I am somewhat reluctant to go down this path, but ultimately there is an important investment theme, so I shall. But I'll give the punch line first. America's center has drifted to where we can be characterized as a lottery culture. This is not good for investors in the long run. There is a wonderful program on PBS called The Antiques Road Show where people drag in all manner of things for the opportunity for a free, expert appraisal.
Some items are genuinely lovely and rare works of art.
Others less so. I, for one, sometimes have trouble correlating the intrinsic value and the stated worth. The show follows a pretty standard format. The owner talks about the history of the piece, including its purchase price. This is often quite sketchy.