Carol Vogel leads with Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings expert Geoge Wachter’s decision to wait until after the London OMP sales before putting estimates on the Frans Hals paintings that will lead their January sale.

He placed firm estimates on the paintings only this month, just before sending the sale catalog to the printer: $8 million to $12 million for the male portrait, and $7 million to $9 million for the female. He based the numbers on recent Hals prices — for example the $9.5 million paid at Sotheby’s in London in 2007 for “Portrait of Samuel Ampzing,” from 1663 — and on the knowledge that great works by important masters are becoming harder to find.

Inside Art: Pricing Two Portraits by an Old Master (New York Times)