# Who has produced the greatest value of products by their own labors? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279 "2011-09-14T12:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/1 "2011-09-14T12:51:19Z")
I have just started reading [Stradivari’s Genius](http://www.amazon.com/Stradivaris-Genius-Centuries-Enduring-Perfection/dp/0375508481) and was surprised to discover that 600 or more of his instruments still survive. Assuming that they are all worth millions of dollars, he must have made over $1 billion worth of product with his own hands. Now I will allow that he may have had underlings working alongside him but he wasn’t having stuff punched out in China and no machinery was employed. Antonio put his name to it because it was his product. I could look up other possibilities but where’s the fun in that? Who do you think, personally crafted the greatest total value of product? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/2 "2011-09-14T13:05:18Z")
Me. Every child I make is priceless. /glurge Dunno. Cool question. Based on my watching of Antiques Roadshow, maybe it’s the nameless Indians who wove those million dollar chief blankets. That or Fabergé. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/3 "2011-09-14T13:15:35Z")
Interesting question. Leads to questions of the “value” of objects now, and what those values are based on [beauty, rarity, a “name”], vs. the value of the objects in the lifetime of the creator. In any case, I think this is a better fit for IMHO, so I’m moving it thither. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/4 "2011-09-14T13:23:00Z")
Picasso and van Gogh? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/5 "2011-09-14T13:38:45Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Picasso and van Gogh? Yeah, or Michaelangelo or Vermeer, I’d say. Truly priceless stuff, all created by a single human being. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/6 "2011-09-14T13:39:20Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Who do you think, personally crafted the greatest total value of product? I’m going with Vincent Van Gogh, possibly Pablo Picasso - Stradis go for\* no more than\* $15-million, tops, and that price was a major aberration for charity, the previous record being a quarter of that and the “average” is probably in the $1-2-million range. Vincent painted around 900 paintings and did more than a thousand drawings. Just \*seven \*of those paintings together [have been sold for $670-million](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_paintings). You do the math. And he had no assistance _at all_. Picasso was probably more prolific, but I’m not sure if the combined value of his work sold so far exceeds Van Gogh’s, although it would not surprise me at all. ETA; so yeah, what those guys said, only with numbers… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/7 "2011-09-15T00:41:59Z")
Gustav Klimt. Not for his [paintings](http://www.theartwolf.com/10_expensive.htm), but for the prints on dorm room walls. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-produced-the-greatest-value-of-products-by-their-own-labors/596279/8 "2011-09-15T01:29:55Z")
I once read that Picasso produced paintings that were worth a billion dollars _in his lifetime._ I cannot imagine what they are worth in 2011 dollars. I’ll go with him.