EXPENSIVE TRINKETS

Two objects sold for eye-watering prices today.

Yesterday in New York, a tryptich painting by Francis Bacon of his friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud was sold for a whopping US$142 million. While in Geneva today a diamond called the Pink Star went for a slightly less huge US$83m.

Both were sold at auction, a structure which can drive up prices; but even so. The thing about these two trinkets is that you can't do anything with them, you can only look at them. And my problem is that I just can't imagine getting US$100 million worth of satisfaction from looking at anything.

Walter Blotscher