On ethics in the art business

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Dear colleagues, have long wanted to discuss a piquant question concerning the pricing of paintings.
In recent times more and more frequently expressed the view that Russia is actively formed (if not already formed), the civilized art market, but quite often things happen, in my opinion, contrary to the minimal ethical standards.
Here are two rather glaring examples.
A few years ago on the Moscow market was submitted to a sufficiently large number of works unusually prolific artist V. Vasin. His works have been proposed in many galleries specializing in art of the Soviet period, and we must say, the prices were roughly similar: from 400-500 dollars for a small sketches to 1 500 - 2 500 for average work. As far as I know, the promotion of a serious artist that no one involved (although in specialized journals and articles came out about his life and work), but it is intuitive, nice looking and relatively affordable works enjoyed popularity among a fairly stable range of clients. And everything was stable up until the auction house "Sovkom not begun to organize their own" direct sales ", which Vasin's paintings were offered for ... 80-200 dollars. Of course, these tenders exhibited mostly quite weak sketches and drawings, but as they say a precedent has been established and the sale of his works in small galleries and dealers almost rose - indeed, anyone want to "overpay"?
Second case: in 2004-05. One gallery was assembled a large collection of works by the artist Porphyry Lebedev. Was carried out huge research work, published an album, several solo exhibitions, received widespread coverage in the central TV channels and in major publications (not only specialized), his name was often uporeblyatsya in professional circles, which, of course, was reflected in pricing. The works of this artist have been purchased by many collectors (both individuals and organizations). Also in 2006, his paintings were exhibited at auction Sovkoma with the corresponding estimate: - from 2 500 dollars for studies up to 20 000 for large-scale work. And in recent studies Lebedev appeared at auctions of the same Sovkoma on ... $ 300!
What can I say about this? Sovkom deliberately destroys the market? Cases in this auction house is so bad that they are ready to throw off the picture for any money? How can we evaluate this situation from the perspective of business ethics?