Photo by Richard Lewis/WireImage.com

Phillips de Pury & Company is an interesting, surprisingly Page Six kind of company.  Last month its chairman Simon de Pury (right) joined forces with Charles Saatchi, a partnership that will bring art for free to the masses when the Saatchi Gallery opens next year.

The firm is nearly as old as Christie's and Sotheby's, founded in 1796 by Harry Phillips, former head clerk to Christie's founder James Christie. It went through an illustrious period—handling the estates of Beau Brummel, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon—and boasts that it is the only auction house to have held a sale in Buckingham Palace. But by the end of the 20th century, it was better known as a regional auction house whose sales were more likely to be mentioned alongside Doyle, Swann Galleries, and Bonhams than Christie's and Sotheby's.

That all changed when Francois Pinault, head of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), wrestled with Bernard Arnault, head of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), over Gucci in 1999, provoking a run of one-upmanship that has been compared to the rivalry between Greek shipping tycoons Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. Pinault won control of Gucci in 2001, and as of yet Arnault has been unable to trump him in the art world.

After an unsuccessful bid to acquire Sotheby's (Pinault has owned Christie's since 1998), Arnault successfully purchased Phillips in late 1999. A few months later Christie's and Sotheby's were facing price-fixing charges, and Arnault was making a ballsy attempt to upend the duopoly,  purchasing collections for auction outright and offering large guaranteed sums to win property. It was great for publicity; not so great for the bottom line.

Arnault's interest in the auction business was short-lived. He sold his majority stake in Phillips to de Pury & Luxembourg in 2002 and has since moved on to announce his own vanity museum to counter Pinault's Venice effect. Arnault had acquired the private Swiss dealership run by De Pury, past chairman of Sotheby's Europe, and his then partner, Danielle Luxembourg, former deputy chairman of Sotheby's Switzerland and Ronald Lauder confidante, in 2000.

Vanity Fair chalked up de Pury's appeal to "old-world charm and fastidiousness that borders on caricature." Apparently, when he greets women, he has a way of clicking his heels and kissing their hands—a routine that has won him many female admirers over the years." His ex-girlfriend Louise MacBain has apparently had a tough time getting over him. (He moved on to art and fashion extraordinaire Anh Duong.)

I'm not sure I see reason for heartache, but the always impeccably mannered and attired de Pury is fantastic at playing against type. Phillips, which has cornered the youth market by providing an edgy counterpoint to Christie's and Sotheby's loftiness, recently launched the interactive art site www.phillipsartexpert.com. There is something vulnerably appealing about seeing a virtual butler like de Pury inviting guests to play along in his clipped Swiss accent. Makes a girl almost want to root for him.

—KELLY DEVINE THOMAS