![](https://i0.wp.com/www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SothJohns-e1415761972768.jpg?resize=363%2C363&ssl=1)
After breezing through the buoyant Mellon sale last night, Sotheby’s auctioneer, Oliver Barker, needed to swig two glasses of water (at least that’s what I think it was) at the end of tonight’s various-owners contemporary sale.
It was slow-going and less than riveting. But he gamely extracted whatever bidding was to be had and efficiently got the job done.
Fittingly for a Veterans Day sale, this work broke the auction record for Jasper Johns:
![Jasper Johns, "Flag," 1983 Sold for $36 million ($32 million hammer against presale estimate of $15-20 million) Photo by Lee Rosenbaum](https://i0.wp.com/www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SothJohns.jpg?resize=550%2C439)
Sold for $36 million ($32 million hammer against presale estimate of $15-20 million)
Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
For full sale results, go here.
Below is my running Twitter commentary of tonight’s action and inaction.