Colin Gleadell raises an interesting question about Michael Crichton, the novelist, film director and television producer, who fell in with a group of Pop artists while they were making lithographs with an LA printmaker. The returns from the works Crichton acquired directly through his relationships with artists and gallerists would appear to be very strong. Witness the sale of Crichton’s Jasper Johns Flag painting for $28.6 million.

When Crichton switched to auctions earlier this decade, his golden touch tarnished a little:

Crichton bought a huge amount at auction, especially at the beginning of the last boom in 2003 and 2004. Most works saw only modest returns, and even some losses. Crichton had, for instance, paid a double-estimate $400,000 in 2004 for a Richard Prince work taken from a fashion photograph in 1980, but last week it returned just $362,000.

Market News (Telegraph)