Record-Shattering Auction Sales Bode Well For Art Market

“Politicians anxiously trying to find out just how serious the current economic difficulties are might like to take a look at the art market…The numbers can leave no one in doubt about the buyer’s readiness to part with cash.” - Souren Melikian, “What’s in a Name? At Art Auctions, Lots of Money,” The New York Times, Nov. 5th, 2010 At the outset of Sotheby’s 19th Century European Art Sale on November 4th, 2010, the expected sale price of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s The Finding of Moses was set between $3 and $5 million dollars. When the gavel fell nearly eight minutes la...