Waiting for the Gavel to Fall

摘要

They are the business world's greatest rivalries. Coke and Pepsi. McDonald's and Burger King. And at the high end of the food chain, Sotheby's and Christie's. The dueling auction houses began adorning the walls of stately homes nearly a century before Manet picked up a paintbrush. They compete fiercely for business-but, authorities now suspect, have had a cozier relationship when setting commissions. In January Christie's disclosed it was cooperating with a Justice Department investigation into alleged price fixing. Last week, in a move that stunned the art world, Sotheby's chief executive Diana Brooks, who's gained fame presiding over the house's most famous auctions, and chairman Alfred Taubman abruptly resigned. To most observers the shakeup seemed a sign of guilt-and perhaps a move by Sotheby's to strike a better deal with the Feds. Galleries buzzed with news of the scandal. Says Irving Blum, a retired dealer: "The government's going to do to the auction houses what it's doing to Microsoft."