According to sources inside Christie’s and a November 2, 2008, story in the New York Times, the auction house withdrew the guarantee option in late September just days after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. Weiss, some observers claim, is to blame for not signing the contract quickly enough. "If [an auction house] makes an offer to someone, that person can’t wait to see how the market’s going before he or she decides to take it or not," says one art dealer familiar with the situation. "Timing is critical."  

"Nothing Guaranteed" originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2009 Table of Contents.