This is just it. Unfortunately, in the art business, we're selling a fantasy, much like the case with lottery tickets. When the Ontario lottery advertises that Mr. and Mrs. Smith of Leamington, Ontario won the 6/49, they don't say, “and, by the way, there were 20 million other ticket holders who lost their money.”
In other words, the reality is that whatever the threshold is—be it a thousand dollars, a thousand euros, whatever—pieces that are bought for, say, $10,000 at a gallery or auction often resell for significantly less, because when it's time to sell—because of death, divorce or bankruptcy, or because it no longer matches the drapes—then you get what you get. If you paid $10,000 and it resells for $2,000, it's adding insult to injury to have to pay....