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Those commission rates are a shocker at first blush. I remember when literary agents began to bump the traditional 10% commission up to 15%, and how outrageous that seemed. Tell people that an art gallery will get 50% of the $10,000 price of a painting, and you can almost hear swords being drawn to right that wrong.
But of course the well-located, well-appointed and staffed gallery has substantial overhead expenses and it is also engaged in a risk business, for which it fairly charges an after-the-fact premium in the form of a commission. The artist presumably engages the gallery
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