The Goldie standard

Yesterday's news that Goldie’s ‘last’ painting is coming up for auction reminds us that in 1990 the then-National Art Gallery paid a whopping $900,000 for two works shipped out from the UK. At the time many suggested that $900,000 was an absurd price to pay and the Gallery stood behind the ‘fair market value’ argument. Now's a good time as any to test the argument against time. Had they left the cash in the bank at 5% per annum it would now be a $2,274,255 Goldie fighting fund. Even at ‘fair market value’ you’d pick up at least five at today’s prices.