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Priceless




We were at Edinburgh Castle following a long walk up the hill. Back in the day, it made sense for castles to be on top of hills. It helped make them easily defendable. This is a common war strategy; you go for the high ground. Of course defending against the invading English horde is no longer a concern. At this point the castle’s main function is tourism and speaking as a tourist I can say, the hill’s pretty steep. We made a circuit around the rocky crenulations and saw the sights of the city as well as the features of the castle. Near the top, we saw a long line to get into see the Scottish Crown Jewels and we opted not to stand in line, but it got me to thinking about crown jewels in general, be they Scottish, British, or any other crown. I got to thinking about the value of the crown jewels. A thought popped into my head that crown jewels are essentially valueless. I don’t mean to say priceless, which of course they are, but I really mean they have no value (no monetary value). Why? Because nobody is ever going to sell them. If they are not and never will be on the market, then they have no monetary value. Of course they have other types of value, artistic and historic, but putting a price on them is pointless.
 
In fact, it could be argued that they have negative value as you have to pay a lot in security costs to keep them safe. Because even if it has no monetary value to the government, it might have monetary value to a thief, if he could sell them. There again the thief might not be able to sell them because they would be too “hot”. The thief might have to melt down and sell the raw gold and stones by themselves. It would be a travesty against history and the thief might get only a small fraction of what the intact jewels might fetch on a legitimate market. But as I said there is no legitimate market where the jewels would ever be sold so he would probably take what he could get. Then again, they were selling tickets to see them, so I suppose security costs could be offset by  admission revenue so, meh, call it even.

We ascribe the word ‘priceless’ to things that are so ridiculously valuable that no one could ever afford them, or to things that have such a high artistic, cultural, emotional, or historical value, that it becomes insulting to try to put a dollar value on them. What is the value of the Mona Lisa? Priceless. It is arguably the most famous piece of art in the world, but why? Is it better than the best works of Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Gainsborough, Van Dyke, Cezanne, or Picasso? Some might say yes. I would argue, no. It is a wonderful artistic accomplishment yes, but so are the others, and as I have said before, art is subjective. It is entirely in the eye of the beholder. I think the Mona Lisa is famous . . . for being famous.

Occasionally a work by a famous artist is sold at auction. We are astounded at the price some buyers are willing to pay. But most famous works of art, like crown jewels, will never be sold. If they are never going to be on the market, do they have a monetary value? One of those philosophical questions I guess.

(My novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon, or the other usual online sources)

Star Liner

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