The entire premise of this article is a shocking juxtaposition with my own experiences in the last decade. Perhaps a lousy Jasper Johns may fetch an obscene record busting price, but more traditional art items and all antiquities have gone straight through the roof. Prices have doubled and doubled and doubled again for over a decade. Not only that, pricing seems to be immune to the recent disruption of the dollar’s purchasing power as holders of foreign currencies find “deals” on anything priced in dollars from the American market. This has propped prices up, and there’s no sign that pricing or demand are waning from my own experience.

No offense, but contrary to the picture painted above, my experience tells me the art market in most spectrums old and new has never been stronger than it is today. Perhaps it’s wrong to extrapolate the tale of Salander’s to the larger market?