One collector, whom he did not name, came to see one work in particular but would probably bid on four, Mr. Moffett said.

But as collectors bid extravagantly for works created in the last two decades, some may be failing to consider the perils of living with such pieces.

Now, driven by plenty of money and a patriotic rush to return treasures smuggled away over the centuries, Chinese collectors are bidding here as well as in New York and London.

But other collectors - the buyers of paintings by Winslow Homer and the furniture by the Townsend family of Newport - will be bidding too.

When collectors are bidding more than $100,000 for an original Organic Chair, it's easy to understand why Vitra thinks we might be willing to pay $1,700 for a new one.

Determined collectors bid two lots through the roof.

More recently, collectors have bid models like the Type 41 Royale to high seven-figure prices at classic-car auctions.

Today, the three collectors are bidding against time, Mr. Corrigan says.

Inflamed by the wines' ecstatic reviews, collectors bid their prices to dizzying heights, then bought them, not necessarily to drink but to own - along with the bragging rights that went with them.

A fellow collector whose taste parallels mine often bids against me.