Abstract
The first auction company has been founded by Sam Baker, in the middle of the 18th century, in 1744. The company was at the beginning specialized in books and literature. There were 80 various collections of categories.
At first, Sotheby's chose to develop bookcases sales. The funny story is that amongst all these bookcases were the one of Bonaparte.
The company then extended its sales to prints and currencies. In 1950, Sotheby's grew strongly, thanks to its CEO Peter Wilson. Impressionism and Modern Art was one of the strongest fields of the company. In the late 1950s, the company offered to sale the famous Goldschmidt collection, which included up to seven paintings and frames. This frames were sold in twenty minutes, for £781 000. With this kind of sale, Peter Wilson understood the real meaning of the market and chose to open an office in New York in the middle of the 1950s.
In the late 1960s, new offices opened in Paris, France, Los Angeles and Houston, USA. A few offices were also opened in Melbourne, Australia, Florence, Italy and Toronto, Canada, then in Edimburg, Munich and Zurich. Finally, in the 70s, other offices have been opened in Asia and other American States.
