Racing around town to all the fall auctions could be a fulltime job – for someone with endless money, patience, and square footage to decorate. For most New Yorkers these things are usually in short supply. Great sales, however, are not.

This season’s highlights range from Sotheby’s upcoming sale of gilt furniture from Fiat heiress (and Princess) Marella Agnelli to Christie’s sale of jewels from the private collection of Madison Avenue bauble king Fred Leighton. Those looking for fair and balanced coverage, please tune right out. The auctions listed below are included because they strike my fancy. Be forewarned: I am disposed to things that sparkle, art of the Americas, the arcane and esoteric – above all, to strong design. Also, I am a sucker for a bargain.

But starting off on the bargain front, the most fun spot to land a deal is Tepper Galleries on East 25th Street, the auction world equivalent of Swedish retailer H&M. Tepper turns over thousands of items a month, often selling examples of stellar design for cheap. Attend the presale exhibitions, held every two weeks, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. The only way to possibly improve these would be by serving cocktails.

Next door to Tepper, Swann Galleries – specializing in all things on paper – has lined up some appealing fall sales. I am eagerly awaiting the September 30 “Art, Press and Illustrated Books.” This is really a treasure trove for the insatiable art lover, including rare catalogues raisonnes, artist’s monographs, archive material, exhibition catalogs, and books on decorative arts and architecture.

Some 200 pieces of correspondence between artists and Lloyd Goodrich, director of the Whitney Museum from 1958 to 1968, should be fascinating. Goodrich’s correspondents included Edward Hopper and Nelson Rockefeller. The estimate is $4,000 to $6,000. Of course, this stuff deserves to be in the public realm. Maybe some good Samaritan will buy the material and donate it to the Archive of American Art at the Smithsonian (hint, hint).

Uptown, Doyle has also put together its usual blend of temptations. On September 29, the annual “Belle Epoque” sale will celebrate all that is Deco and Nouveau. These looks are highly decorative, and decidedly pre-Minimalist. However, because the “girlie man” aesthetic is not exactly mainstream at the moment (although clearly poised for a comeback), there are deals. My picks are two tables by Art Nouveau maestro Louis Majorelle, both walnut and inlaid and cheap for the workmanship and parts. The estimates are $2,000 to $3,000 and $2,500 to $3,000.

On November 16, Doyle will hold its vintage Couture and Textiles and Accessories auction, which includes the regular Chanel and Saint Laurent ensembles but also will a collection of some 500 pieces of costume jewelry being sold by a private European collector. Selections range from rhinestone creations by Miriam Haskell to contemporary designs by Armani and Lagerfeld. Costume jewelry deals are few and far between these days; it will be great to see what rare and gorgeous examples are included.

Moving right along to the top of the food chain, Sotheby’s and Christie’s have added to their fall rosters. At Sotheby’s, a pair of Tiffany lamps from 1900 (est. $40,000-$60,000) and a 1865 Arts & Crafts rosewood cabinet (est. $30,000-$50,000) owned by Pierre Berge – CEO of Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture – will be sold on November 30, direct to York Avenue from Berge’s Pierre Hotel pied a terre.

Four single-owner sales should bring buyers out of the woodwork. For anyone interested in folk art, a sale on January 22 from New Jersey collectors Jon and Rebecca Zoler (who recently moved to Florida) is an encyclopedic overview of the whole field, from weathervanes, painted furniture, ice cream molds, quilts, and portraits.

And if the spring sale of books owned by collector and dealer Maurice Neville was any indication, expect the second installment of Neville’s property, to be sold on November 16, to drive collectors wild. The sale, focusing on detective and mystery fiction, includes unpublished manuscripts by Hemingway and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

On December 17, decorative arts from ultra-hot designers Jean Prouve, Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, and Pierre Jeanneret is being sold on behalf of a Ph.d. candidate at Columbia University – not the normal seller profile. But Robert Rubin is not the usual academic. A retired commodities trader with the buying bug, Mr. Rubin has chosen a propitious moment to liquidate 40 pieces of furniture and decorations by these sought-after French architects. The sale will come on the heels of dealer Barry Friedman’s massive December 16 warehouse clearing effort, which will bring early 20th-century furniture to the block without any reserve.

On November 12, Christie’s will hold their first pre-Columbian sale in New York, dedicated to a private European collection of jades, including a belt plaque for $800,000-$1,200,000 (meant to be worn on a ruler’s belt and accompany him to the afterlife). Another sale representing a singular eye is a group of about 100 photographs from singer Elton John, who has bought photos voraciously since 1991 and now owns upward of 4,000. The October 14 sale includes classics by Edward Steichen and Ansel Adams.

Also on the short-list are a couple items coming up for sale October 14 and 21, formerly owned by William and Babe Paley. Gloria Vanderbilt’s upcoming book (and a recent excerpt in Vanity Fair) details how she was chased around the room by an amorous (and married) Paley, adding a bit of contemporary intrigue to the former furnishings of the high-and-horny set. A pair of George III style black and gilt-japanned cabinets (est. $15,000-$20,000) reflect the “WASPs gone wild” Sister Parish aesthetic of their Fifth Avenue pad. If only furniture could talk.

Finally, I want to plug Sotheby’s Tuesday evening lecture series – one of the great little-known deals in town. The house offers lectures at $25 a pop, $100 for five, or $200 for 10 during the fall. This is an affordable way to rub shoulders with collectors, connoisseurs, and experts in an intimate setting. My picks include “The Fate of Universal Museums,” a talk by Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Russia (September 23), and an evening with San Francisco billionaire Ann Getty, who will talk about her 30 years of collecting (September 28).