If French Israeli telecommunications entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, who bought Sothebys in June in a deal worth $3.7 billion, needed proof that auctions are unlike any other business, he got a clear introduction to that reality during this weeks unpredictable sales. On Tuesday night, Sothebys saw a 40% drop in its impressionist and modern art sales compared with the equivalent sale last May. By Thursday, the auction house was heartened by the $270.6 million total of its contemporary art sale although that, too, was 28% lower than the spring total. To drive home the fickleness of the salesroom, Christies, on Wednesday, achieved an auction high for an Ed Ruscha work, fetching $52.5 million for the Prince of Pops 1964 word painting Hurting the Word Radio #2. The following night, Sothebys, on the other hand, couldnt even manage to sell Ruschas egg yolk on silk, She Gets Angry At Him, from the
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