To the Highest Bidder

As an interior designer, I watch the auction houses, and attend sales regularly. I have NEVER before had an explanation of what actually goes on that presents art, decorative art, and antiques buying to us in the fashion that the major auction houses manipulate it.. Now I know, and every interior designer should. Must reading for every designer who scavenges, bids at the auction houses, and is sometimes dismayed and horrified by the price escalation. Bravo to the author for a lucid and intelligent explanation of what actually goes on.

John Milton defined the literary concept of decorum, using the proper language for the proper form. His word choice was completely different in "Paradise Lost" than it was in his rustic poem "Lycidas." "To The Highest Bidder" is novel of artifice: artificial people, and an artificial world, and is peopled by characters who are both "round" and "flat", as explained by E.M. Forster in his series of lectures at Cambridge University. Shakespeare himself could've written a little more clearly, couldn't he? Used fewer words? I suggest that CB, who reviewed the book on this page, misunderstands what the author was seeking to do. Because something is not his cup of tea does not make it without value. Language can bend whatever way it has to to serve its purpose. Does it occur to him that the people represented in the book actaully may talk and think as they are represented? Has he listened to them? Perhaps the genteman needs to think about the literary use of hyperbole, then just head for the latest John Grisham or Robert B. Parker. This book has a fan club (I am one) of people who have been unable to put it down.

No wonder this book was up for a 2004 Pulitzer Prize. First-time author Phillips has woven an intriguing tale with deft touches and unusual characters. I defy you to put it down, or think of sleep. Each chapter teases you into the next. There is real and solid information here about the machinations of the auction world. The author is obviously an expert observer, and watched the scandals that erupted in the l990's in their beginning stages. You will know who, and what, each character in an auction house does, and how their lives flow together and apart. Those who are in the art and auction world in New York love this book. Bravo. Very nearly a work of art, certainly a work of knowledge.

I began reading this book because of my interest in the Cadwalader chair, which I first heard about when it set an auction record. But I learned about more than just the chair: my suspicions about the auction business were confirmed, and I now know that in a place where integrity is essential, you may not find it. I thank the author for her insights, as well as for telling a darn good story.

Wow! Whoever thought that snobby old auction houses were like the description in this book! Neat characters, really fast-paced, I stayed up half the night to finish it. Sexy, too, and lots of scandal.