £2.2 million it fetched in 2010.

One of the best gains of the night was the £3.7 million paid by an Asian buyer for Signac’s Marseilles le Port, which the Swiss based seller bought ten years earlier for £736,500.

Otherwise gains were nowhere near those chalked up in contemporary sales. Still, the sale proved that the demand is there for the second best, if the price is competitive.