ABSTRACT
In the eighteenth century, most of the best-known auction houses were founded, and these are, in fact, some of our oldest, continuously operated businesses in the world. Among the many auction houses being formed in the eighteenth century, two, Sotheby's and Christie's, would rise to global dominance by the early twenty-first century. The reach and dominance of the two big auction houses has never been greater. Some regional auctioneers even hold the sales at the collector's original home. The perils of the auction business are numerous: for buyers, sellers, and for the auction houses themselves. The US authorities began to take interest and by 1997 had issued subpoenas, but the case seemed to be going nowhere until quite spectacularly, Christie's recently dismissed CEO Christopher Davidage turned over massive amounts of documents in exchange for amnesty.
