Auction Houses
The world's three largest auction houses are Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams. The world's largest online auction site is EBay. Sotheby's, was founded by Samuel Baker , who held the first-ever sale under his own name on March 11, 1744. Bonhams was founded in 1793 by Thomas Dodd, a renowned antique print dealer and Walter Bonham, a book specialist. In 1766, James Christie opened his London auction house and launched the world's first fine art auctioneers. EBay is a relatively new auction house that holds online auctions, allowing people to bid on everything imaginable. In the 1980s and 1990s, the auction world was dominated by two major players, Sotheby's and privately held Christie's. Two major events conspired to weaken their hegemony. The first major impact on these two big players was the rising popularity of the Internet, and the second is the big settlement class action price-fixing suits that Sotheby's and Christies have had to endure that ha...