The sad thing is that at the big money contemporary art auctions (and anything appealing to the Asian market, I might add) it's not just Arab princes doing this. Has been going on for a decade and gets worse all the time. The rich "collectors" figure: if I buy at auction instead of from dealers, I won't get ripped off by a retail price, and then they bid against each other to many times retail. So there is no longer any real barometer for values for one-of-a-kind stuff. Totally opposite the historic role of auctions. Suffice it to say: appraising the high value stuff has become an exercise in absurdity.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the market, prices continue to go down because every day there are 100's of internet auctions with tons of stuff on offer and more coming as boomers die or downsize and liquidate. Most markets have prices back down at 1980's levels. And galleries and antique shops are closing because of the Amazon effect, they can't pay the overhead. So everyone offers things on the internet, where buyers do the pig in a poke thing without connoisseurship, without being able to see in person or touch. So imaging is all.