A Spectator's Notebook
AS A RESULT of my curiosity being aroused by correspondence in the Sunday Times about the strange practices of antique dealers at auction sales, I asked a dealer friend of mine what It was all about. The general idea is that dealers should eliminate real bidding amongst themselves at the public auction and keep the genuine business for the private auction—the 'knock'—which follows the day's dealings. The difference be- tween the prices fetched at the public auction and the much higher ones realised at the 'knock' is shared out among the dealers taking part. All these transactions are in cash, and the chairman—usually a rich dealer who has become wealthy from his own dealings in the `knock'—has almost dictatorial Powers and may refuse to admit anyone of whom he dis- approves.
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