And the Internet, thanks to its cheap interconnection of millions of people, makes well-functioning auctions far easier.
The company has tried to become a store by adding specially curated Buy It Now items and pushing the auctions far below the surface, but the past is always there, lurking.
But that auction felt far more buoyant, since only 8 of the 43 works went unsold.
This work hasn't been seen since 1973 and prior to that had never been offered at auction as far as we are aware".
Prices for nearly everything from Mr. Norton's collection topped expectations, with pieces like Mr. McCarthy's "Tomato Head," a childlike 1994 sculpture, bringing $4.5 million, a record price for the artist at auction and far above the estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million.
Ms. McLean, who is no longer able to operate the museum, and Mr. Baker, who has other things to attend to, are trying to sell the website and artifacts in an online auction, so far without luck.
In a telephone interview from London, Mr. Graff, who is perhaps the best-known dealer in large stones and is also a major art collector, said that the sizzle leading up to a jewel auction is far less broad than all the marketing that proceeds an art auction.
One of the evening's biggest surprises occurred when the British artist Glenn Brown's dramatic landscape "The Tragic Conversion of Salvador Dali (After John Martin)" from 1998 sold for $8 million, a record for the artist at auction and far above Sotheby's high estimate of $4.5 million.
The auction netted far less than the £22bn raised from the 3G auction in 2000.
The auction is far from over: Bidding could go more than 100 rounds, lasting several more weeks.
