Category Archives: auctions

Watches: Don’t Trust the Auctions

Of all the weird alternative asset classes to be invested in, could watches have been one of the best? A 1963 Patek Philippe just sold at Christie’s in Geneva for $800,000 — a record for a yellow-gold watch. But as … Continue reading

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Art Auctions: The End of Seller’s Rebates

I wonder whether Edward Dolman is one of those people who, long after they’ve left home, casually drop into a conversation with their parents that they’ve stopped smoking cigarettes — having never admitted, in the prior years, that they were … Continue reading

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Auction Results and Hammer Prices, Redux

It turns out I’m not the only person who cares about the weird way in which auction house estimates are compared to hammer prices (ex commission) during an auction, but are compared to the total price paid (including commission) after … Continue reading

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Can the TARP Work?

I’ve got a piece at the main Portfolio.com site today called "Rolling Out the TARP", going into a bit of detail about whether and how this whole reverse-auction thing might work in practice. It’s based largely on a paper by … Continue reading

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The Bailout’s Auction Design: How About a Market?

Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson spent a bit of time yesterday talking, in pretty vague terms, about auction design and how important it would be to any eventual bailout mechanism. The idea is pretty simple: assume argumento that "fundamental" prices … Continue reading

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