Noodling through the auction house data over the past few months, I noticed something curious: Even though there was a dramatic run-up in volume during the pandemic—from the latter half of 2020 through the $1.6 billion Paul Allen sale at the end of 2022—auction prices came to a screeching halt in early 2023, and there’s been little movement since. Such strong sales could have brought more high-value property to market, and more bidders into the arena, attracted by all the attention—and money—being paid to art. But that didn’t happen.