Turner's Purfleet and the Essex Shore as seen from Long Reach Courtesy of Sotheby's Maybe everyone was distracted by the imminent prospect of England defeating Denmark in the UEFA Euro Football Championship semi-finals at Wembley stadium tonight. But, over on Bond Street, not even auctioneer Harry Dalmeny's (fairly painful) sporting puns could jolly along Sotheby's Old Master evening sale this evening. It was hard not to feel sorry for Dalmeny, who appeared increasingly uncomfortable as he knocked down unsold lot after unsold lot—21 of the 49 lots failed to sell, that's a sell-through rate of 51.7%. Perhaps that was partly because the sale lacked the scaffolding of guarantees—unusually for an auction nowadays, there were none.