High-end art prices set by two taste-poor bidders

High-end art auction prices are set by as few as two bidders — often 'bogus' people like status-seeking oligarchs or hedge-fund wives buying recognizable brand-name contemporary art — so prices reflect signaling rather than quality, which is why fashionable contemporary art absorbs almost all the money while genuinely good art, including old masters, is radically underpriced and sometimes sold to a single bidder at the reserve.