Art auctions refers to the process of buying and selling fine art (including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints) by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling them to the highest bidders. The concept of an auction is an old one; the word auction is derived from the Latin augeō, for “I increase” or “I augment.” Auctions were traditionally used for buying and selling a wide range of goods and services. Apart from fine art, there are auctions for collectibles (stamps, coins, vintage toys, classic cars, etc.), wine, residential and commercial real estate, farms and land, secondhand goods of all kinds (particularly farm equipment and household effects), industrial machinery (both surplus and on account of business insolvency), livestock (including sheep, [Page 126]cattle, pigs, ...