Sotheby’s shares have declined almost 10 percent since Oct. 26 as the company neared this week’s New York auctions after promising sellers fixed prices for paintings by Paul Gauguin, Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko.

Sotheby’s, the world’s second-largest auction house, may report a third-quarter loss of almost 39 cents a share on Nov. 9, compared with a 50-cent loss a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg survey of three analysts who provided estimates based on generally accepted accounting principles.

Sotheby’s Nov. 14 contemporary art sale, which it values at about $220 million to $284 million, has guarantees equal to about 78 percent of the low estimate, said analyst Kristine Koerber of JMP Securities.

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Posted: 11|5|07 at 11:16 am. Filed under: Auction News.