In 1959 the art historian Carola van Ham founded the auction house "Kunsthaus am Museum" in her hometown Cologne. She had studied at the University of Cologne, worked at the auction house Lempertz, Cologne, and for many years was assistant to the auctioneer Franz A. Menna. In 1958 when Mr. Menna retired Ms. van Ham continued the tradition of his company as Europe's first female auctioneer. This was a very daring project as at this time just the monthly rent amounted up to two years income. Colleagues in the art world, hitherto a male domain, assumed that her company would exist no longer than the first two or three years. However Ms. van Ham's sound knowledge of art history and her enormo