ART MARKET WATCH
by Stewart Waltzer



Christie’s New York sale of Impressionist and modern art on May 9, 2007, could not have started more differently than did Sotheby’s the night before. Auctioneer Christopher Burge, with a long evening in front of him, opened the sale at a run. Bids flew around the room as he batted them back and forth from buyer to buyer in ambidextrous volley. Bids climbed effortlessly past the high estimates, doubled, and sold. At least it wasn’t going to be death by a thousand slow bids.

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