Last night’s sale at Sotheby’s was akin to watching the grass grow. No one had had high expectations for the offered lots. The works were less than exalted and "pleasant" would have been a reach for many of them. It certainly must have seemed to auctioneer Tobias Meyer, as he stepped on to the rostrum last night at Sotheby’s, that the glass was half empty. Christie’s had stolen their thunder and everything else that wasn’t actually nailed to the walls or screwed to the floor. Sotheby’s catalogue weighed a pound and a half less than Christie’s. By any empirical standard there was going to be a whole lot less to contest and there were a whole lot less people in the room to contest it. On the bright side it looked like we were going to play the short course and be home for an early dinner.

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