Overall, 54 of the sale's 59 offerings found buyers, helping the auction house achieve a healthy 95.5% of its potential value.

WSJ: Sotheby's Sale Defies Demonstrators

It has already commissioned four new works between now and 2008 - a second work by Lynne Plowman called 'House of Gods' as well as new musical offerings by Nigel Osborne, Aribert Reimann, Michael Berkeley - which means that lovers of new opera in both Wales and London should have plenty to enjoy.

BBC: Opera House forges Welsh links

Blue House represents the fruits of that internal focus on the Web: an expansion of IBM's online offerings, not just for its employees but also for its customers.

FORBES: Enterprise