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The 250-year rivalry between the world's two great auction houses. Founded within a decade of each other in 18th-century London, they've battled for the world's most expensive art, antiquities, and collectibles ever since.
Canon
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Brown traces how auction house records escalate: each record-breaking sale becomes the new benchmark. A $100M painting was unthinkable until it happened, then $200M became the target, then $400M.
Highlights
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Art collecting is status signaling through scarcity — the price IS the value
Brown argues that for ultra-wealthy art collectors, the price of a painting IS its value. A painting isn't expensive because it's beautiful — it's beautiful because it's expensive. The cost functions as a signal of the buyer's wealth.