Auction house sells art collection after winning rock, paper, scissors contest

NEW YORK -- Winning a playground game of rock paper scissors has paid off handsomely for the auction house Christie's.\nThe auctioneer made a handy profit Wednesday by selling four paintings for $17.8 million, having earned the right to conduct the sale by beating rival Sotheby's in what's been called the most expensive game of rock paper scissors ever played.\nTakashi Hashiyama, president of Maspro Denkoh Corp., which owned the art work, had asked Sotheby's and Christie's to each choose a weapon -- rock, paper or scissors -- because he could not decide which auction house to use for the sale.\n"I sometimes use such methods when I cannot make a decision," Hashiyama told The New York Times in an April 29 story. "As both companies were equally good and I just could not choose one, I asked them to please decide between themselves and suggested to use such methods as rock paper scissors."\nUsing a game of chance to make a decision is not unusual in Japan.\nAt a meeting earlier this year in Tokyo, the auction houses were asked to make their selections and write them down. The World Rock Paper Scissors Society dubbed the contest the RPS Match of the Century.\nChristie's chose scissors, defeating Sotheby's paper. (Scissors cut paper, paper smothers rock, rock smashes scissors). And so the collection was sold as part of Christie's sale of impressionist and modern art.\nThe centerpiece of the company's collection, Paul Cezanne's "Les grands arbres au Jas de Bouffan," sold for $11.8 million, including Christie's premium of 20 percent on the first $200,000 and 12 percent on the rest, said auction house spokeswoman Sara Fox. The piece's presale estimate had been $12 million to $16 million.\nThe company's Alfred Sisley piece, "La manufacture de Sevres," sold for $1.6 million, Fox said. Its presale estimate had been $1.4 million to $1.8 million.\nPablo Picasso's "Boulevard de Clichy" went for $1.7 million, and Vincent van Gogh's "Vue de la chambre de l'artiste, rue Lepic" went for $2.7 million. Both had been expected to sell for around $2 million.\nThe identities of the winning bidders were not immediately released.\nCommissions vary depending on the item, the price and the auction house.\nChristie's, for example, had a two-day sale of impressionist and modern art last fall that brought $155.9 million. The final prices included a commission of 19.5 percent of the first $100,000 and 12 percent of the rest.