Do not buy art on cruise ships

In case you did not know.  Here is one example of a fool:

It was only after Mr. Maldonado landed back in California that he did
some research on his purchases. Including the buyer’s premium, he had
paid $24,265 for a 1964 “Clown” print by Picasso. He found that
Sotheby’s had sold the exact same print (also numbered 132 of 200) in
London for about $6,150 in 2004.

Of course the corruption and foolishness runs deeper than the article lets on.  If you shop for contemporary prints in entirely "reputable" Georgetown galleries, they will charge about twice the going auction rate for the prints.  They might tell you that the prints are "hard to find" when in fact usually they are not.  A good New York dealer, used to dealing with well-informed customers, might charge only 10-15 percent above auction (full price including buyer’s premium).  The bottom line is that you should never spend more than $1500 on art unless you know at least roughly what it is worth at auction.  One of life’s good rules of thumb.

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