"These are people in love with the auction business," he said.

Now, however, Sotheby's, along with the rest of the auction business, is suffering from a sluggish economy.

"Any decline in the auction business during that period was unrelated to the tax window," she said.

Debt, death and divorce, the three D's of the auction business, keep the art market going.

Consolidation in the travel industry has left just three major players in the auction business.

Sotheby's and Christie's control about 95 percent of the $4 billion global auction business.

"For me it's a new world, having spent 42 years in the auction business."

He has been featured in a few episodes, learning the auction business from his father and grandfather.

But he needed a good income to raise them, and the auction business eventually came to the rescue.

By 1807, he was back in the auction business.