In 2005, when Takashi Hashiyama, CEO of Japanese television tools manufacturer Maspro Denkoh, made a decision to auction off the assortment of Impressionist paintings owned by his corporation, which include works by Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh, he contacted two top auction houses, Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings, trying to find their proposals on how they would convey the selection to the current market as.