I got to thinking about this from the Philadelphia musuem thread.
Anyway I was trying to find the most valuable painting in the world. Quickly I found through Google and Yahoo searches, that the lists that came up were listing paintings that actually sold.
Well that of course, leaves out paintings like “The Mona Lisa,” which would be priceless and never sold for any amount of money.
So is there a list of actual priceless paintings? Or would they just be pretty much any really old painting in a museum?
You might be interested in a transaction of sorts that just occurred–the purchase of a Titian, essentially a priceless painting. If it had gone to public auction, it no doubt would have set the record, with estimates that it would have fetched 150 million pounds. Not hard to believe, even in these times. One art critic in the article does suggest that the estimate may have been high.
And there lies the Vatican’s problem. The place is full of priceless stuff. Yet it has to be secured and maintained. There are sculptures, paintings, tapestries, books, architecturally important buildings, etc. They can’t sell it for reasons that have nothing to do with market value.
That’s just one place. There are a lot of similar sites throughout the world.
To “list” all of the stuff, or only the paintings, that are “priceless” seems like an act of futility.
On occasion, a museum will buy a so-call “priceless” painting from another museum that may need the money.
As to the Titian, had you heard that another was done of the same subject? It was called a repoTitian.
Sorry 'bout that.
This is the classic market question. In economic theory nothing has a value until a price is put on it. Most objects belonging to governments, museums, and religious bodies are priceless. What is the price of the White House? The Eiffel Tower? Yellowstone Park? The Black Rock of Mecca? The Atlantic Ocean?
Even objects with theoretical equivalents have no real value, because like the Mona Lisa their value is often compounded from their fame and unbuyability. Unless and until they are put up for sale they are literally priceless because no pricing mechanism exists.
There can’t be a list of most valuable unvalued products. You can make all the lists you want of the most famous art pieces, but they will necessarily be totally subjective.