Episode 189: Why A Dead Shark Costs $12 Million
This episode originally ran in 2010.
In 2005, artist Damien Hirst's dead shark reportedly sold for $12 million. Meanwhile, a small business owner named Eddie Saunders had a dead shark hanging in his electrical shop for years. He couldn't even sell it for $1.5 million.
Planet Money
#189: Why A Dead Shark Costs $12 Million
Why A Dead Shark Costs $12 Million
Listen · 19:31 19:31 Toggle more optionsWe wanted to understand this. Why did Hirst's shark go for so much?
We talk to a New York gallery owner and the late economist William Baumol about the fickle and uncertain market of art.
If you're interested in learning more about the contemporary art world or checking out the images we talk about in the show, here's what to do.
You can read Ed Winkleman's blog, browse the works of Matthew Albanese, the man behind the steel-wool tornado, and check out "Art Investment as Floating Crap Game" by Baumol.
And here's a slide show of the work mentioned in the episode.
Music: "Trampoline" and "Hip Hop Fairy Queen."
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- Hide caption This Ansel Adams photo sold for $722,500 at an auction this week — a record for a work by Adams. When an artist is just starting out, and isn't famous enough to command huge sums at auction, who decides how much a work of art is worth? Previous Next Ansel Adams/ASSOCIATED PRESS
- Hide caption Matthew Albanese, builds models out of everyday materials. That tornado is made out of steel wool; the grass is parsley. Previous Next AP
- Hide caption William Baumol, an NYU economist, analyzed sales records from auction houses over 200 years. He found that art rarely beats out stocks and bonds as an investment; he published the results in a paper subtitled "Art Investment as Floating Crap Game." Baumol was also an amateur artist, by the way. This is one of his works. He used to occasionally sell his works to colleagues for a few hundred bucks. Previous Next William Baumol
- Hide caption Just because some rich guy pays $12 million for a shark today, it doesn't mean some other rich guy will pay $13 million tomorrow.An artist named David Roberts painted this in 1861. Back then, his works were "the delight of kings," according to one critic. Roberts died in 1864, and his work largely fell out of favor. Seventy years later, a painting of his sold for 10 guineas — almost nothing. Previous Next Brooklyn Museum
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