Why would a smart New York investment banker pay twelve million dollars for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark? How does Jackson Pollock's drip painting No. 5 1948 sell for 140 million? And why does a leather jacket with silver chain attached, tossed in a corner and titled 'No One Ever Leaves', bring 690,000 at a 2007 Sotheby's auction? & i & The Twelve Million Dollar Stuffed Shark & /i & is the first book to look at the economics of the modern art world and the strategies which power the market to produce such astronomical prices. Don Thompson talks to auction houses, dealers, and collectors t.;Cover; Title Page; Table of Contents; Green and wrinkled and twelve million; Branding and insecurity; Branded auctions; Branded dealers; The art of the dealer; Art and artists; Damien Hirst and the shark; Warhol, Koons and Emin; Charles Saatchi: branded collector; Christie's and Sotheby's; Choosing an auction hammer; Auction psychology; The secret world of auctions; Francis Bacon's perfect portrait; Auction houses versus dealers; Art fairs, the final frontier; Art and money; Pricing contemporary art; Fakes; Art critics; Museums; End game; Contemporary art as an investment; Postscript.