The world’s most expensive substances command their prices for very different reasons. Some, like rare gemstones, are ...

A long-held lesson of economics is that the value of an item is what someone is willing to pay for it. Still, when it comes to auctions, that concept only partially explains the astronomical prices ...

When we envision extraordinarily expensive objects, the first items that come to mind are usually paintings by some medieval maestro, a billionaire's superyacht, or a one-of-a-kind car. But the ...