Off-pitch estimates doomed several works, most prominently Robert Gober’s cereal-box sculpture from 1993-94 (est. $2.5-3.5 million), which the sellers, Chelsea gallerists Jean-Pierre and Rachel Lehmann, had acquired in the mid-’90s for about $200,000. It became the second Gober to be bought in that week, with one of his unique wall reliefs suffering the same fate at Sotheby’s.

"Neither of these works, in my view, were A+ works, and they had A+ estimates," says the Dallas collector Howard Rachofsky, who owns two major pieces by the artist. "Gober is a very specialized market, and the people who know it, know what to covet.

"Contemporary Art" originally appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's July/August 2009 Table of Contents.