Sotheby's
Bidding for Class
By Robert Lacey
Little, Brown, $25.95
ISBN 0316511390

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In witty, well-researched previous books, London author Robert Lacey infiltrated the closed societies of megabusiness (Ford: The Man and the Machine) and the underworld (Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life). Now, he has found another choice subject: Sotheby's auction house, which "has spent a profitable 250 years cultivating the paradox that rich people, at heart, are the neediest people of all."

The book opens with a bizarre prologue, recounting the glitz, greed, and glamour of Sotheby's auction of the estate of Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis -- 5,914 items ranging from her cigarette lighter to her BMW. The ego-feeding frenzy was off and running with a nondescript wooden footstool, value estimated in the catalogue at $100 to $150.

The auctioneer, the firm's statuesque blond president and CEO, Dede Brooks, sold the item for a total of $33,500. On the underside was a label in Jackie's handwriting: "Footstool JBK bedroom in White House for Caroline to climb onto window seat." Other prices made even less sense.

Just as mind-boggling is the epilogue describing the sale of the effects of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, with Woody Allen, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barbara Walters among those seeking objects with the letter "W" surmounted on a coronet. Loudest applause went to a young Asian-American couple who paid $29,900 for a small ribbon-tied box inscribed by the Duchess: "A piece of our wedding cake." The next day Seinfeld called for permission to use the incident on the show.

The bulk of the book is an intriguing history of Sotheby's from its first auction, held in 1744, through recent times when the Japanese drove art prices through the roof and some of their corporations into bankruptcy. Locked for centuries in a rivalry with Christie's, Sotheby's expansion into America wins the day. The book is also a cultural history of England, with its ingrained distinction of class and gender.

Robert Lacey interviewed hundreds of people before writing this remarkable book, collecting amusing stories, especially about former longtime CEO Peter Wilson, a friend of Ian Fleming and reportedly a model for James Bond. This is a lively tale, richly entertaining and full of surprises.

Benjamin Griffith is a writer in Carrollton, Georgia.