Highest Bid

Regarding "An Offer They Can't Refuse" by Wendy Jaffe, March 14: Our agents suggested an accelerated bid, a bidding method in which the buyer offers to best the highest bid by a certain amount, say $1,500, without going over a specified amount. There were seven bids on the property we wanted. Our bid and another were the two high offers at exactly the same price. But because of the accelerated bid clause we prevailed. Morley and Joyce Helfand Arcadia

For the sake of charity, Alex Salnik of San Jose has agreed to share his secrets, little mysteries about women that he believes could change your life. Marlaina Ward of Santa Cruz will come to your home and bless your baby. And James Grant of Saratoga will teach you, in 15 minutes, how to pick a combination lock. They are a new breed of philanthropists coming together on an online site launched this month, an EBay-like portal that auctions people's skills — juggling, hula-hooping, pie-baking — and connections to raise money for their favorite charities.

Marilyn Monroe, dead 47 years, still carries enough cachet that a bidder on Monday offered $4.6 million for the crypt above the spot where she is entombed. Elsie Poncher, whose husband, Richard Poncher, is buried in the crypt at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, said she wanted to sell it to pay off the more than $1-million mortgage on her Beverly Hills home. If the winning bid on EBay is legitimate, Poncher will be able to do a lot more than just retire her mortgage.

Marilyn Monroe, dead 47 years, still carries enough cachet that a bidder on Monday offered $4.6 million for the crypt above the spot where she is entombed. Elsie Poncher, whose husband, Richard Poncher, is buried in the crypt at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, said she wanted to sell it to pay off the more than $1-million mortgage on her Beverly Hills home. If the winning bid on EBay is legitimate, Poncher will be able to do a lot more than just retire her mortgage.

A work of art may be priceless -- but it was the price offered for a Michelangelo drawing that kept it from being sold at a Christie's auction this week. The Renaissance master's "Study of a Male Torso" was on the block at an estimated worth of $4 million. When the hammer came down, the highest bid was $3.2 million, not quite meeting the confidential reserve price, Christie's said.

The "Angel of Love, Light and Giving" twinkled with a thousand pinpoints of fiber-optic light; another angel titled "Stara" (old star) reflected light off its mosaic surface of glass, metallic paint and Mylar. There were angels created by the casts and crews of the TV shows "The Practice" and "The West Wing"; an angel by Brigid LaBonge decorated with photos of L.A.

For the sake of charity, Alex Salnik of San Jose has agreed to share his secrets, little mysteries about women that he believes could change your life. Marlaina Ward of Santa Cruz will come to your home and bless your baby. And James Grant of Saratoga will teach you, in 15 minutes, how to pick a combination lock. They are a new breed of philanthropists coming together on an online site launched this month, an EBay-like portal that auctions people's skills — juggling, hula-hooping, pie-baking — and connections to raise money for their favorite charities.

"Watch for Fleas" and "Careful Fleas Crossing" warn the signs along the narrow two-lane road leading to this century-old northern Indiana hamlet with the hard-to-pronounce name. More than a million people from all across America beat a path here every year for the 43-year-old fleamarket and flea auctions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, May through October. Shipshewana, which is in the heart of Indiana's Amish country and was named after an Indian chief, boasts one of the nation's oldest and largest flea markets.

With Major League Baseball entering the final two weeks of the regular season, the bidding for the Chicago Cubs is about to move into the hardball stage. Tribune Co. announced in May that it would sell the marquee franchise after the current season as part of its privatization deal with Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' 40.4-carat diamond engagement ring from Aristotle Onassis sold for $2.58 million at Sotheby's auction Wednesday as the frenzy to own a chunk of Camelot and Mrs. Onassis' possessions continued unabated. The diamond, the most expensive item in the auction catalog, had been valued at $600,000 by Sotheby's appraisers. It was bought by Albert and Felice Lippert, founders of Weight Watchers, on behalf of a "dear friend" who was not identified.

With Major League Baseball entering the final two weeks of the regular season, the bidding for the Chicago Cubs is about to move into the hardball stage. Tribune Co. announced in May that it would sell the marquee franchise after the current season as part of its privatization deal with Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell.

A work of art may be priceless -- but it was the price offered for a Michelangelo drawing that kept it from being sold at a Christie's auction this week. The Renaissance master's "Study of a Male Torso" was on the block at an estimated worth of $4 million. When the hammer came down, the highest bid was $3.2 million, not quite meeting the confidential reserve price, Christie's said.

Regarding "An Offer They Can't Refuse" by Wendy Jaffe, March 14: Our agents suggested an accelerated bid, a bidding method in which the buyer offers to best the highest bid by a certain amount, say $1,500, without going over a specified amount. There were seven bids on the property we wanted. Our bid and another were the two high offers at exactly the same price. But because of the accelerated bid clause we prevailed. Morley and Joyce Helfand Arcadia

The "Angel of Love, Light and Giving" twinkled with a thousand pinpoints of fiber-optic light; another angel titled "Stara" (old star) reflected light off its mosaic surface of glass, metallic paint and Mylar. There were angels created by the casts and crews of the TV shows "The Practice" and "The West Wing"; an angel by Brigid LaBonge decorated with photos of L.A.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' 40.4-carat diamond engagement ring from Aristotle Onassis sold for $2.58 million at Sotheby's auction Wednesday as the frenzy to own a chunk of Camelot and Mrs. Onassis' possessions continued unabated. The diamond, the most expensive item in the auction catalog, had been valued at $600,000 by Sotheby's appraisers. It was bought by Albert and Felice Lippert, founders of Weight Watchers, on behalf of a "dear friend" who was not identified.

Shortly after bidding was closed on item 43 during the recent auction at a San Diego hotel, Tom Hartford handed over a deposit and walked out the door with a receipt for a piece of used electronic equipment. "I rent these things out to people," said Hartford, a Santa Barbara resident who paid $630 in cash for the power source that previously was owned by General Dynamics' electronics division. "It would cost me about $3,000 new today . . . so I got a good deal."

Shortly after bidding was closed on item 43 during the recent auction at a San Diego hotel, Tom Hartford handed over a deposit and walked out the door with a receipt for a piece of used electronic equipment. "I rent these things out to people," said Hartford, a Santa Barbara resident who paid $630 in cash for the power source that previously was owned by General Dynamics' electronics division. "It would cost me about $3,000 new today . . . so I got a good deal."

For nearly half a century, the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel-Air has served as a serene stopover for visitors from locations as varied as Newhall, Nashville and the Netherlands. But the decision by UCLA to sell the steep hillside property and an adjoining house to raise money for endowments and professorships has the garden world in an un-Zen-like uproar. The Garden Conservancy, an organization based in New York and San Francisco, has lambasted the university's transfer to the Fowler Museum of a five-tiered stone pagoda and other garden objects and has urged the public to contact UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.

"Watch for Fleas" and "Careful Fleas Crossing" warn the signs along the narrow two-lane road leading to this century-old northern Indiana hamlet with the hard-to-pronounce name. More than a million people from all across America beat a path here every year for the 43-year-old fleamarket and flea auctions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, May through October. Shipshewana, which is in the heart of Indiana's Amish country and was named after an Indian chief, boasts one of the nation's oldest and largest flea markets.