Press Service engaged in an aggressive public relations, and referred to a system of guarantees for sellers to corrupt markets and created artificial prices.

20 years ago to the leadership of Sotheby `s come a businessman Alfred Taubman, who made money on the construction and management of shopping malls. It was he who coined to focus on those potential customers who have had a lot of money, but the love of art has never been observed. It is oriented to them the last two decades the art market, it is they did the price of as high art.

Targeting golden clients affected the policy of Christie `s - two of his last pre-auction exhibition in Moscow could visit only by invitation. Since last year, Christie `s began to call themselves not the auction house (ie, a service provider services company), a leading business-structure. It is possible that this transformation of the art market in an ordinary commodity market and led to the crisis grasped it so quickly. It had previously been considered that the art market is practically not affected by fall, and investment in paintings - the most reliable.

Neither Sotheby `s, nor Christie` s (sorry blame for these auction houses to all the charges, but they form the face of the market, it is on their results oriented private sellers and buyers) do not take into account that buyers, neophytes will leave as quickly as came. To become a collector of the heart, not a purse (no matter how ridiculous it sounds), and takes years of knowledge. To buy the art under any circumstances, and not only when money has nowhere to go, you need a special type of character. So did the Soviet collector Solomon Shuster, bought Russian avant-garde filmmaker Salary. So did the postal clerk Herbert Vogel and his wife, Dorothy, a librarian - their collection of American minimalism and avant-garde is now stored in the Washington National Gallery. In order to successfully play on the price fluctuations in the art, as in the exchange rates are needed flair and decades of practice. Neither the addition nor the other, many new collectors to develop in itself simply did not have. When he was due to objective reasons not to art, they immediately stopped to arrange auctions show with records.