NEWSLETTER NO. 4   2025

$1B: Retail replacement value for the Bayeux Tapestry. LINK

AI Discovers Art History 101: White paper on AI mining a database of 25,000 European paintings to draw conclusions about historical political economy. LINK

American Restitution: David Drake ceramics returned to family. LINK

Myth Making: The New Yorker on the Hilma af Klint estate. LINK

A kouros at the Met: T.J. Clark on beauty, mortality, and the male body in ancient Greek sculpture. LINK

The Color of Money: Economists analyze the use of color in European paintings to track long-term economic growth. (Also covered in Art History 101.) LINK

Beauty and Experimentation: A great read about the intersection of aesthetic beauty and scientific experimentation. LINK

More on Beauty: Economist Tyler Cowen and Stripe founder Patrick Collison launch a grant programme to fund the search for a new aesthetic. LINK

Buzz Kill: New York Times is indexing art prices to inflation… LINK

Charity Auction Comp: Three Bob Ross paintings sell for $600,000. LINK

Deep Learning: Mei and Moses report on the predictive valuation power of AI models that examine the visual content of "fresh-to-market" works. (Spoiler: it's useful when no repeat sale situation exists.) LINK

Computers That Want Things: James Meek on the search for AGI and the question its promoters prefer to avoid—if a superintelligence must have something like desire in order to act, whose desires will it be permitted to have? LINK

Failing Public Art and Rising Conservation Costs: San Francisco version. LINK

Neil Jenney's Real Estate Acumen: 500k+ likes for impromptu tour of Jenney's SoHo loft. LINK

New Commodity Drops: Hedge fund dedicated to Hermes bags. LINK

Not Rare, Just the Last: Final minted US penny sells for $16.7 million. (Will this valuation characteristic be sticky?) LINK

Too Much Stuff?: After the Louvre robbery, political analyst Matt Yglesias opines that museums have too much art. LINK

Too Much Stuff in Japan?: Japan's resale market for personal property is estimated at $580bn. LINK

Why We Still Have Mechanical Watches: How Swatch saved the Swiss watch industry. LINK

The Collector: Pauline Karpidas
Pauline Karpidas is known for her significant private collection of Surrealist masterpieces. Raised in working-class Manchester, she trained as a secretary before moving to Athens, where she met the legendary Greek-American gallerist Alexander Iolas. "You must train your eye, you must visit every museum in every city, you must read and understand about the twentieth century," he told her. What followed was a collection built with patience and connoisseurship—and two landmark Sotheby's sales in 2023 and 2025. READ MORE

AI in Art Valuation: Where Automation Meets Expertise
In November, Tobias led a panel discussion on AI and the future of art valuation at the Appraisers Association of America's annual conference. The session brought together Nicholas Pilz, Chair of the Appraisal Standards Board, and Olivier Berger, Co-CEO of Wondeur AI, to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping professional appraisal practice. What emerged was a productive tension between capability and accountability—and the consensus that AI amplifies rather than replaces expertise. READ MORE

2025 marked Czudej McDonough's first full year of operations. Here are our year-end stats: over 5,000 works appraised, over 100 appraisal reports delivered, and over $1.5 billion in art valued.

Understanding Appraisal Reviews: On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 10am PST / 1pm EST, Susan will moderate the online panel "Understanding Appraisal Reviews—What They Are, How They're Done, and Who They Serve" and present on how USPAP defines appraisal review on behalf of the Appraisers Association of America. SIGN UP HERE.

University of Hong Kong Lecture: In November, Tobias delivered a lecture as part of Alessandra Cianchetta's Global Artscapes seminar at The University of Hong Kong. The talk examined how art acquires value across commercial, institutional, and academic spheres—and the appraiser's role in translating between them. READ MORE

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