Across the carpet, Christie's has been masquerading as a dealer called King St Fine Art, through which clients who prefer to dispose of their artworks by private sale rather than public auction are supposed to find an outlet.

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That is why the games are being sold by private treaty rather than included in the auction of Dome assets scheduled to start on 27 February.

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An investigation revealed that Greenberg had been warned by experts that bottles in his collection were not authentic and decided to push them on unwitting buyers at his auction rather than toss them, Hueston said.

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Ms. Rowling's agent, Neil Blair, said that he negotiated directly with Little, Brown in the U.K. for world English rights rather than offering the title for auction.

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Other owners seemed to go to the auction intent on collecting autographs rather than pursuing any kind of strategy.

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Industry watchers speculated that Google, which lobbied the FCC to adopt open access rules for the auction, was participating in the auction out of a sense of duty rather than a desire to win.

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Starting Wednesday morning, auction participants will have to use more (95% rather than 85%) of their "bidding units" to discourage them from sitting out rounds or making other stealth moves.

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Second, auction permits (which are, in effect, money) rather than giving them away free.

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Paulson has suggested that one way to set prices would be through what's known as a reverse auction, the goal of which is to drive prices down, rather than up.

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