On the second day of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis auction at Sotheby's in New York, a moment of strange reflection occurred. A 19th-century Empire-style, gilt-bronze hand mirror that once held the gaze of Jackie O suddenly faced an audience of people trying to buy the same gaze in a thousand little bits and pieces. For a single moment, as the bidding on Lot 105 rose from the estimated selling price of $500 into the thousands, it seemed as if the world had turned upside down, as if the object up for auction beheld the audience, rather than the other way around. A minute later, Lot 105 sold for $7,000, the mirror gave way to the next item, but the bizarre impression remained.
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