In the past twenty years the art market has experienced a virtual metamorphosis. Traditionally, the art market was the domain of art lovers, collectors, and connoisseurs. The extreme wealth of the 1980's, however, created a new breed of art market participants-nouveau-riche business executives, drug dealers whitewashing drug money, and millionaires disappointed by the stock market. During this period of reckless abandon, auction houses flourished. At the top of the market spiral, speculators relying on good advice from knowledgeable dealers made enormous profits by buying and reselling art. Thus, art became relegated to the status of a commodity--: "as bankable as stocks, real estate, gold, or soybeans."
