The Ethiopian Caterpillar (see article) sold by Sotheby's in 2010 fetched more than five times the price for an identical piece at Sotheby's in 2006.
Though successful, Sotheby's would remain in the shadow cast by Christie's until Sotheby's entered the fine art trade in 1917, when the modern-day rivalry was born.
But the furthest Sotheby's went in its after-sale press release was to state that, of the bidders registered for the sale, 16% were new to Sotheby's.
Even though none of the firms has been found guilty yet, Sotheby's has acknowledged that the dispute "could well have a material impact on Sotheby's financial condition".
If 24.3% of the buyers at the auction were new, it means 35 people had never bought from Sotheby's before 35 buyers whose names can be added to Sotheby's contact list, and who may return.
"In the auction context, this is really the most intensely moving, powerful and wonderful drawing that we have ever had, " Gregory Rubinstein, Sotheby's head of Old Master drawings, said in an online discussion of the work with other Sotheby's specialists.
He has bought out Sotheby's New York jewellery experts en bloc, taken half its French furniture team and is seeking to seduce to Phillips the impressionist, modern picture and contemporary art expertise of Sotheby's and Christie's in London, with all the multi-million-dollar business and contacts they can bring.
Just look at the catalogs from Christie's and Sotheby's and catch the high estimates.
It isn't just the price-fixing disgrace, which shocked both Christie's and Sotheby's when it came to light.
In a dizzying pirouette, acting for shareholders, he played Christie's against Sotheby's in the 2001 price-fixing scandal.
This was rather awkward: Christie's and Sotheby's are already under fire in America for alleged price fixing.
The recent Modern and Impressionist auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's gave art-market watchers a lot to digest.
To revive their fortunes, both Christie's and Sotheby's are restructuring and cutting costs.
Just look at the catalogs from Christie's and Sotheby's (nyse: BID - news - people ) and catch the high estimates.
Christie's and Sotheby's, in their neck-and-neck battle for art-world supremacy, continue to prove that art is a stellar investment in these volatile economic times.
Not to be outdone, Christie's matched Sotheby's with its lavish treatment of the modern-art collection of Victor and Sally Ganz in the fall of 1997.
Witness the auctions last week at Christie's and Sotheby's, where collectors scooped up paintings by academically trained artists who have been long overshadowed by Impressionism.
Another Chinese auctioneer, Beijing Poly, ranks third after Christie's and Sotheby's.
Christie's and Sotheby's do make their catalogs widely available to museums and foreign governments to try to snare stolen treasures before they're put on the block.
Worse still, an American appeals court ruled last month that clients who sold art at Christie's or Sotheby's outside America can claim damages for price-fixing in the American courts.
Christie's, Sotheby's and other bastions of the traditional art establishment have been trying for years to attract these nouveau buyers-young, self-made and thoroughly unimpressed by titled pedigrees and plummy accents.
Last December, in the wake of Mr Watson's revelations, Sotheby's introduced a new code of practice to ensure that it does not sell anything with an uncertain provenance.
Corroon's counterpart at Sotheby's, Matthew Weigman , agrees.
That's the hope anyway at Sotheby's, which is holding its "Magnificent Jewels" sale April 10, and at Christie's, which will have a two-day sale with the same title on April 14 and 15.
Last week's contemporary art auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's had the feel of growth stock mania in the early seventies when Xerox, Polaroid, even Eastman Kodak and American Express sold in the stratosphere at 40 to 60 times earnings.
If Warhol's "Orange Marilyn" is, as Sotheby's catalog chatter suggests, the shining icon of 20th-century art, then we can relax -- the bull cycle ain't over.
At least that's the story Ward Landrigan, the former Sotheby's jewelry head who has owned the Verdura brand for 25 years, tells, admitting that it's only what he's been able to piece together, as the history is draped in glamour's cousin, mystery.
As for auctions, Christie's says it has sold one war rug, Sotheby's none.
In the U.S., George Ballantyne, vice president of Sotheby's International Realty, points to areas in the Midwest, such as Michigan and Ohio.
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