I've repeatedly been explained, always in hushed tones, that the high-end art market embeds a kind of institutionalized tax scam. Not that there's no genuine market there, but that a lot of it is this. I've never bought any high-end art, but they tell me it goes like this: Step 1: Buy expensive art Step 2: Hold it for a while Step 3: Get an "appraiser" to say it 10x'd in price Step 4: Donate 10x'd art to a museum/nonprofit because you're such a great guy Step 5: Claim charitable tax writeoff of 10x capital invested At no point does anyone actually buy the art for 10x in cash. If they did, would be hard to say this whole loop isn't real, since it could be arbed. But this is justified by claiming the art market is extremely illiquid and reputationally sensitive. People who know the high-end art market: how true is this story?