In Search of Fine Art Amid the Paper Towels

NYT Money: "Tony Pernicone, an art appraiser who owns Avanti Fine Arts, a gallery in Larkspur, Calif., north of San Francisco, and previously directed the San Francisco Art Exchange and other art galleries, said: 'At a legitimate gallery, generally the markup is 100 to 150 percent, depending on their overhead and the cost of the art. Obviously, you get galleries that try to go higher.' Costco's price of $1,550 for a Chagall Bible Series lithograph was $500 to $1,000 less than a gallery would have charged, Mr. Pernicone said.

Several art dealers said galleries in a fashionable area like Union Square in San Francisco, where rents can exceed $20,000 a month, charge higher prices for art because of their towering overhead. "