Every year they perform similarly... They get their first boost in Feb/Mar... Hit a nice stride in April... Make sure you get out by end of summer (August) before its too late for the winter losses.

You can peak at the auction calendar and see when their big shows end... time your buy/sell based on their calendar.

Who Cares?

It's been a long long time since the banking system failed. Investment choices of old money controls the willingness to piss away $40,000,000.00 on a painting. In order for Sotheby to maintain it's image as a the great pompus ass of art dealers it places minumim guarentees on the auctions. A possible example would be when the market says a $40,000,000.00 painting is only worth $10,000,000.00 Sotheby is stuck buying the painting for $20,000,000.00 and then having to dump it descretly for $10,000,000.00