The site now hosts real-time webcasts of live auctions once a week or so, with web bidders represented in the real-world auction room by a Dove employee with a paddle.

ECONOMIST: The new old thing

The site now has 12, 000 members and has conducted more than 5, 000 live auctions over the past year, providing it with enough liquidity to start compiling real-time market trends and indices.

ECONOMIST: B2B exchanges

Unlike live wine auctions, where bids are often raised in hundred-dollar increments, an online bid can be upped by just a buck, though the exact amount varies from one site to another.

WSJ: A Guide to Bidding in Online Wine Auctions | On Wine by Lettie Teague

The auction was the first in a series of live and online auctions to raise money for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York.

BBC: Andy Warhol works fetch $17m at New York auction

John Kapon, president of Acker Merrall, which holds both live and Internet auctions, cited many of the same wines, though he added old Rioja and Riesling to his list, especially the world-class Trimbach Clos Ste.

WSJ: A Guide to Bidding in Online Wine Auctions | On Wine by Lettie Teague

Although it now conducts online auctions, its more striking innovation was broadcasting live events on the web and allowing off-site participants to make bids in real-time.

ECONOMIST: If you think B2B marketplaces are dead, read on

"No one could've predicted the emergence of the Russian superrich, but they are here now and they live in London, and part of living in London is going to the art auctions, " Dolman says.

FORBES: The New Breed