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Auction house Sotheby's Holdings Inc. and its rival Christie's will each pay $20 million to settle antitrust litigation related to a costly price-fixing scheme, Sotheby's said. The agreement, which is subject to court approval, will settle a class-action lawsuit that sought damages through U.S. courts related to overseas auctions that took place from 1993 to 2000, the company said.

A Faberge icon of Jesus Christ in a silver frame studded with rubies, sapphires, pearls and emeralds sold today for $780,000, more than five times its high estimate, at a Sotheby's auction in New York. A Moscow dealer in the room lost to a telephone bidder in a drawn-out, five-minute battle for the icon, made in about 1900. The icon was the most expensive lot in Wednesday's sale of Faberge items, imperial porcelain, icons, bronzes and enamels. On Tuesday, Sotheby's sold $36 million of Russian 19th and 20th century paintings.

Sotheby's auction house will sell about 100 artworks from the estate of Betty Asher, a Los Angeles-based collector, curator and dealer whose eye for contemporary art and cultural patronage helped to develop the local art scene.

Shares of art auctioneer Sotheby's on Thursday had their biggest one-day drop after paintings by Vincent van Gogh and other famous artists failed to sell at an Impressionist art sale in New York -- prompting concern that Wall Street's woes will batter the art world. The auction Wednesday evening took in $269.7 million, including commissions. That was a third less than the low presale estimate of $401 million.

A federal judge dismissed three antitrust lawsuits brought against auctioneers Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings Inc. alleging they had fixed commission fees charged to customers in overseas auctions. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that U.S. antitrust laws do not apply to activities abroad unless it can be shown the conduct intended to have or had significant effects within the United States.

With Asia staggering from economic crises, eyes were on Hong Kong last week as auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's vied for their share of what is left of the fabled Asian wealth. Chinese paintings, ceramics, snuff bottles and works of art went under the hammer along with Western jewelry and watches, fine wines and cognac in this most important of Asian art markets. The good news is that there still seem to be people willing to spend.

Sotheby's auction house broke the record for a wine auction in the United States, with a two-day take of $2,092,534. A double magnum of Chateau Lafite 1865 took in the highest price for a single bottle: $27,600, or $862 per glass.

American collectors of Beatles material are expected to be the highest bidders Thursday at Sotheby's 11th Annual Sale of Rock 'n' Roll and Film Memorabilia. Among items scheduled for the auction block are handwritten John Lennon lyrics and films of private Beatles trips to East Africa, Europe, India and the Greek islands.

Sotheby's will launch its Internet auction site, http://www.sothebys.com, with a public exhibition at the auction house's facility in Beverly Hills, Tuesday through Jan. 18. More than 100 objects will be on view, including a Louis XV-style grand piano, a watercolor by Jean Charlot, prints by Winslow Homer and Wayne Thiebaud, photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Barbara Morgan and a variety of jewelry, books, sculpture and decorative arts.

The Beverly Hills branch of Sotheby's auction house is getting into the holiday spirit today with a one-day show of rare Christmas books, manuscripts, drawings, cards and depictions of Santa Claus. Amassed over 50 years by the late advertising executive Jock Elliott, the collection will go on the block Dec. 12 at Sotheby's New York, where it's expected to bring up to $1 million. * Suzanne Muchnic

The Beverly Hills branch of Sotheby's auction house is getting into the holiday spirit today with a one-day show of rare Christmas books, manuscripts, drawings, cards and depictions of Santa Claus. Amassed over 50 years by the late advertising executive Jock Elliott, the collection will go on the block Dec. 12 at Sotheby's New York, where it's expected to bring up to $1 million. * Suzanne Muchnic

An autographed copy of the classic poem that begins with the familiar line " 'Twas the night before Christmas" will be auctioned at Sotheby's this holiday season. The handwritten manuscript, signed by author Clement Clarke Moore, is one of just four known autographed copies, according to Sotheby's. It is expected to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000 when auctioned in New York on Dec. 3.

Sotheby's International Realty, one of the toniest names in the home-selling business, strengthened its presence in Southern California's upscale neighborhoods by acquiring DBL Realtors, the companies said Thursday. Terms of the deal, which was completed Wednesday, weren't disclosed. Realtor to stars such as Madonna and Ricky Martin, Sotheby's is a former division of the famous auction house. It was acquired by franchise giant Cendant Corp. this year.

Staging an estate auction for a recently deceased celebrity can be a crass business, and when that celebrity happens to be named Cash, some unkind puns quickly spring to mind. So give credit to Sotheby's LLC for the massive auction this week in New York that is handling the estate of Johnny and June Carter Cash with as much archival reverence and sentiment as its gavel business allows. "It's a delicate thing, and we know it.

A prominent Russian industrialist, Victor Vekselberg, bought the Forbes Collection of Faberge Wednesday for an undisclosed sum, Sotheby's announced Wednesday. The collection had been scheduled for auction in New York on April 20, but Sotheby's negotiated the private deal on behalf of the Forbes family. The collection "represents perhaps the most significant example of our cultural heritage outside Russia," Vekselberg said in a statement.

In what could be the last chapter of years of legal trouble, Christie's and Sotheby's, the world's largest auction houses, have agreed to pay $20 million each to resolve antitrust claims by customers outside the United States. The proposed settlement, which must be approved by U.S. courts, stems from a criminal case in which former Sotheby's Chairman A. Alfred Taubman was convicted of conspiring with former Christie's chief Anthony J.

The manuscript of a Schumann symphony, lost for more than 50 years, was sold at auction for a record $2.3 million in London on Thursday. It was a record not just for a manuscript by Robert Schumann but for any 19th-Century score, Sotheby's auction house said. It said the manuscript of the German Romantic composer's second symphony, written in 1846-47, was bought by Robin Lehman and his wife in New York City in a telephone bid through a dealer.

Sotheby's will auction an 1817 document in which Thomas Jefferson outlines plans to build the University of Virginia. The 15-page document is expected to fetch $300,000 to $500,000 when it goes on the auction block Dec. 13 at Sotheby's in New York, the auction house said Friday. In the document, Jefferson outlined steps for forming an independent public school system free of religious influence.

Auction house Sotheby's Holdings Inc. and its rival Christie's will each pay $20 million to settle antitrust litigation related to a costly price-fixing scheme, Sotheby's said. The agreement, which is subject to court approval, will settle a class-action lawsuit that sought damages through U.S. courts related to overseas auctions that took place from 1993 to 2000, the company said.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced Diana D. Brooks, the former president of Sotheby's, to three years' probation for her role in a scheme setting identical commissions with auction rival Christie's. Brooks' probation includes six months of home confinement. She also was ordered to pay a fine of $350,000 and serve 1,000 hours of community service.