“In a decision expected to have major ramifications throughout the international art world, a British judge yesterday found the venerable auction house Christie’s guilty of ‘negligence’ and ‘misrepresentation’ in the sale 10 years ago of two urns to Canadian heiress Taylor Lynne Thomson… If the complex, 71-page judgment holds, it should result in changes to the way auction houses in Britain and likely elsewhere attest to the accuracy of the information they present in their catalogues and by their staff for the objects they sell. Heretofore, auction houses have described their views on their consignments as being essentially ‘opinions,’ not statements of fact.”