Aug 21st, 2008 · EBay may soon be giving up the gavel as the world's biggest online auction site. The company is announcing a major overhaul that would make it easier for merchants to sell items for a fixed price. We examine the company's shift to a business model that emphasizes buying over bidding.
Aug 2nd, 2008 · A pair of knickers once worn by Queen Victoria was sold at auction this week for about $9,000. The bloomers date from the 1890s, are hand-made, and are embossed VR, for Victoria Regina.
Jul 13th, 2008 · Monday, the troubled mortgage giant will try to raise $3 billion in a securities sale, but the big question is whether or not investors will front the money. NPR's Jim Zarroli talks to host Andrea Seabrook about the steps the federal government might take if the Freddie Mac sale falls short of its goal.
Jun 28th, 2008 · This week, 25 outfits worn by James Gandolfini in The Sopranos were auctioned off to benefit the Wounded Warrior project, a group that aids troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jun 24th, 2008 · An $80 million auction sale of a work by Claude Monet illustrates that while most ordinary people are cutting out non-essential spending, wealthy art collectors aren't. The weak dollar is one reason why a very small group of ultra-rich buyers is keeping the high-end art market alive.
Jun 20th, 2008 · Dumas became the highest paid living female artist in 2005 when one of her paintings sold at auction for $3.4 million. She gets introspective about being blonde and painting another famous blonde, Marilyn Monroe, post-autopsy.
Jun 19th, 2008 · One of the earliest phone books — published in New Haven, Conn., in 1878 — has sold at auction for $170. The slender volume included what would become the Yellow Pages, and some of the businesses that advertised then still exist ... including the Yale Daily News.
Jun 16th, 2008 · Somebody might pay tens of thousands of dollars at this week's auction of an 1878 phone book from New Haven, Conn. Recipients of the directory got the following instructions on how to use the phone: Begin calls by saying, "Hulloa!" Keep conversations to three minutes. Report anyone using profanity. And end the conversation by declaring, "That is All."