Last year’s charity auction to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation for poor boys and girls became an emblem of American plutocracy when Tom Wolfe chronicled the extravaganza in Portfolio, the Condé Nast business glossy launched this month to report on the new gilded age. Wolfe described the foundation as being “heavy, heavy, heavily supported” by hedge fund managers, and breathlessly tallied the evening’s total take at “an astounding $48m”. This year’s Robin Hood auction, held a few weeks ago, raised $71m, according to The New York Times.

You don’t have to be Paul Tudor Jones II, the hedge fund manager who founded Robin Hood (earnings in 2006, according to Alpha magazine: $690m), to find yourself at a charity auction wondering how much to bid. There can’t be many schools in Manhattan – or in many other parts of America – that don’t expect parents to pony up for prize-spiced fundraisers, ranging from humble raffles to fully-fledged live auctions, many conducted by professional auctioneers moonlighting for charity.