IF you browse the interactive catalogue of an online sale when it is open for bids, you will generally find that very little seems to be happening until the final day and, essentially, the final hour. People don’t want to alert competition for potential sleepers or other interesting lots. This can give the last moments real tension, when a lot is kept open as bidders wait for the virtual hammer to fall. Except in the last respect, the Freddie Mercury sales at Sotheby’s in London earlier this month were not at all like that.
The three live auctions—including an evening sale on
