Christopher Mason - The Art of the Steal: Inside the Sothebys-Christies Auction House Scandal

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Table of Contents

Praise for The Art of the Steal

I was mesmerized from beginning to end by Christopher Masons elegantly written history of the swanky case that has riveted the art and social worlds for half a dozen years. His depiction of Taubman and his beautiful and controversial wife, Judy, is fascinating. His understanding of the legalities and courtroom dramas is wickedly precise. His knowledge of the ways of high society is uncanny. His social-climbing anecdotes are hilarious. The Art of the Steal is very entertaining indeed.Dominick Dunne

Christopher Mason is a master storyteller.Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

An amazing and depressing chronicle of greed in the name of culture that should (but probably wont) keep art buyers from ever walking into an auction house again.Publishers Weekly

Meticulously researched, contains much valuable new information... [Mason is] a one-man church confession box... full of the wholesome pleasure of watching the English upper classes knocking each other about... [probably] the last word to be written; and it will be an indispensable source for establishing the truth.The Evening Standard

Juicy prose and detail. Fortune

Gossipy and extensively researched... [Mason] writes fluently, and portrays this milieuthe money to be made trading in other peoples belongingsand the people engagingly. It is filled with classic eighties types: men and women whose enthusiasms are chiefly vanity, ambition and greed. The Spectator

An excellent book, thoroughly researched, well-written with a good eye for detail and some wonderful anecdotes.The Daily Telegraph

The fascinating true story of a big-business scandal that rocked the international art world and the sensational trials that followed. Brilliantly written and meticulously reported... nothing short of mesmerizingTucson Citizen

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THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Copyright 2004 by Christopher Mason.

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ISBN : 978-1-4406-2782-8

1. Sothebys (Firm)Corrupt practices. 2. Christies (Firm)Corrupt practices. 3. Price-fixing.
4. ArtPrices. 5. AuctionsCorrupt practices. 6. Art auctionsCorrupt practices. I. Title:
Sothebys-Christies auction house scandal. II. Title: Christies auction house scandal. III. Title.
HF5477.G74S
364.168dc22

http://us.penguingroup.com

FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER

I succumbed to New Yorks siren song
and weve lived an ocean apart for many years,
but youre always close to my heart.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

SOTHEBYS

src="Images/maso_9781440603105_oeb_004_r1-res-hi.gif" alt="004" />

PROLOGUE

December 1999

CLUTCHING A BLACK leather briefcase crammed with neatly filed documents, Christopher Davidge ventured out into the streets of London on an overcast morning three days before Christmas. Dressed sharply in a dark blue suit tailored to his diminutive physique, his graying beard and leonine hair clipped and coiffed to immaculate perfection, the fifty-four-year-old CEO of Christies was embarking on an errand that he knew could destroy the reputations of both Christies and its archrival, Sothebys, and send one of the richest men in America to jail.

The London art world was grinding to a halt for the Christmas holidays, and the normally bustling streets of St. Jamess were quiet. The only sign of life was at Fortnum & Mason, the royal grocer in Piccadilly, where American tourists were still clamoring for last-minute gifts wrapped in turquoise shopping bags emblazoned with royal coats of arms.

Hailing a cab in Piccadilly, he headed east to the City for his rendezvous with William Joseph Linklater, a senior partner in the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie. Reputed to be tough, suave and extremely effective, Joe Linklater headed the firms criminal practice division in the United States.

With the precision of a general planning a surprise attack, Davidge had spent the past few days reviewing his stockpile of documentary ammunition. Ensconced in the candlelit drawing room of his flat, he had focused on the task that Linklater assigned him: to carefully index the dozens of pages of notes he had kept of his illegal meetings and agreements with his archcompetitor, Diana Dede Brooks, the CEO of Sothebys. Also among the cache of documents Davidge carried were his confidential communications with Sir Anthony Tennant, Christies former worldwide chairman, who had stepped down from Christies board in 1998. Together, the contents of the plump file constituted a devastating chronicle of an illicit, undiscovered price-fixing conspiracy between the worlds two leading auction houses.

Davidges black London taxi pulled up at Baker & McKenzies offices on New Bridge Street at ten A.M. With his cache of papers still firmly in his grasp he took the elevator to the third floor, where he was greeted by Joe Linklater, who had flown in from Chicago the night before. Finding Davidge to be apprehensive at first but engagingly frank about his role in the conspiracy, Linklater began examining the pile of papers that lay before him. His eyes lit up when the Englishman pointed to three pages of handwritten notes from Sir Anthony Tennant, one of which was headed Paper given April 30.

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