New Christie's book offers a peek into auction trends

To mark its 250th anniversary, the world-renowned auction house published a book late last year which takes us on a journey through aesthetic trends, fashion and design, via 250 high-profile sales. Going Once: 250 years of Culture, Taste and Collecting at Christie's" is published by Phaidon.

Founded in 1766, Christie's has auctioned many iconic pieces of history such as Degas' "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen," and a Roman soldier's helmet dating back to the 1st or 2nd century AD.

The auction house has also sold objects that belonged to literary greats, such as the typewriter used by the James Bond creator Ian Fleming, and politicians, such as a blue wool suit worn by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

One of the most famous sales in the history of Christie's is that of the Fabergé egg made for the Rothschild banking family in 1902 and sold for €12.5m in 2007, breaking the record for the priciest Russian object, Fabergé egg and timepiece.

The book also shows how history and changes in society impacted auction content. For example, around the time of the French Revolution in 1789, important art collections disappeared for a while, then reappeared at Christie's.