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An example of a recent and notable sale is Roy Lichtenstein’s I Can See The Whole Room…And There’s Nobody In It! It sold for $43.2 million at Christie’s in November, 2011. 
Here is a video of the piece being auctioned off at Christie’s:
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After watching this video of the piece getting auctioned off, I realized how well the reading describes the typical auction. The Lichtenstein piece was auctioned off at Christie’s by Christopher Burge. His charming personality as described by Thornton is seen in the video. While he does seem to have “tight control over the room” (Thornton 5), he has a way of engaging the crowd that keeps everyone involved, whether or not they are bidding. I think any major auction ar Christy’s or Sotheby’s is really well described by Thornton who calls it a “high-society spectator sport” (Thornton 9).
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