The Warhol market is considered the bellwether of post-war and contemporary art for many reasons, including its size and range, its emblematic transactions and the artist’s reputation as a trendsetter. Since 2002 Warhol has consistently been one of the three most traded artists. In 2007, at the height of the boom, auction sales of his work added up to $428M, the highest turnover of any artist. In the past two years the figures have dropped steeply and the prolific Picasso has returned to the top spot (see chart 5), but nobody seems too worried. Alberto Mugrabi, whose family owns some 800 Warhol works, notes that “two years ago we were selling ten Warhols a month, now we’re selling two a month, but we’re selling them for the same price. Either we get our price or we don’t sell the painting.” The market appears to agree that prices for the best Warhols are recession-proof. Earlier this month a 1962 work, “200 One Dollar Bills”, sold for $43.8M, the second-highest price for a Warhol at auction.