Sixty years ago, Harry Abrams was the trailblazer in publishing lavish “art” books. Along the way he got to know artists, many of whom  either gave him works, or he bought their work on the ground floor. On April 7, 2010,  Phillips de Pury & Company sold it all, 318 pieces offered went for a total of just over $6 million, about three times more than estimated.
There were works by Picasso and Chagall and Klee and Indiana and Warhol and Giacometti and dozens of others, but the unexpected big seller was David Burliuk, the Ukranian avant-garde artist who accounted for half of the top ten sales. Â The day-long event was held on the auction house’s third floor in New York’s Chelsea district. Â It was reported Phillips intentionally set low estimates to attract a good crowd. Â The strategy succeeded,
Read more at The Wall Street Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/04/08/abrams-estate-auction-brings-in-more-than-6-million/
