Just as we were getting used to the entire semi-annual New York auction cycle getting squeezed into a single week, this latest one—which required four nights and five days of auctions to be scheduled between the opening of the Venice Biennale and Memorial Day weekend—seemed to last much longer. Maybe it was the pace of the bidding, which was dragged out by chopped bids and long pauses, in which specialists coaxed clients into another bid after they swore they’d reached their limit. Or perhaps it was yesterday’s snafu, in which three contemporary art day sales were scheduled on the same, final day of the auction cycle, causing advisors to step outside one saleroom and bid by phone in another, before stepping back into the first saleroom to chase another lot.