In France there is a law that prohibits the auction houses to sell items outside the auction, that is essentially to operate the gallery. Trades are divided into voluntary and involuntary (when selling the property for the debts, for example), and there are auction houses that have the right to bid both digits or only one of them.
In Britain and the United States, for example, sale of items outside the trading is allowed (in other countries - do not know).
Sotheby's and Christie's sought the abolition of the French law.
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