It's interesting to speculate about what AH would get the best price, but I can see why someone outside of the hobby who discovered this card would do what they did.
The thinking would be "everyone has heard of Sotheby's" rather than "collectors may be more comfortable/familiar with bidding on AHs that are sports memorabilia specialists, such as REA, LOTG, Mile High, Memory Lane, etc.". I left off Heritage because they seem to have a slightly larger footprint than the others, since they auction more than sports memorabilia.
When Christie's had their Golden Age of Baseball auctions in 2016 (?), I went through the process of registering because there were some items I wanted that I didn't think would come up for auction again and was able to bid through their portal.
But I probably wouldn't do that again for a "traditional" auction house if they offered the usual selection of graded cards that would probably show up in another auction at another time (not saying that the Ruth card is "usual").
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My avatar is a drawing of a 1958 Topps Hank Aaron by my daughter. If you are interested in one in a similar style based on the card of your choice, details can be found by searching threads with the title phrase Custom Baseball Card Artwork or by PMing me.
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