Because I know you've all been waiting for it, here are the auction results from Christie's. Most of the things I was interested in -- and in fact, most items in the auction -- went for something near the low end of their estimates. There were exceptions, notably among the textiles (robes and coats), some of which went for much more than their high estimates. This is interesting, because displaying textiles takes more room and preserving them takes more technology than, say, vases. So who buys them, I wonder? Museums? Private collectors with a lot of space and museum-quality air systems? One textile I loved, on the other hand, a beautiful multi-colored bolt of silk, didn't sell. It wasn't wildly old -- mid 19th C. -- but what do you do with yards and yards of 150-year-old silk? Do you actually cut it up and make something? Or do you leave it rolled up and unseen? Which is better?

The item I loved best, a large (about 18" high) pottery (as opposed to porcelain) vase with a thick purple-black glaze, estimated at $5,000-8,000, didn't sell. Meaning no one bid the reserve price, usually about half the estimate. Meaning my eye could probably use a little more education. Something must have been wrong with it -- a crack, a questionable provenance? (Also meaning any Asian art geek among us could have had the thing for a steal, which is why I don't actually go to the auctions.)